Decisions, Decisions....

[FritoPie]

I am once again questioning and possibily changing my plans. I keep going back and forth. I am now thinking about (as I had originally planned) going straight for the BSN instead of going through the ADN. The only problem is that if I do decide on going straight for the BSN I will have to commute two hours (one way) to school. There are no local schools here that offer a Bachelor's in Nursing and moving is not an option. What do you guys think about the driving time? Does it sound doable? I know I would probably get sick of it really quick, but I think the payoff in the end would be worth it. If I go straight for the BSN it will take less the time than getting an ADN and then doing the RN to BSN transition. Please let me know what you guys think you would do if you were faced with this decision.

Thanks, Linda

[caliotter3]

I was in the same boat as you. The two local ADN programs both accepted me, but I decided to opt for the BSN program with the same kind of commute. I did as much of my prereqs (I had to repeat some stuff from the past) and gen ed stuff locally. But what happened to me was: the commute started to get to me at about the 3-4 yr mark. I was burning out b/c I was going to school full time, working a minimum of one full time job, and working as much part time as I could get scheduled for. I started to slow down and my house of cards (literally, my credit cards were paying for the educ) started to tumble. When my mortgage-paying full time job laid me off 8 weeks prior to grad, my world fell apart. I never finished and it is yrs later and I feel like a wall is in front of me. My one word of advice: if you choose the commute route: don't dilly-dally w/your credits. And don't overload yourself with too many jobs and responsibilities (I was single mom of teenage problem girl). If you can get to your school on a commuter train or bus, look into that. It really helps. Good luck.

[caliotter3]

BTW: Back then, I never heard of online RN to BSN. What a difference that would have made. I could have gone to one of the ADN programs and got the BSN online. But, oh, well.

[Cynthiann]

The past couple of weeks I've been going back and forth trying to decide which route I should take too. I was even considering going the LPN route just to work sooner because I am literally living on student loans at the time. Right now I am about to start my second semester of pre-reqs. I am leaning towards the ADN route because my goal is to get into graduate school by 2007. Doing it with an ADN is the only way to reach my goal because I have time to get my ICU experience before applying. As others said, I could work and get them to pay for my BSN which would only take me 9 months to complete.