Best Route To Nursing

[Margaret14]

I'm currently a high school junior and aspiring nurse. Like many other juniors I am on the college prowl. Today I had my first meeting with my guidance counsleor which was daunting to say the least. Up until now I had assumed that I would get an undergrad BSN, work as an RN to make a little money and then get my masters. However, my counselor suggested that I get a bachelors in something other than nursing for starters and then apply for a masters in nursing from there so that I could be starting from a broader base. I didn't even know that this was an option. But he did admit that his knowlege of the nursing degree system was sporifice and said I should talk to some real nurses.So I open the auestion to you all, if I want to become a nurse, and then perhaps one day a nurse practitioner, what are my undergrad options?

[Topher53]

Hey, I'm a freshman in college (but technically a sophomore due to credits). Find out what Pre reqs are needed for the university you're looking into, and make sure to balance some hard ones with some easy ones.

[Sparrow91]

I do not think that you are able to get a BA in another field and then get a MS in nursing. I have looked myself at some masters programs for nursing and they all have stated that you need a current RN lisence. I really am not sure what the purpose of haveing a BA in another field and how it will benefit you. Did the counceler suggest a BA in particular and how exactly it would broaden your base?

[Saysfaa]

It isn't an option in nursing as it is in most other fields. You will need a BSN before applying to a masters program.

You can get the BSN by going to a BSN program.

Or by going to a community college to get an associated degree in nursing, working for a while then taking a bridge program to a BSN. Techincally, you don't have to work for a while before the bridge program but they are usually designed for that and it takes advantage of one of the main benefits of going this route - allowing you to work as an RN sooner and to spread out the costs of your schooling.

Or by getting a bachelors in anything else then applying to a BSN accelerated program (which mostly means it requires the nursing specific classes and assumes you have the gen eds from your other degree). This is similar to what your advisor recommends but adds at least a year and two of full time school to your path. There is benefit to a wider education - but people don't go this route for that reason. They do it because they either didn't choose nursing early enough in their college career (and/or life) or didn't have the grades/good letters of recommendation/good enough interview skills/good enough test scores to get into a nursing program directly.

In a few areas of the country you could also get an LPN, bridge to an RN via an associated degree, then bridge to a BSN - there may be a very few programs that bridge from LPN to BSN.