CHAD degree then ABSN or Straight BSN?

[KZE15]

Hello everyone!

I am at a crossroads in my life where I have a few choices to move forward. I am currently a 4th year student at a Cal State, and pre-nursing major. I'd love it if I could get some of your words of wisdom, encouragement, two cents, and what have you!

I have applied to two programs - USF and Samuel Merritt University. I have been accepted into the USF nursing program, but have decided not to enroll because of monetary reasons and because of the length of the program. I won't be hearing from Samuel Merritt until mid-June.

Option #1 is, hopefully, get into SMU for Fall 2013 and start the program in the Fall. But if I don't ....

Option #2 is: take Fall 2013 off (because I'm done with all my pre-reqs), and reapply for Spring 2014, I'm hoping I'll have a better chance to get in this semester because there are no sister school priority students taking up the spots for the Spring. This would take me a total of = 2.5 years (including the semester off) and about 80k as well.

Option #3 is, stay at my Cal State school, and pursue a BA in Child Development immediately this coming Fall 2013, which would take me about 1.5 years to complete (~15k), graduate with the CHAD degree, then apply to an accelerated BSN program (~65k) = in a total of 2.5 years and 80k

*Taking out the loans isn't that big of a deal for me, because it's just something I'm willing to invest in, and since it's the about the same amount of time and money, that's where I'm having the most difficult decision with.

I'm basically stuck between a rock and hard place, and if there are any of you out there with advise or just something to help me make this decision, PLEASE DO SO!

Any input is greatly appreciated :)

[MissBeee]

Hi kayevangelista!

I'm in sort of a similar situation. I just finished my 4th year at a CSU and I will be graduating next spring with a BA degree in liberal studies. I started off as a freshmen at my CSU as a pre-nursing major and switched to liberal studies after 2 years of being so discouraged with never getting into any prereq classes. After a while I regretted not sticking to pre-nursing and persuing my dream of becoming a nurse. So I plan on applying to SMU's ABSN program after graduation. I'll be finishing prereq classes as electives on top of my upper division classes to graduate and have really been stressed out about the whole thing but that seems like my only option.

So anyway with your situation hopefully you get into SMU for Fall 2013. If you don't option #3 sounds appealing because you would recieve a bachelor's degree. Option #2 sounds appealing with the break before reapplying (maybe volunteer at a hospital to gain experience or re-taking classes for better grades?) and you'd stay focused on nursing without being distracted by Chad classes. I'm not familiar with BSN stats but it does sound like you have a good chance of getting in the second time around. Well all of this probably wasn't much help but that's my two cents, good luck! :)

[Melodies of Legend]

Firstly, look up which school has a higher NCLEX pass rate and start asking around which hospitals favor which grads. This will make a huge difference and make your choice clearer.

From what I heard, I degree in a field that is unrelated in your area of nursing doesn't really count as a bonus when you're job hunting later on.

[Jc90]

Hi, saw that you got into USF with a 3.0 gpa. I was wondering if you had any failing grades? Thanks!

[calipoppy04]

I'm not sure if you have made your decision since it is now October, but if you did not get accepted, maybe shoot for the BSN and reapply to SMU as an ABSN student. I attended the Nursing Success Seminar at SMU this summer and we learned that there are few slots for BSN applicants who are not affiliated with the sister schools. During one application period, they were not able to accept any outside students because all of the slots were filled with the sister school applicants, and during another application period, they were only able to accept like 6 outside students. They have much more room for ABSN students. Good luck!