best option

[brandi-007]

I am currently enrolled in my local community college(my major at this point is education) I am considering changing my major to obtain an associates in nursing, however they also offer a degree that covers all general education that i would need to tranfer to a 4year college and go straight into the technical courses. I guess im just wondering which of these would be the best option?

[ddunnrn]

There are tax advantages to getting the Associates Degree first: once you are an RN, all future RN education is a federal tax deduction. On the other hand, you have to consider how difficult it's going to be to get a job as a new grad w/o a BSN.

[zoe92]

Look into the job market around you to see which degree is being hired. If you plan on eventually getting the BSN, why not go for it now?

[hgrimmett]

The local community college near me requires a separate admission form to get into nursing school. I would suggest that you check and see if yours does as well; if so, apply for the nursing program as soon as you are eligible, and (assuming you get in) then decide whether or not to continue at that school. If you don't get in, at least you have the second option that you mentioned.

You also need to talk to whatever four year colleges that you are considering; find out what prerequisites they will need from you and how much competition there is to get into their nursing program. It would stink if you went ahead and did the second option you mentioned without checking into it, only to find out (when you started at the 4 yr school) that your old school only required you to have 6 math credits to get your diploma but the 4 yr college wants you to have taken 9 math credits as an undergrad and one of them has to be statistics.. which you do not have the prerequisites for, which means you end up needing at least two more math classes just to meet your gen ed requirements.