Best Preparation for Work - Accelerated or Traditional BSN

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 7, 2016

I have a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, a nursing pre-requisite GPA of 4.0, and have begun the process of application for nursing school at a state university. I am trying to decide which track to choose: accelerated or traditional. The accelerated program is condensed into 3.5 semesters, while the traditional second baccalaureate degree may be completed in 5 semesters. I know I can be successful in either program, but wonder how prepared for clinical practice I will be upon graduation. If you have trained new grads, I would appreciate your opinions to help guide my program choice. Thank you and God bless.

I've trained new grads from the accelerated program who were wonderful, and I've trained some that were so awful they never made it off orientation. I've trained new grads from the traditional program that were wonderful and some who were so awful they never made it off orientation. I think it's more about the new grad and (if I dare to say it without being accused of nefarious motives) their attitude. I've also trained new grads from the MSN as entry to nursing program -- some of them were awful and some were wonderful, although the majority of those students were awful. Maybe it's the local program.

When making the decision, factor in the total cost and your need/ability to have a job while going through the program versus student loans. Factor in the NCLEX pass rate of graduates of both programs, and if you know any nurses who are local, ask them about the reputation of both programs in the community. That may help you to make your decision.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Aug 9, 2016

I graduated from an ABSN program and believe that it prepared me for my first nursing job. It is not only the quality of the program, but the quality of the clinical instructors. I can safely say that my Med/Surg instructor was my mentor and role model of how to be the best nurse I could be. He was extremely sociable to the patients and families and held himself to a high standard in his job.

oceanblue52 · Aug 9, 2016

I agree that it depends on the person. I applied for both types of programs and had my choice between both accelerated and traditional. I ended up opting for traditional because I wanted more time to absorb the info, and also enough time off to work in a hospital to get some experience. It would be difficult to work a CNA job in an accelerated program (because schedule coordination is very stressful), but I'm sure here are people that have successfully done it. Echoing Ruby Vee, there have been excellent students from both classes in my pr Grams, and also not so bright ones. Really depends on how much time you have to put into it, your academic tenaciousness, and goals.

Barmherzigkeit · Aug 29, 2016

Ruby Vee, thank you for your honest and kind words. I take them as very encouraging. I'm blessed to be in a position to give any program my full attention; therefore, I plan to give the accelerated program 120%.