ADN+experience or BSN?

it all depends on what your local hospitals are hiring, unless you are planning to move where ever you have to to get a job. Look at their job postings for new grads, call up and talk to a nurse recruiter at different hosp to see what the reality is. If there are plenty of bsn new grads to go around, then they prob will pick that over adn. I did adn to get into the workforce quicker, but the drive for bsn only nurses wasn't so crazy then.

good luck

Thank you, missnurse01

Anytime

I live and work in the greater Los Angeles area, so hopefully I can paint a more specific picture. I apologize ahead of time for the length, I just wanted to be helpful by throwing out as much info as I could contribute

First of all, since you don't even have pre-reqs yet, you've got a long way ahead of you! Pre-reqs are EXTREMELY hard to get into in the Los Angeles area at the community colleges. My BA covered all my other pre-reqs, so I only needed Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology. Psych and Dev Psych were co-reqs, but I wanted to have those done before starting the nursing program so I didn't have to worry about them while taking the nursing classes. It took me 2 years to finish my pre-reqs because I was only able to enroll in one science class at a time because the classes would fill so quickly. And even this was with a decent registration date because I did my GEs at that CC. So if you're thinking an ADN will take you 2 years and a BSN 4, that will not be the case if you're thinking the CC, CSU, or UC route after you factor in your pre-reqs. At minimum, add another year to make it 3 and 5 respectively, but realistically assume it will take you at least 3 to 4 semesters.

If you have a good GPA, I suggest the accelerated BSN route, which will get you that BSN in 4 years at a relatively low cost, assuming it takes 2 to complete your pre-reqs. If not, but time is more important to you than cost, the private schools generally include pre-reqs in their curriculum, so those would also take you 4 years for a BSN, but they tend to be $100k+.

By the way, you can still get a BSN through the CC route (think cheaper cost for 2 years) because many CCs now have contracts with CSUs that will make transitioning seamless so you won't lose a year in between due to having to be licensed before applying. CSULA, CSULB, and CSUDH all have such contracts with specific CCs.

Larger hospitals (think Cedars, UCLA, etc) will only hire BSN new grads. You'd have to be some kind of exception, like already working there in another capacity, to get in with an ADN... And even that's not guaranteed. Smaller community hospitals and SNFs will hire ADN new grads, which is good because they are far more plentiful than the large hospitals, but still prefer BSN new grads. The market is extremely competitive, and BSNs have the edge, but that does not mean it's impossible to find a job as an ADN grad should you choose that route.

I chose to go the LVN to ADN to BSN route because cost was a far more important factor to me. I didn't have any pre-reqs completed either when I decided to go into nursing, so I went to an adult school for my LVN, worked for 2 years while I did my pre-reqs, finish my LVN to ADN program at a CC this month, and expect to start an RN to BSN program in the fall. Through this route, I gained that "ADN with experience" criteria you mentioned in being able to find a job. Of course, this is also the long way.

You have plenty of options concerning how you want to get into nursing. There is no perfect program that's fast, cheap, and easy to get into. You just need to figure out what your highest priorities are and there will be a route for it.

Once your prepress are done you can do an accelerated BSN since you already have a bachelors degree. It will be the same time frame as an ADN. Just a thought.

I vote ADN, like stated above, you can gain experience and then apply for a gateway program for the BSN Hope this helps and Good luck!

I am on day 2 of an accelerated 2nd degree BSN. It is 15 months after pre-reqs. Fortunately, all I needed was Nutrition and Stats. So 19 months for me vs 3-4 yrs for ASN. My first degree is older than 5 yrs and ASN program wouldn't take any of my credits so I would have to start completely over with pre-reqs. Plus both local hospitals are begging the school to convince the BSN graduates to stay in town rather than moving on. They will take the ASN graduates but rather have the BSN grads to help in their future Magnet status. The more BSN they hire, the less of their ASN employees will need to get their BSN to increase the percentage of BSNs on staff for Magnet status (80% BSN).

My point is that you can get a job as an RN with an ASN, but you will be competing with BSN grads for the position. From what I heard that California is saturated with new grads without jobs.