Career Change to Nursing- Master's Program?

[seeker43]

Hello Everybody,

I am a high school teacher (English) with a master's degree in public policy who's thinking about a career change to nursing. A friend of mind who's a nurse suggested that I investigate master's programs in nursing. His thinking was that since I already have a master's degree, I ought to leverage that and get into a full time nursing master's program. Sound like solid advice? Thanks

[sunray12]

It depends on what path you want to take in nursing. To get into a direct entry master's program you need a bachelor's plus whatever prerequisites the school requires. Direct entry is probably most beneficial for the nurse practitioner specialty if this is what you want to do and you want to get in with little or no time spent at the regular rn level. Otherwise if you get a generalist MSN you would start as a new grad rn at the same level as an associate's or diploma prepared nurse. Most rn's need a year or two of experience before they have career flexibility. See the specialty boards (specialty tab at the top of the page) for more info.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

To add on to what sunray12 said - it really depends on which DE-MSN program you go into. Some just plop you out with an RN and are really glorified ABSN programs, others require you to select which advanced practice you want to enter before you even start classes, and the one I'm in goes through all the core requirements to become an APN, cutting the time needed for a post-Master's certificate roughly in half. I'd suggest finding out what Master's (and ABSN) programs are near you, or are in a city you're willing to move to, and see what you get from the program and what the prerequisites are.

[wannabmidwife]

I was a teacher as well with an MS is Reading Ed. I couldn't find any direct entry masters program in my area so what I chose to do was the quickest and cheapest for me. I took the science prereqs at a junior college and just yesterday mailed my application to an ASN program that's only a year long and really cheap, only about $3K because I have so many of the classes done already. Really depends on your situation and how much time and money you want to invest (again). I chose this route because of the reasons already stated, but also because I didn't want to invest in a career that may not work out like the first one did. It's difficult to make this decision to go back again with kids and all the responsibilities that I'm sure you have as well.