ADN vs. BSN for Entry Level Nursing

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

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The new push is for all nurses to be baccalaureate prepared, eliminating the 2 year associate degree program. Given the current and future nursing shortage, what is your opinion?

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
what a hot topic! for nursing students i believe we just need the advice of experienced nurses - no matter what degree they have. i just need to now what the oppurtunities of advancement are if you have your assoicates vs. bsn. i believe both are worthy, but when you are an older student knowledge is power for making this type of decision. if a person wanted to get into teaching what would be the better degree to have?

i live in ohio, so does anyone know what the nursing direction is going toward? what do most hospitals really look at? i do not believe the pay in any different here. what would be a good community college to go to for the assoicates, and a good university for the bsn?

when training a new nurse which do you feel is better adaptable, the assoicates vs. bsn?

these are things no college will tell you, and i have heard the personnel department just does not know because they do not work on the floors. the experience nurses are the one's to talk to!

please remember, for nursing students we don't care if you have your assoicates vs. bsn, we just need your experienced advice.

some of your questions can be answered in the ohio nurses forum.

both the bsn and the adn nurse start out as new grad rns, pretty much on equal footing, making the same amount of money.

there are "bsn preferred" positions in education, management, research, community health, drug companies, and insurance companies where with experience the bsn nurse has the edge. also many people with a bsn use this to go on to become nurse practioners and other master's level positions.

hospital employers looking for entry level nurses, usually consider adn and bsn nurses equally, without much favoritism. sometimes the individual manager/recruiter has their own preferences. i heard a recruiter, i forget where she was, who preferred the adn students in her area because their clinical experience was better. other recruiters may be more slanted to the bsn. but the most part, entry level bedside nurse positions both degrees are fairly well received. (and no, i can't tell the difference between an adn grad and a bsn grad, they both are greeen "deer in the headlights" kind of nurses, focused on mastering the tasks of nursing.)

i am currently bridging from adn to bsn because i want more opportunities away from the bedside as i age. i'm leading towards education, but want to have options available to me. i can't see me med-surg bedside nursing until i'm 70 and can retire.

i recommend if you have the time and money, to get the bsn now, get it out of the way as you may want it later. don't believe those who say "bsn is a waste of time". (you said that in your other post that the moderators locked.) it might be their choice and for them, but that kind of blanket statement doesn't apply to us all.

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:balloons: thank you tweety for your advice! i will take it all into consideration! it was a great help. ;)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
:balloons: thank you tweety for your advice! i will take it all into consideration! it was a great help. ;)

you are more than welcome. good luck to you.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, LTC, Rehabiliation Nursing.

For those of you who consider this topic a 'dead horse', please remember that to those of us just coming into the career, it is a live and kicking little stallion! I am a new nurse, just graduated from an ADN program, and with a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX for our class, (and the previous semester also), I am proud of my program, and of my education. I feel prepared and ready for my new career, (also scared to death, hence the deer in the headlights look). I will be going for my BSN, but for me, the quickest route to a new career, and making money, was the ADN program. It did take me 3 and 1/2 years, but the cost of the BSN programs in my area was so much more (my education cost approx. 8 thousand, the bsn program was 70 thousand!!!!!)there was no way for me to do that. The bottom line is, I am a nurse, I am proud to be one, and no one will make me feel less educated or prepared because of my ADN status. I will go on with my education, because the management opportunities are definately more available to the BSN graduates, and I believe that as nurses, we learn on a daily basis. So, because of my economic status, I had to make a choice. My program was brutal, I busted my heiny to complete it, I graduated with honors and am very proud of myself. It is too bad that it seems that some people seem to think that ADN nurses are somehow less able or prepared due to their education. (at least the tone of some of the posts seem that way) I believe that it also depends on each individual person. I have seen BSN graduates working as CNA's, going for their 4th try at the NCLEX, and seen ADN's going into management. So....... this is kind of like the chicken and the egg question. I don't think there is a right answer, there are just so many factors to consider. As far as requiring a BSN to become a nurse? I am thankful that I could get my ADN before they made that decision, because I probably would not have been able to afford to become a nurse. Will we lose more people who can go on to become excellent caregivers if they change the entry standards? Hmmmm. I think that nursing is a unique profession, and that we should stand by each other, not try to rank each other. Whatever my 'rank', I am darn proud to be able to say I am a nurse.

