Why is it called RN-to-BSN/MSN instead of ADN-to-BSN/MSN

[Bruce_Wayne]

Why do you suppose most ADN to BSN bridge programs call themselves RN-to-BSN instead of ADN-to-BSN? I think maybe they think that sounds classier? I know, for me, it made it much harder to Google until I caught wise to the terminology.

I wonder if this has something to do with a certain amount of stigma or shame associated with going for an ADN vs a BSN. I know, for me, I have no shame or stigma in my choice to get a focused degree in what I wanted to do. It was the right choice for me, it's not something I'm doing because I'm not smart enough or can't afford a BSN. In my situation it makes sense, the reimbursement I get from my job for an ADN program will cover nearly 100% of the cost (vs half the cost for a BSN because the tuition reimbursement is set at a certain rate). And in two years when (hopefully!) I finish I'll be making much more money and will be able to afford to go to BSN if I decide that's right for me. And 2.5 years of ADN plus 2 years of BSN will cost about 15,000 dollars vs 20,000 for 4 years of BSN. Not to mention the extra income I'll be making during the two years of BSN school.

Edit: I feel silly and like I was being trite and preachy. Sorry! I just felt like unloading.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Honorifics, titles, degree awards et al normally train behind a name in order of receipt. Diploma graduates do not have a degree and it is really not done to list "A.A.S RN", though have seen a few name tags with that sort of thing. What two and three year nurses do have is (upon passing the boards and meeting other requirements), a RN license, hence RN to BSN.Graduates of four year programs recieve their BSN before taking the RN exams, thus are "BSN" nurses first, and indeed regardless of if they never take nor pass the boards, that cannot be taken away from them. Once such grads pass the boards they are "Miss. Wilcox, BSN, RN". For two or three year grads who go on to a four year degree it is "Miss. Johnson, RN, BSN" because that is the order of receipt.Being as this may, many BSN nurses simply drop the "RN", since most assume (probably correctly), no one is going to be working as a BSN withtout a RN license so the later is implied.As for the difference between A.A.S and ADN there is one, it is small but still..Long story short, Associate in Applied Science degrees are awarded to graduates of "technical" programs. These are called such because while students to take college courses, the programs are allowed to concentrate more on the subject matter at the expense of "college level" courses. This is why many A.A.S grads have major problems trying to transfer credits from their previous work when applying for a four year degee. When you take a AAS in say "Fashion Buying and Merchandising", or "Hotel Management", a bulk of the course work while tailored to the major in question, has nothing to compare at a four year school. So while students can often get credit as "free electives", it doesn't help much when looking at the 120 credits needed for a four year degree.Associate Degree as in "Associate Degree in Nursing", are designed to prepare students to go on to persue a four year degree. These programs concentrate more on college level work than AAS programs, again with an eye that graduates will go onto four year colleges. ADN students normally have an eaiser time moving on to (and their credits to) four year colleges and universities.Many colleges offering both AAS and Associate degrees will enter into articulation and or compact agreements with four year schools. For instance graduates of any CUNY community college can transfer certain credits to any four year program within the system.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Honorifics, titles, degree awards et al normally train behind a name in order of receipt. Diploma graduates do not have a degree and it is really not done to list "A.A.S RN", though have seen a few name tags with that sort of thing. What two and three year nurses do have is (upon passing the boards and meeting other requirements), a RN license, hence RN to BSN.Graduates of four year programs recieve their BSN before taking the RN exams, thus are "BSN" nurses first, and indeed regardless of if they never take nor pass the boards, that cannot be taken away from them. Once such grads pass the boards they are "Miss. Wilcox, BSN, RN". For two or three year grads who go on to a four year degree it is "Miss. Johnson, RN, BSN" because that is the order of receipt.Being as this may, many BSN nurses simply drop the "RN", since most assume (probably correctly), no one is going to be working as a BSN withtout a RN license so the later is implied.As for the difference between A.A.S and ADN there is one, it is small but still..Long story short, Associate in Applied Science degrees are awarded to graduates of "technical" programs. These are called such because while students to take college courses, the programs are allowed to concentrate more on the subject matter at the expense of "college level" courses. This is why many A.A.S grads have major problems trying to transfer credits from their previous work when applying for a four year degee. When you take a AAS in say "Fashion Buying and Merchandising", or "Hotel Management", a bulk of the course work while tailored to the major in question, has nothing to compare at a four year school. So while students can often get credit as "free electives", it doesn't help much when looking at the 120 credits needed for a four year degree.Associate Degree as in "Associate Degree in Nursing", are designed to prepare students to go on to persue a four year degree. These programs concentrate more on college level work than AAS programs, again with an eye that graduates will go onto four year colleges. ADN students normally have an eaiser time moving on to (and their credits to) four year colleges and universities.Many colleges offering both AAS and Associate degrees will enter into articulation and or compact agreements with four year schools. For instance graduates of any CUNY community college can transfer certain credits to any four year program within the system.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

