ADN or BSN ?

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

Published

Hello everyone! I finally decided what I want to do with my life and that is nursing. I am on my last year in high-school and I am somewhat scared and excited for the future. Lately, I've been contemplating whether I should go for an ADN or BSN. I am not the brightest kid and I am pretty sure that I will get rejected from any universities or cal-state out there so I decided to go for community college and probably transfer. I also don't think I could afford to go to a cal-state that offers a BSN because we don't have the money ( my dad's salary is somewhere around 5k a month). Also, I live in Southern California where nursing is over-populated (I think). What's your opinion/advice?

0 Votes

Bsn for sure, especially in Southern California. I also recommend giving yourself more credit :) good luck in your endeavors!

0 Votes
Specializes in Pediatric Home Care, Dr Office/Clinic.

I also vote for the BSN route. I spent a few hours the other day just reseaching the RN job market and I found out that ADN's are slowly being phased out in Socal. The nursing job market primarily wants BSN RN's.

Find 2-3 schools that you like and that have similar prereq requirements & start to work on your prereqs as soon as you graduate from high school. It will take you about a year-year & a half to get through your prereqs, so the sooner you get started on your prereqs the better.

Work on getting A's and B's in ALL your prereqs and study hardcore for your TEAS V entrance exam towards getting a high score and you'll be fine. My grades aren't the strongest either, so I am going to try for the highest grades possible in my prereqs and apply to CSULA's BSN's program. I'm also looking into Western Governers University and then if I don't get into CSULA or , my plan B is a community college ADN program and then I will do an ADN to BSN program right afterwards. I don't really want to do an ADN program because like I said ADN nurses are slowly phasing out in socal but I'll do what it takes at this point, I just really want to be a nurse!

0 Votes

Thank you for your help! I'm still confused with the college stuff. What's the difference between general ed and prereqs? How do you know what/which classes to take? What exactly happens during the first two years of college? I'm planning to start my first year in El camino college to get everything out of the way then transfer to csulb/fullerton/dominguez-hills for nursing.

0 Votes
Specializes in Pediatric Home Care, Dr Office/Clinic.

General Ed courses are what you need to take in college that will count towards credits in earning your overall college degree. Prereqs are courses that you have to take before being able to enroll in another course. For instance, let's say nursing requires Chem 101 but the prereq for that may be Chem 51, which means you have to take Chem 51 BEFORE you can enroll in Chem 101.

You should go online and look up CSULB, Fullerton and Dominquez Hills prereq requirements for their nursing programs first, print them out and compare each program, then meet with a college counselor at El camino college and let them know your intention to transfer in a year or two and have nursing be your major. That way, they can make sure you are not only taking care of your general ed requirements but also your nursing prereqs. All RN programs have prereqs typically 3-4 upper science courses with a lab (anatomy & Physiology, microbiology, chem etc) a math (statistics or algebra), an english. But it can vary slightly each school, so make sure you look over each nursing programs prereqs carefully before making a decision on which nursing program(s) you want to apply to. Some nursing schools only have 5-6 prereqs, others have more. I've been trying to stick with 2-3 nursing program choices that have close to the same prereq requirements, so I won't be taking prereqs forever.

HTH! If you have anymore questions just ask!

0 Votes

I think bsn would be a better way to go.

0 Votes

One option, hard to find, but, used to available here or there, is, find a hospital or facility that offers tuition reimbursement.

I am not sure if that could take you from being a CNA to an LPN or RN, i think those days are over (not sure, though)

BUT, several places do offer ADN to BSN tuition reimbursement. (if you could get hired as ADN).

You might want to google "hospitals with tuition reimbursement" in your area, to see if there are any options like that for you to consider.

0 Votes

I chose to go to CC first then transfer into the State College. I think I took as many classes at the CC ...they ended up being cheaper...and I took the rest at the State college.

I have Bachelors and Im going back now...I am taking all my prereqs. at the CC and then I will transfer to the State College again for my BSN. I took the max load classes my first time around getting my bachelors...and I wouldnt give that up. I only regret not continuing right away to get my masters. Now Im stuck having to choose between a new career or getting my masters in my field.

I think if you are just starting out...you should go for your BSN and either continue going in school or try and get a job that will pay for you to go back and get your higher degrees ...but go asap. Dont wait.

0 Votes
Specializes in Psych/OR.

ADN then transfer. The cheapest and smartest way since BSN and ADN are no difference when applying for jobs. Experience is what matters unfortunately. Also, patients don't ask if you have an ADN or BSN in nursing, as long as you have your license then that's all they care about

0 Votes

I just graduated from an ADN program in May, and I would also suggest getting BSN first time. The reason why I went for ADN was because it is very competitive now and the program that accepted me first was an ADN program after three years of applying to both ADN and BSN programs.

Also do your best with the pre-reqs because some BSN programs require 3.5 gpa and above just to be considered. ADN's are mostly lottery (at least where I am from, NorCaL)

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment