Anyone drop their BSN program for an ADN program?

[Username invalid, RN]

OK, so right now I have an 86% in foundations and an 87% in assessment, but my clinical class and patho are kicking my rear. I can't imagine two years of this. I miss my husband, my cat, my sleep, and I don't want to ruin my marriage (my LIFE) over two years of this.

I'm getting 4-5 hours of sleep at night and no longer retaining information.

Has anyone jumped out of a BSN program to go ADN successfully? The particular ADN program I want accepted me last fall, but I turned them down to go for the BSN program because all of my prereqs for the BSN program were done & I had my associates degree.

My plan, if I do this, would be to bridge to BSN later on.

It've done all the incidental classes for the ADN program, so my work load with be significantly reduced each semester. (Ex: 9 credit hours ADN vs 16 BSN, pretty much all 4 semesters through).

I'm sure many might think that I'm "being a baby." That's fine. I'm a slow learner and I'm no ashamed. I realize, too, that many ADN programs are soul crushingly tough, also.

Any thoughts? Encouragement? Tough advice?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Don't fall for the illusion that the ADN will be miles easier than the BSN program. It's not. It may be shorter than the BSN program, you may have less credit hours each semester, and it may not cover a few things that the BSN program does such as research (though many ADN programs are starting to include research and other typical BSN content in their curriculums). But easier? I wouldn't bank on it. If patho and clinical are kicking your butt now, they'll keep kicking it in the ADN program.

I can see you point about not wanting to carry so many credit hours each semester, and can understand if you wanted to cut that down, even if meant a degree change. But don't kid yourself into thinking things will be easy-peasy from here on out if you do it. There's a lot of work still ahead of you, though with less classes to take each semester, you may be able to handle it somewhat better.

Best of luck whatever you decide!

[Simplistic]

What makes you think an ADN program would be easier than a BSN program? It's not.

[AJJKRN]

As someone who went through an awesome but soul crushing ASN program, (and then did an RN to BSN and now a BSN to MSN) you may not find it any easier and will have to spend more time getting your BSN after graduation. Will you lose out on federal funding by doing this? Would you have to wait to be accepted?

Credit hours are also not a good gauge of the work expected. For example in my area, the college credits and the university credits for say micro are weighted differently but are on the same scale of difficulty so they both transfer. Even in my MSN, some of the 2 credit hours classes are way more involved than any of the higher credit hours. Besides that, if the school is a good one, the learning will be a fast and furious condensed curriculum that will include clinicals cram-packed into the program.

I would say if you're already accepted into an accredited, non-profit, high NCLEX pass rate BSN school then such it up buttercup and keep your eye on the prize.

I have already typed this this week but what if the grass is not greener and you drown and wish you were putting all your effort into getting a BSN instead?

[NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN]

At my community college, for the ADN, they purposely have to keep the official "credit hours" low enough that they will all successfully transfer to a university (universities only allow a certain # of transfer credits). My final semester was technically 9 units, but easily took up 60 hours per week. It killed us that we couldn't get full financial aid because we were technically "part time." Ridiculous! Don't let the credit hours fool you.

In addition to that, you will often find that the clinical portion of ADN programs has a tendency to be more rigorous than at the BSN level (before someone objects, this is not ALWAYS the case, but it seems to be most common). So if clinical is where you are struggling, you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you switch to ADN.

It's 2 years of hell regardless.

[Username invalid, RN]

Poop. Thanks guys. I needed a reality check, I guess.

[Username invalid, RN]

One more teenie-weenie bit of loser whining -- the patho & pharma classes that are in my program are both higher level classes now than they would be back at the good old community college.

This 4 year college that I'm at is accredited, has a fantastic NCLEX pass rate, isn't easy to get into, and has stellar reputation. However, they DO make all students take take 6 credits of garbage classes (not related to nursing what-so-ever) in the summer time.

Doubt anyone will cut me any slack though.

Nursing school bites! (Not that I expect a whole lot of sympathy, as most of you seem to have made it out alive).

[caliotter3]

Where I come from the ASN programs are a tougher row to hoe. Investigate thoroughly before making any changes.

[lhflanurseNP, APRN]

Path and Pharm are probably the most important classes after anatomy! The board exams for RNs do not take into account a ADN or BSN degree...it is the same! If your local ADN program is doing "lower level" classes...that is a red flag that you will have problems! Look at the number of posts made from people who are taking boards 5, 6, 7...times. Nursing school is not easy...nor should it be. When you are out working, YOU are responsible for a person's life.

[Username invalid, RN]

Path and Pharm are probably the most important classes after anatomy! The board exams for RNs do not take into account a ADN or BSN degree...it is the same! If your local ADN program is doing "lower level" classes...that is a red flag that you will have problems! Look at the number of posts made from people who are taking boards 5, 6, 7...times. Nursing school is not easy...nor should it be. When you are out working, YOU are responsible for a person's life.

Sure. Of course. I want to learn the content in my classes, not just be smacked with information that I need more time work with. I've heard the analogy that learning in nursing school is like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant.

Maybe I'll take an extra semester to do pharmacology & a research class on their own. I can extend my program by 2 extra semesters, so that option looks promising to me.

I haven't made my mind up. All the same, I appreciate the input.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

LOL - I think you may eventually realize that those "garbage" classes ARE related to nursing..... just about everything is. Students are usually so focused on the visible 'skills' of nursing that the value of these other courses doesn't even hit their radar screens until much later.

Wishing you all the best on your educational journey - we all made it, you can too.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

LOL - I think you may eventually realize that those "garbage" classes ARE related to nursing..... just about everything is. Students are usually so focused on the visible 'skills' of nursing that the value of these other courses doesn't even hit their radar screens until much later.

I think that of all of the fluff (I disagree with labelling them "garbage") classes I took, only four were not really related to nursing in any way: 2 courses of US History, State & Local Government and US Government. But if you go to a school that is in Texas, you have to take such classes regardless of what your degree is in d/t Texas legislation.

Now if I actually lived in Texas again, I might find those courses useful in my nursing practice. But here on the West Coast, they're not doing too much for me

But the rest of the fluff classes were useful to me in some way or another as a nurse. Public speaking/communications was probably the biggest fluff class contributor, as it has helped me immensely with presentations at work.