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We know deep down a BSN doesn't mean that the person is smarter than an ADN, but simply they devoted the time to learn or tackle the "liberal arts side of it". Im in the BSN because I took the pre reqs and felt it wouldn't be useful for me to put it on the back burner. Take charge and go for it; if you don't you will eventually after ADN. I know some BSN students who degrade ADN students; but I know life is hard and some hurdles are higher for some than others (example a 20 yr old with no kids living on campus) as oppossed to a 22 YO with a 4 YO daughter, driving 120 miles... of course it's easier for the 20 YO. Do what you can handle without going off the deep end...

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I strongly dought that any of the ADN programs are in danger of not being around any more, if anything there are more cropping up everywhere.

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Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.

These types of threads remind me of when you're watching a horror movie with a mad slasher hiding in a closet. For some reason, someone always feels the need to look in the closet, and you find yourself yelling, "NOOOOO!!! Don't open that door!!!"

NOOOO!!! Don't look at this thread!!!

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Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.
I agree with you on that... I had another username and had trouble with the same person you did, don't listen to negativity... I didn't. Pay attention to the sincere good advice. You seem like a good willed person and you will succeed in life if you follow your heart and intuition.

I really hope you're not referring to caroladybelle. She is the last person here who would attack/harrass anyone. Just because she states her opinion directly and that opinion happens to differ from your does not mean she's attacking you.

And there have been about 50,000 million threads on this subject. A simple search would take you to some very recent ones.

So, I guess now I'm a bad guy, too.

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I started off as a LPN and worked 8 years as one. Went back and got my RN-ADN and now I am looking into getting my MSN. As a LPN I did the same work as a RN in LTC but learned later on that is not the case in a hospital setting, where a RN was responsible for my patients. The bottom line is that, nursing as a profession only improves with higher education but also too, a BSN is NOT responsible for an ADNs patients. Both are RNs.

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Specializes in ER, Corrections, LTC, ICU, Case Mgt.

Boy have I changed my mind about this in the last several years.

I have a BSN, and until recently always believed it was the only tru way to be a nurse. That being said, I now believe ADN programs are a great way for nurses to get started. If I had to make recommendations it would be start with the ADN, get some maturity, you can take online classes for ADN to BSN or even ADN to MSN now which are fully accredited programs.

By the way, I am working on my MSN and I am trying to get a position teaching ADN nursing.

Good luck,

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Specializes in None...YET!.
Boy have I changed my mind about this in the last several years.

I have a BSN, and until recently always believed it was the only tru way to be a nurse. That being said, I now believe ADN programs are a great way for nurses to get started. If I had to make recommendations it would be start with the ADN, get some maturity, you can take online classes for ADN to BSN or even ADN to MSN now which are fully accredited programs.

By the way, I am working on my MSN and I am trying to get a position teaching ADN nursing.

Good luck,

This is the route I will be taking--Getting my ADN, then eventually getting my BSN someday!

I think it's GREAT that you are working on your MSN! Congrats!

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Every ADN program must 'partner' with a BSN program, either University or on-line. Every graduate of the ADN program, just like now, is eligible to sit NCLEX and be RN.

This is exactly what my school does currently. I'm in the AAS Nursing program and it transitions into the RN-to-BSN program with no further application, etc. In essence, it is a 4-year BSN program with the opportunity to get your license and start working half-way through. As a "returning" student to school, I could not, in any way, afford to take a 4 year leave from working to go to school full-time and a part-time BSN program would have taken me until retirement to complete. This way, I can deal with full-time school/no-or-little working for two years, then get a job and continue my education part-time. Of course there are those who will consider me a second-class nurse until that point (such as the clinical instructor who told our AAS class that BSN students were smarter than us) but that's their problem, not mine. ;)

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