degree advice please

[firstyearRN]

I have a Bachelors degree in another field. I'm wondering what the benefit of a General Entry Level Masters Degree in Nursing is versus an accelerated BSN. If I eventually want to be a nurse practioner, what is the benefit of having a general entry level masters degree before hand? Is there any point? Thanks so much for your input. I'm very confuses as to why all these entry level master's programs are replacing the accelerated bsn programs.

Thanks!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I would go the BSN and then the NP after that, probably will take the same amountof time.

The benefit however, of the MSN first is you will have some master's levels courses that you might not have to repeat in your NP portion like Patho or Pharm., but you're probably going to take courses that won't apply to the NP program and you will loose time.

[elkpark]

There is no benefit; you would be able, later on, to complete a post-Master's certificate to become an NP, instead of starting from scratch and doing an entire second MSN, but that would still be additional time, expense, and effort. Surely you're aware that there are scads of direct-entry NP Master's programs out there? What would be the appeal of a general/generic MSN for you?

BTW, direct-entry MSN programs aren't "replacing" accelerated BSNs -- they were around long before anyone ever thought of an accelerated BSN program. It's the accelerated BSN programs that are new.

Since you're asking for advice (in the title of your thread), I would encourage you to pursue basic licensure and get some real experience as a nurse (observing the larger world of nursing first-hand) before making a decision about wanting to pursue an advanced practice role (NP or any of the others) -- I've known quite a few people who went the direct-entry MSN route because they thought they wanted to be NPs, CNMs, whatever (with no nursing background or experience), only to find after they had invested the time, $$$, and effort in the education, that they didn't like being an NP/CNM/whatever at all. They ended up heavily in student loan debt, seriously unhappy in their choice of jobs for which they were qualified/credentialed, and frantically trying to figure out what else they can do for a living. That's certainly not the case for the majority of direct-entry students, but it does happen.