Better to enter as RN or get NP first?

[breezee9]

I am currently a college sophomore and planning on joining one of the service branches. I have been looking quite a bit at the Nurse Candidate Program the Army and Navy offer, however, I do want to further my BSN and become a Nurse Practitioner. My question is would it be better to try and enter after getting my BSN and get the branch to help pay for grad school, or wait until after I get my NP degree? My biggest issue is that I don't want to wait 5 or so years after I get my BSN to get my Master's. Any advice or knowledge of how soon a nurse can go back and further their degree while serving would be awesome!

Thanks so much! :)

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I would get the BSN and some experience, then see where the services are as far as accepting folks. Right now the Army is requiring two years of experience for applicants:

https://allnurses.com/government-military-nursing/some-questions-about-284181-page4.html#post5732389

Like the civilian world, the Army has more applicants than positions at present. It's very, very competitive to get in. I'm pretty sure the other services are in the same condition.

I think you should also ask yourself what you want to do -- do you want to be a nurse or an NP in the service? They are utilized very differently by the Army, not sure about Navy.