Advice for an Army Medic who aspires to become a RN

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Well I want to start this thread by saying good afternoon and thank you for taking the time to offer me some guidance on how to proceed towards my future career path.

I am currently an active duty soldier serving as Medic. My goal as of right now is to become a RN who holds a BSN. I wish to travel down that path as far as I can while staying active duty military and using TA to pay for most of my schooling. I am very much interested to hear if others on this board have gone to school while on active duty and if they have any advice to share. My main questions are

1. What is a reputable online school that I can attend.

2. Are there any 4 year online BSN programs or do I need to start with an ADN program.

3. How do the clinical portions of this degree effect your work?

I appreciate any feedback and guidance that members of this board can give me!

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Specializes in NICU.

There are no online pre-licensure nursing programs. All nursing programs require in person clinicals. Nursing credits do not transfer from school to school, so you need to be certain that you can stay in one spot for the entire nursing program. You first need to complete the prerequisites for nursing school before you can apply. They take 1-2 yrs and most (except sciences with labs) can be taken online.

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What would be a reputable school that I can attend so I can at least knock out all of my prerequisites? I was looking at American Military University and getting an Associates of Applied Science. Would that at least get me started down the right path?

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Why don't you apply to the Army Enlisted Commissioning Program (AECP)? Do some research on that, sounds like it would be perfect for you.

Edited to add a link: http://www.usarec.army.mil/downloads/mrb/AECP/AECP_FY_2017_Guidelines.pdf

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Excelsior has many online programs and is very military friendly.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Excelsior has many online programs and is very military friendly.

Unfortunately a 68W (medic) doesn't qualify for Excelsior's ADN program without a special identifier: Excelsior College | Associate Degree in Nursing Criteria for Military Personnel Starting 1-1-12

But for future education, yes, Excelsior is very military friendly. They keep all tuition (even for graduate programs) very close to the TA per-credit-hour cap, and they will defer annual enrollment fees while a service member is deployed. I finished my MSN in Nursing Informatics with Excelsior shortly before I left active duty, and even did a class while deployed to the middle of nowhere with the worst internet access on earth. :D

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it all depends own what state do u plan to settle down after discharge. there is some accelerated path for medics to get a BSN( like wright state university/ohio, others in florida and california). There is also accelerated paths for non medics veterans ( George washington university/ VBSN).

Regardless where you wanna go, I highly recommend that you start knocking down some prerequisites such( Human Anatomy / w lab,Human Physiology / w lab, Microbiology / w lab,Chemistry / w lab,Introduction to Psychology,Ethics,Statistics,Human Growth & Development, Nutrition) some schools may nor require all of these classes but again you need to decided what state and you go from there.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Thanks Pixie, didn't know that. They could get their National Registry and work as a civilian medic to qualify.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Thanks Pixie, didn't know that. They could get their National Registry and work as a civilian medic to qualify.

Flight paramedics in the Army are trained to the paramedic level, that is also an option if the OP wants to do flight while active duty. :)

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