Nope - Durable to most ephemeral. The order is: Religious membership/degrees, Academic Degrees, Licenses, Certifications, Fellowships.

The RN, as a License, should follow an academic degree, no matter when one earns it. That nursing as a profession doesn't follow this system baffles me.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Long story short, Associate in Applied Science degrees are awarded to graduates of "technical" programs. These are called such because while students to take college courses, the programs are allowed to concentrate more on the subject matter at the expense of "college level" courses. This is why many A.A.S grads have major problems trying to transfer credits from their previous work when applying for a four year degee. When you take a AAS in say "Fashion Buying and Merchandising", or "Hotel Management", a bulk of the course work while tailored to the major in question, has nothing to compare at a four year school. So while students can often get credit as "free electives", it doesn't help much when looking at the 120 credits needed for a four year degree.Associate Degree as in "Associate Degree in Nursing", are designed to prepare students to go on to persue a four year degree. These programs concentrate more on college level work than AAS programs, again with an eye that graduates will go onto four year colleges. ADN students normally have an eaiser time moving on to (and their credits to) four year colleges and universities.Many colleges offering both AAS and Associate degrees will enter into articulation and or compact agreements with four year schools. For instance graduates of any CUNY community college can transfer certain credits to any four year program within the system.

Question for you: If someone is considering going on to an RN to BSN program (or even an RN to MSN program), your advice is that they should NOT obtain an AAS degree (as opposed to an AS)? Is the AAS a terminal degree of sorts in nursing? This is important for me to know as I have applied to an ADN program that confers the AAS (it is a stand-alone nursing school affiliated with a hospital) and I would like to eventually (preferably) move on to get an MSN since I have a BA right now. My primary goal however is to obtain an accelerated BSN, but my ADN plans are just for backup in case I can't do ABSN. Also, I know this school has articulation agreements with a local college and an online college (I think it is Kaplan) for RN to BSN, but I would not be interested in attending either one of these schools and instead would like to go to better schools. Would this be possible?

[DoGoodThenGo]

Question for you: If someone is considering going on to an RN to BSN program (or even an RN to MSN program), your advice is that they should NOT obtain an AAS degree (as opposed to an AS)? Is the AAS a terminal degree of sorts in nursing? This is important for me to know as I have applied to an ADN program that confers the AAS (it is a stand-alone nursing school affiliated with a hospital) and I would like to eventually (preferably) move on to get an MSN since I have a BA right now. My primary goal however is to obtain an accelerated BSN, but my ADN plans are just for backup in case I can't do ABSN. Also, I know this school has articulation agreements with a local college and an online college (I think it is Kaplan) for RN to BSN, but I would not be interested in attending either one of these schools and instead would like to go to better schools. Would this be possible?

It would of course vary by school, but wouldn't think any AAS or ADN nursing program is "terminal". However it would also depend upon where you are considering going for your BSN. In the end it is all about transfer credits.

IIRC many online BSN programs and or those offered in conjuction with hospitals are very "generous".

My comment about "terminal" A.A.S programs was geared towards degrees offered by schools such as the the Fashion Insitute of Technology. Many students graduated from FIT with AAS degress in such things as "Fashion Buying and Merchandising" only to find themselves almost laughed out of the room when they tried to attend a four year school, and have credits transferred. Out of about 60 credits required for the associate degree, you were lucky to get about half transferred if that. In the end you would most likely end up having to do three years worth of work (or more), so you would have been better off going to a four year school from the start.

FIT finally wised up and began offering BofS degrees about ten or so years ago. These programs mainly admitted students who graduated from the "lower school" with two year degrees. So now such persons could obtain a four year degree in say Marketing.

[elkpark]

Once such grads pass the boards they are "Miss. Wilcox, BSN, RN". For two or three year grads who go on to a four year degree it is "Miss. Johnson, RN, BSN" because that is the order of receipt.Being as this may, many BSN nurses simply drop the "RN", since most assume (probably correctly), no one is going to be working as a BSN withtout a RN license so the later is implied.

Actually, the customary order is degree, license, any additional certifications, regardless of the "order" in which one received the various credentials, which has nothing to do with the issue. As TheSquire notes, the entire rest of the world agrees that these things should be listed in order from most durable/permanent (your degree, which can not be taken away from you) to least durable/permanent (random accreditations. (TheSquire -- plenty of us in nursing do follow the same protocol as the rest of the world -- I've also never understood why so many people in nursing don't. I suspect it's because so few nurses are familiar with how things are done in the larger academic and professional world.)

Also, I've never encountered a BSN-prepared nurse who omits the "RN" from her/his signature, since that is the designation that is required in signatures in healthcare settings by states and employers. Most people don't really care whether someone has a BSN (as opposed to the other routes to licensure) -- they sure as heck care whether you have a license, which is certainly not "implied" by someone having a nursing degree, BSN or otherwise. On the other hand, I've known plenty of BSN-prepared nurses (inc. myself) who don't both with the BSN and simply sign Nancy Nurse, RN ('cause, y'know, it's just really not that big a deal ...).

(At least, that's how it works in the US.)

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Actually, the customary order is degree, license, any additional certifications, regardless of the "order" in which one received the various credentials, which has nothing to do with the issue. As TheSquire notes, the entire rest of the world agrees that these things should be listed in order from most durable/permanent (your degree, which can not be taken away from you) to least durable/permanent (random accreditations. (TheSquire -- plenty of us in nursing do follow the same protocol as the rest of the world -- I've also never understood why so many people in nursing don't. I suspect it's because so few nurses are familiar with how things are done in the larger academic and professional world.)

Also, I've never encountered a BSN-prepared nurse who omits the "RN" from her/his signature, since that is the designation that is required in signatures in healthcare settings by states and employers. Most people don't really care whether someone has a BSN (as opposed to the other routes to licensure) -- they sure as heck care whether you have a license, which is certainly not "implied" by someone having a nursing degree, BSN or otherwise. On the other hand, I've known plenty of BSN-prepared nurses (inc. myself) who don't both with the BSN and simply sign Nancy Nurse, RN ('cause, y'know, it's just really not that big a deal ...).

(At least, that's how it works in the US.)

So, in my case since I have a Juris Doctor and I will have earned that before any nursing degree or license, if I were to complete a BSN and subsequently get licensed ... would it be:

Paco69, JD, BSN, RN

OR

Paco69, BSN, JD, RN

or does it matter? The second seems more aesthetic because the graduate degree is after the undergrad one, but then gives the impression that the law degree came after the BSN (BUT you stated the order does not matter). Hmm .... and naturally, I would use MSN in place of a BSN if I get to that point.

I would only be concerned with this credential listing when I am listed as an author for publications or conferences where my law degree is significant. As far as my badge is concerned while working as a nurse, "Paco69, RN" suffices.

When a lawyer is licensed, the suffix "Esq." is used, and personally I only use that designation with my name on court filings or other legal documents that I sign in that capacity (I have used it in my custom user title next to my avatar however, because of limited space). Adding Esq. to BSN, RN, etc. is not really necessary I say. I have a law school friend who uses Esq. in his name on Facebook. I think that's just pompous. And NO, he is not using his profile for professinal purposes, clearly evident through a review of his posts and comments.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

Academic degrees are listed in ascending order, with lower degrees omitted when a higher degree of the same type is listed (e.g. a Master of Science omits their Bachelor of Science - unless they're being extra pompous and listing where they got their degree, but that's rarely done).

As such, I think that BSN, JD, RN makes the most sense for your letters. However, I could be wrong - plus, we're now rather off-topic for this thread.