ABSN vs. Tradition BSN

Nurses Career Support

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  1. What should I do?

    • 5
      Inexpensive 4 year BSN w/ no name recognition
    • 4
      Best ABSN program I can get into (large loans; ABSN might not be taken as seriously, etc.)
    • 0
      Neither (please explain in comments)

9 members have participated

Hi I am a career changer with a liberal arts BA currently doing prereqs and looking at nursing programs. I would like to be hirable ASAP and eventually go for a CNM degree, if possible. I have a decent undergrad GPA (3.5 from a state flagship) and did Teach for America -which I have no idea is applicable or impressive at all to nursing programs.

My question is : should I go for an accelerated program or stick with a traditional BSN program? I have heard employers look down on accelerated graduates? Is this true? Do grad schools discriminate in the same way?

I think if I do well in my science prereqs I could get into a decent accelerated program but would have to take out loans, etc. On the other hand, my husband is on faculty as the local 4 year, and I could go though their nursing program with tuition assistance. It would take close to 4 years (including all of the prereqs I'd need) and it is a fairly no-name school, but it would be super cheap. I'd ideally like to go to the best school and go to a great midwifery program, but I will take the local option if having a rural 4 year BSN will look better than an accelerated from a "good" school.

Thanks for reading. Just looking for advice from those with more experience. All thoughts appreciated. : )

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Among ABSN grads I have dealt with, the most common complaints are related to the brevity of the programs. Graduates feel that they did not provide sufficient time for mastery of fundamentals and acclimation to the clinical environment. In order to support the rapid progression, their programs relied heavily on Sim lab experience because there was insufficient time allotted to perform clinical tasks with actual patients. They also felt that generic BSN grads had a distinct hiring advantage due to the fact that they had more opportunities to network with potential employers.

In my organization, we track and monitor employment information in order to improve the effectiveness of our hiring practices. We know that NCLEX pass rates are similar for accelerated and generic programs in the states in which my company operates. However, we use a standardized (reliable and valid) assessment of clinical competence as part of the hiring process for all nurses. Our results over the past several years reveal that ABSN grads are significantly less clinically prepared than generic BSN grads and require more development and support to achieve competency. As a result, our hiring managers avoid hiring ABSN grads.

This information reflects my organization - others may have very different perspectives.

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To the OP, you must find a reputable ABSN program. What the PP said may be true, but it is certainly not applicable everywhere. My accelerated program was 15 months in duration and had the same amount of clinical hours as the traditional BSN students. We took all of the same courses, just at a more rapid pace (we worked through summer semester whereas the traditional students did not). With all of that said I still had time to get a PRN tech job and was fortunate enough to land 5 Nursing Jobs in my area. I took a position in the NICU.

The hospital systems in my area seem to prefer career changers... everyone in my program 60 students have gainful employment. I would certainly do your homework but there are great ABSN programs out there. I do not feel my education was lessened by doing an ABSN program and I thought going to school with attorneys, teachers, case managers etc added something wonderful to our classroom discussions which wouldn't have happened in a traditional program.

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These are both very helpful responses. Thank you! I am glad to hear that some ABSN programs have the same time in clinical work. As for networking for jobs, I'm not sure that's much of a consideration, considering I will be going out of town/state to school and don't necessarily need a job close to where I study. I am much more interested in what will get me into a great graduate program.

Does anyone know whether grad schools prefer BSNs to ABSN, or will they always just prefer the candidate who attended the most prestigious school?

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bumping for more opinions : )

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I did a 15 month ABSN, which was incredibly challenging with a toddler and a part time job!

If I had been younger (I'm early 30s now, was 29 when I started my pre-reqs) I think I would have preferred the 4 year BSN for the gentler pace (summers off!!) and increased clinical exposure. ABSN's don't get a chance to do summer externships (these externships are often KEY to finding a job in a saturated market) and have less time to work as nurse's aids or volunteer with local organizations, etc. Good luck!

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BeccaBSN - Thank you SO much. That is exactly the kind of feedback I need! I live in a town with a university nursing program, so there isn't exactly a nursing shortage here. Perhaps going to the local 4 year will give me better job prospects.

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