I've read a lot of the threads already in the Pre-Nursing Student Forum and understand that "an RN is an RN" and that an RN degree can be earned at a community college or a 4-year college or university, but that a nurse earns more with a BSN. My question is since I already have a BA in non-nursing area (I'm almost done with an MA actually), would it be better for me salary-wise (a higher salary in my first job and subsequently) to earn a BSN instead of an RN? The reason that I ask is that I could earn an RN at a community college near me or I could take the pre-req's there and apply for the BSN at the 4-year university where I'm finishing up my master's at. If I completed an RN at a community college, would an RN + a BA be treated the same as a BSN? I can transfer all applicable credits for an RN at a community college or a BSN at 4-year college, so that's would be the same either way. I am aware that there are Accelerated BSN and Second Degree programs for people who have a BA in a non-nursing area, but my state doesn't have them. I'm set on attending a public college no matter what for the lower-tuition cost. In terms of time to completion, it would take me 5 semesters after completion of pre-reqs in either case including completing a master's in clinical nurse leadership, which I am not interested in b/c it costs nearly doubled that of undergraduate tuition and from what I've read on this website and in researching areas and specialities of nursing, you are not compensated for. (Maybe that will change in the future, but I don't want to count on "maybes"). I've accumulated a lot of student loan debt already, so I have to be very cognizant of how much I would be charged for tuition, fees, books and supplies for nursing degree.
Any information, advice would be much appreciated -- thank you ahead of time! :)
Freedom42, thank you for the specifics about the possible curriculum differences between the RN and the BSN. I now understand that there may be curriculum differences that I should investigate.
I wish that I could complete my BSN in another state w/out having to pay out-of-state tuition b/c my state only has one 4-year public BSN program. That's the one disadvantage with higher education organized at the state level. (I'm not interested in a hospital-based program).
Lifeisaflowergarden: The only option available to me for a BSN was a four-year program at a public university. I completed all my pre-reqs and, once admitted as a transfer student, completed the BSN in 15 months. All of my credits from other schools were transferrable.
That's great! I hope I can get into the public BSN in my state (that's what I'm concerned about, it would be nice to be able to apply to more than one BSN program in my state). Only time will tell.
I already have a BA too, and for me I am going the ADN-BSN route. The fact of the matter is the closest BSN program is an hour and half away, is way more expensive [with no longer being eligible for financial aid by virture of number of credit hours taken] and more time consuming all of which are impractical for someone who needs to work full-time and can not relocate. The ADN program is manageable enough that I can work ~33 hours/week and then when I am done I can go straight into a ADN-BSN program (online!!!!) while working as a nurse.
The fact of the matter is that for those of us with B.A./B.S. degrees in unrelated fields the ADN and BSN programs take approximately the same length of time (about 2 years with pre-reqs knocked out of the way---although the ADN courseload isn't as heavy 12 hours vs 16+ hours) so if money and distance aren't factors I would go straight into the BSN. The ADN-BSN route is SLIGHTLY longer (1-1.5 years on top of the ADN) but not so much so that I am willing to pay tens of thousands of more dollars, travel 3 hours roundtrip each day, spend every waking moment attending class, working, or doing homework and having no time to spend with my family...
Specializes in Float Pool, acute care, management/leadership.
Hi lifeisaflowergarden,
I echo your sentiments because I also have a liberal arts degree that I just completed last August. I think the best answer is that it's pretty much contingent upon each individual. I actually was accepted into an ABSN program in December, but I decided against it a few weeks ago. My reasoning was not only for the fact of my sanity (nursing in 12 months seems too intensive for me - especially since my transcript looks more like a law student than that of someone entering health care), and also it was pretty costly. I haven't even taken science classes for about 4 years now. At any rate, I found the ADN program to be more economical for me. I don't know where you plan to relocate, but here in Seattle, I know of a girl that was allowed to advance to a master's program at the UW with just her BA/BS and a RN degree. She just had to exemplify leadership characteristics and other intangibles. Moreover, another school in the state, WSU, lets you move into their master's program by combining your bachelors + RN, and only two other theory classes that you have to take from them.
In Seattle, UW is the top nursing school in the country and many of the surrounding community colleges have taken a cue from UW and have incorporated stats, leadership/ethics, and definitely pharmacology into their curriculum. Sure, you walk away with an ADN, but it's half the the cost. Like I said, it really is just contingent upon where you are. I know personally, as a liberal arts major, you often get tired of researching and writing theory after theory. The ADN program might be a nice hiatus for you. It's appealing for me to just learn the technical aspect of something for once.
I think master's entry programs are a good idea, but I dislike having the caveat of finishing within a certain amount of years and picking a specialty. For me, I wouldn't know what to choose and I would want time as a nurse to discover my professional niche first.
I hope this helps and that it wasn't mostly incessant rambling.
Thank you for your response j450n. It's so coincidental that you mention Seattle b/c I lived there for 7 years and did my undergrad at UW-Seattle. If I had known I would pursue nursing, then I would have stayed in WA b/c I think that area has a lot of great educational programs to choose from. My game plan right now is to apply for an associates and a BSN degree and see what happens.
Specializes in Float Pool, acute care, management/leadership.
Thank you for your response j450n. It's so coincidental that you mention Seattle b/c I lived there for 7 years and did my undergrad at UW-Seattle. If I had known I would pursue nursing, then I would have stayed in WA b/c I think that area has a lot of great educational programs to choose from. My game plan right now is to apply for an associates and a BSN degree and see what happens.
Yeah to UW, I just graduated from there. Best of luck to you :)
Hello, this may be off topic but I'm interested in nursing and was going to apply for the accelerated program at UMassBoston. However, since I have not completed the prerequisites I missed the deadline to apply for this year. I earned a BA in CMN and was wondering how it worked if I applied for the 4year program, or if this is even allowed. Would my credits transfer over from my BA so I would not technically be a 4year student since I already have the general requirements? If so, I was thinking I would finish around the same time as I would if I took the accelerated program since I missed this years start date and could start right away with the 4year program. Am I thinking this our correctly?
lifeisaflowergarden
15 Posts
Freedom42, thank you for the specifics about the possible curriculum differences between the RN and the BSN. I now understand that there may be curriculum differences that I should investigate.
I wish that I could complete my BSN in another state w/out having to pay out-of-state tuition b/c my state only has one 4-year public BSN program. That's the one disadvantage with higher education organized at the state level. (I'm not interested in a hospital-based program).