ADN...is it worth the time?

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

Published

I have been hearing a ton of negative things about going the ADN route at a community college vs going straight to the BSN. Financially this may be my only option and I would like to hear that there will be hope for me to find a job after! Does anyone have any positive experiences from getting their ADN? I would especially like to hear from the second degree students who have gone back for an ADN! If it helps to know, I will be in the Western New York area, where I think nursing job prospects are decent. Thanks.

Specializes in Adult Critical Care, Med-Surg, Obs.

Hi,

I live in Rochester Ny, I like most of my classmates at my ADN program were able to find jobs before we even graduated. I encourage you to enroll in an online program, most hospitals will be more lenient if they see you will earn it in less then a year. Also, you might want to consider other types of facilities in the mean time or even per diem work. From what I have seen most people relocate, get 3 years experience and their BSN and then right their own ticket. Its a sacrifice but so was nursing school.....Good Luck.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Critical Care, Med-Surg, Obs.

I was wondering the same thing. I just graduated from an ADN program and I am moving from MA to NY and I'm hoping that the ADN isn't going to make it difficult for me to find a job, we will see though. "

Apply to hospitals in Upstate NY, NYC passed a policy on Sept 2011 that all new hires have to be a BSN.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

It just so happens we are aiming towards the same school :) I am currently taking an honors pysch online at GA perimeter, however, perimeter has one of the most infamous nursing programs I have ever heard of and quite frankly, I don't see myself going far in their program. I live about 7 minutes( mapquested today!) from Gwinnett Tech. I have heard great information on their prereq teachers and through ratemyprofessor.com. I would check that out even for nursing classes...See what you can find. Ill be finishing up all my prereqs at Gwinnett Tech by this fall and plan to transfer their this coming summer. I sure hope you kill it(KAPLAN) tomorrow! I will pray for you for sure. Let me know as soon as you calm down from frantic excitement how you did and please if you don't mind, I would sure love some test prep tips and your feedback on the Kaplan as a whole...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

It all depends on your state that makes a ADN on the same level hiring. In CA, a lot of new hiring are more BSN preferred. In NY, they are proposing to making BSN's the minimum.

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/new-york-poised-631323.html

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I just got accepted to an ADN program, starting in fall2012. In the recent past all their graduates got jobs immediately upon graduation, but in the past year several of the good hospitals in town (Atlanta, GA) seem to have switched to BSN only. So now I'm not sure what to do.

The online bridge programs I have looked at all require general education courses, and more than a year's worth of credits in their program. Can anyone tell me schools that offer a true one-year bridge program?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Postpartum, Antepartum, Psych., SDS, OR.

Do you think all the ADN schools will be closed? Too bad for community colleges and the Nurse instructors...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am wondering ADN vs BSN as well. I am not sure which one to do. I recently spoke with a student in the BSN program, and was told their director had changed, and now she wasn't able to get into the classes she needed so she will be graduated in 3 years instead of 2. That scares me! She also said that ADN's typically get more clinical experience, whereas the BSN has more research/educational perspective. Eventually I want to end up with my BSN so that I can work for 3-5 years and get a MSN down the road (if that's still what I want at that point in my life...). I just want the degree to get hired the fastest. Either program will take me 2 years though. I already have a bachelor's from another institution from 2006...needless to say it hasn't gotten me very far in a career, and I enjoy my nursing prereqs WAY more than I ever enjoyed my previous college experience. Anyway, what are other things one should consider when deciding between an ADN vs. BSN programs if time and money are non-issues (both are 2 year state programs, so cost is similar...)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

ask around the hospitals about this rumor....go to the ones who are in charge of employment and see when it is that they are considering not hiring ADNs if at all. Also, if you are already in a program im sure if they did stop, they would at least let those already in the program finish in order to graduate.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

also, many state boards of nursing will not grant a license to someone who graduates from some of the online or for-profit schools.

if you attend one of those in state a, and a accepts their grads, you can pass the nclex and practice in a.

but if you move to state b which does not, it will not grant you a license by reciprocity even though you passed the nclex, because they do not approve your school. be very, very careful about this.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.

It all depends on your area. Best of luck to you!

I chose to go the ADN route so I could work while attending school part-time (at the time there were no part-time second degree BSN programs in my area). I had a BS in Biology and thought that hospitals would consider me equivalent to a BSN grad. I did get a job immediately after passing my boards but it's not in the field I want. And now that I've spent the greater part of a decade in college, I'm not so willing to go for the RN-to-BSN program right now, thus my options are limited for jobs. However I live in the Boston area which has a HUGE number of high-demand hospitals with low vacancy, and a HUGE number of nursing programs.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

They don't have to close, some schools are just adopting a BSN program. My school (currently housing an ADN program) with start their BSN completion program in 2013.

Do you think all the ADN schools will be closed? Too bad for community colleges and the Nurse instructors...
Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am only in a BSN program because in my situation it is the only one that allowed me to keep my day job (40 hr work week) while going to school in the evening/weekend to get an RN degree. The ADN programs in my area all have day only programs. I found the only E/W program to get an RN in the area.

I would have preferred to get my ADN if it wasn't for this situation. It would have been way cheaper, then my future employer could have paid for my BSN. However being in the mid-40s I don't have long to wait for the opportunity to quit my day job to do an ADN.

I graduate in May but I don't feel completely confident in my manual nursing skills while we are being heavily prepared for NCLEX with the quarterly testing of ATI exams. I'm sure I will pass the NCLEX because of all the classroom theory and the passing of all these NCLEX modeled exams. However, we only had one semester of lab skills and we are not being taught how to insert IVs due to liability issues. We do have clinical rotations amounting to the required hours by state however, not all opportunities to practice skills present themselves. I have only done 1 insertion of a catheter in a real female, no males.

I would prefer to have hours of clinical experience rather than all the useless papers and projects we have to do. I only want to do bedside care. I already know how to write papers because of my first Bachelors degree. I do appreciate the intensive critical thinking and patho focus this program has however.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment