Associate's or Accelerated BSN?

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · Jan 16, 2020

I think that is a good plan. You save a lot of money and you get to work sooner. One thing I would do is within a year after you get your ADN I would start knocking out your RN to BSN. Where having a BSN really helps is it simply opens more doors. Any management position in any legit hospital will require at least a BSN. At some point you will probably want to get away from the bedside and the BSN helps make that happen.

AspiringNurse2019, CNA · Jan 29, 2020

Have you calculated your living expenses if you choose the ABSN? Your final decision depends a lot on how soon you want to enter the workforce as a nurse and your financial situation. One of the reasons I decided on an ABSN program is because I want to gain work experience as a nurse as soon as possible. I was going to do an entry-level MSN but the tuition, books, and living expenses would have been well over 100k, which is way too much for me. So I suggest you write down your timeline goals and get some rough estimates of your living expenses. That way you can compare and see what's best for you!

Best Wishes!

FtrMdyf_CNM · Jan 29, 2020

I would apply to both and see what happens and go from there. Nursing programs nationwide are competitive, some travel cross country to be a student in the one program they got into. So just be mindful a high GPA isn’t the sole determining factor as I believe the mean GPA for students applying is a 3.7-3.8... ( well for my school anyway). Just wait and see and go from there.

TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN · Jan 29, 2020

You need to talk to both school about financial aide and the actual required classes. Your degree will cut out some of what you need for an associate, but typically you're missing the biology prereqs for a nursing degree. This can stretch out some associate programs, or make you have to take more classes than just the part time nursing program. But on the other side, an ABSN works letting you skip those biology classes but you're learning physiology as you go and some people just aren't good without that foundation already being there, so how you learn plays into all of this too. You have to talk to both schools, because it's very possible that the cost and classroom time is actually around the same for both.

Financially, you're typically not eligible for a pell grant either way anymore. But some state grants, depending on your state might not be an option for one of the degrees. So that has to be factored in.

If you want to work, classroom and study time is the least of your worries in nursing school. The thing that's going to potentially get in the way of work is your clinicals, which are a state requirement, and depending on the school can become a problem if you work. Some schools guarantee that there will absolutely never be a clinical on certain days of the week, but other schools, if your instructor is sick on your clinical day, you're calling out of work tomorrow or you're failing out of the program as incomplete. DEFINITELY compare both schools clinical schedule and makeup schedule if you prefer to work while you go.

But apply to both, your GPA is only a small part of everything. Don't listen to what you read on forums. Nobody is getting denied nursing school because they only had a 3.7 and everyone else had a 3.8 or higher. People typically just don't want to accept that their application or background just sucked. They weren't turned down because their "GPA wasn't competitive enough." They were turned down because of reasons like it took them 2 years to finish 8 classes and the school doesn't see them being able to keep up with their curriculum if they're that limited on their ability to take classes. But then someone with only the school's 2.5 minimum who took 2 years for prereqs but has every single general education class completed might be the one who got the spot that first person wanted. So much more than just grades go into their decisions on who they accept.