BSN vs Associates degree - does it really matter?

U.S.A. New York

Published

I am currently enrolled at the NYU accelerated BSN program and I had to take a leave of absence because I can't afford the tuition. I got all the aid I could, but it was still $10k out of pocket. Can't get private loans because of bad credit. I was looking at other accelerated BSN programs and it seems that majority are at private $$ schools. Hunter has one, but they won't answer my questions regarding prereqs (I already have some that may or may not qualify) and SUNY Downstate has so many prereqs it will take a while for me to complete them all and then who knows if I will get in. I already have a BS degree in another field. I am consider Associates degrees as an alternative, since community colleges are cheap.

As an ASN, would I be at a big disadvantage getting hired? I would love to work in the NICU ultimately and would probably do RN-BSN program down the road, but I just want to get a degree and start working. Are there any ASN programs that are better than others?

Mother baby is actually a unit that is not that difficult to get into. A few of my friends got their jobs as new grads in the maternity unit. However the NICU part and the L&D part in maternity are definetely the difficult spots. Also as far as employment in NYC I'm noticing a lot of it is overnight.

As everyone has said before, it may not be like this everywhere but NYC is slowly starting to phase out the new grad ADN nurses, wanting either a BSN or "ADN's enrolled in a BSN program with graduation within a year of hire."

I understand your frustration with CUNY. I went to a CUNY college and tried to transfer to Hunter but to be allowed into Hunter's nursing program you have to be in that school at least a semester. Not to mention the administration is horrible, people at Hunter are particularly unfriendly when it comes to transferring (that's how it got it's rep as not being transfer friendly). Another thing I didn't like is that from what I've heard some of the nursing lectures are giant groups of students. Meaning all the nursing students take the same lecture class and I can't imagine learning in a lecture with 100 other people but that's just my personal thing. And the intro nursing class is online.

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http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/APLIST.PDF

this is a pretty comprehensive list of most accelerated nursing programs. good luck!

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