ASN at TCC or BSN at FSU?

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  1. FSU or TCC?

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      FSU (Accelerated BSN)
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      TCC (ASN with more clinical hours)
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      Other (see comments)

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I want to get my RN in Tallahassee, and I should be able to finish my pre-requisites in the Spring. I already have a Bachelor's in Psychology from FSU from about 10 years ago, so I qualify for Accelerated BSN program at FSU. But Tallahassee Community College offers a nice ASN program as well.

FSU's program (ABSN) only starts in the spring, so even though it's a year shorter than the TCC program, I would only finish one semester sooner. I'm eager to start working as soon as possible, but I've *heard* that TCC graduates have more hands-on experience and that they are better-prepared to start nursing than FSU graduates.

So I did a little digging. It turns out, there's a huge difference in the distribution of hours, between the two programs.

TCC's ASN program has about 360 lecture hours and about 950 clinical hours over two years.

FSU's Accelerated BSN program has about 500 lecture hours and about 700 clinical hours over one year.

So my question to all you experienced nurses is: how much of a difference do these clinical hours make? It seems to me like they would be pretty important. But FSU offers a more advanced degree in less time.

Something to consider is that the two major hospitals in Tallahassee (from what I've heard) are taking on ASN graduates only with the understanding that they will complete a BSN within three years. An online RN-to-BSN probably wouldn't be too much trouble, but I have my eye on an online MSN program anyway (and they have a bridge program for ASNs).

What do you think?

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