First, let me say that I am NOT trying to offend anybody, or say that one type of program is better than the other, I just would like some insight on this topic.
Do you feel that BSN programs are slightly harder than Diploma/ADN programs? I know that no matter what type of program you graduate from, everybody takes the same NCLEX exam and all become registered nurses. However, I know that students in BSN programs spend more hours per week sitting in class (thus taking more credits per semester), and spend lot of time doing assignments and writing papers, etc. in addition to studying for exams (as well as having more exams per semester usually). However, I also know that Diploma/ADN students usually have more hours in clinical.
I ask this because I am currently enrolled in a BSN program and it is a TON of work. I feel as if I am constantly in a never ending state of anxiety and stress. So far I am making it through, but am not really getting the grades I'd like to be as I'd like to maintain a certain GPA for future plans of going to grad school. There is an ADN program near where I live and after speaking to someone from there, I may be able to transfer some of my credits into the ADN program and be at an advanced placement level there. I have so much busy homework assignments, papers, and forums posts that I am supposed to do each week that I find it very difficult to manage as it gets in the way of my study time for exams, perhaps that's what makes a BSN program feel a little harder?
I'm starting to feel like it would've been more manageable to first get my RN and then my BSN.
1. Both ADN and BSN are responsible for including the same volume of information.
2. If your mom is in a car accident and sent by helicopter to the nearest trauma center, do you want her nurses and doctors to be people who ACTIVELY sought the easiest path to a degree?
3. Job availability will likely be limited by an ADN.
4. Diploma and ADN are two different things. They are not interchangeable.
5. If grad school is your goal, ADN is the long route there.
6. If you have finished your gen eds and prereqs, do you know how crazy it would be to stop the BSN and get the ADN? You've already finished the thing that differentiates the two. And when you would finish the ADN, you'd be stuck in school another year just to change your degree type.
7. You seem to anecdotally feel/say the difference between the two is ADN is hands on, and BSN is more theory. Even if that were uniformly true, you do realize the theory is still required to learn, right? Nurses don't just do things. We actually need to know stuff. Doing things isn't hard.
8. If you're feeling in over your head now, you need to recognize that this isn't going to get easier. You have to go through all of this to be a nurse. You have to learn it. Don't resist it. Embrace it. It sucks now, but honestly, school is the easiest part of becoming a nurse.
So, if you don't have it in you to finish BSN (you'd be crazy to transfer at this point), you need to grab a course catalog and decide if a different career path might be a better fit for you.
First, let me say that I am NOT trying to offend anybody, or say that one type of program is better than the other, I just would like some insight on this topic.
Do you feel that BSN programs are slightly harder than Diploma/ADN programs? I know that no matter what type of program you graduate from, everybody takes the same NCLEX exam and all become registered nurses. However, I know that students in BSN programs spend more hours per week sitting in class (thus taking more credits per semester), and spend lot of time doing assignments and writing papers, etc. in addition to studying for exams (as well as having more exams per semester usually). However, I also know that Diploma/ADN students usually have more hours in clinical.
I ask this because I am currently enrolled in a BSN program and it is a TON of work. I feel as if I am constantly in a never ending state of anxiety and stress. So far I am making it through, but am not really getting the grades I'd like to be as I'd like to maintain a certain GPA for future plans of going to grad school. There is an ADN program near where I live and after speaking to someone from there, I may be able to transfer some of my credits into the ADN program and be at an advanced placement level there. I have so much busy homework assignments, papers, and forums posts that I am supposed to do each week that I find it very difficult to manage as it gets in the way of my study time for exams, perhaps that's what makes a BSN program feel a little harder?
I'm starting to feel like it would've been more manageable to first get my RN and then my BSN.
I don't know how far along you are in your BSN program.
Did you just complete your first semester, and are now going into your second semester? (First year ?)
What has your current advisor told you about your progression?
Are you able to talk to anyone in the class ahead of you?
There are a lot of unanswered questions involving coping skills that might be your saving grace.
There are also a lot of tricks of the trade that can help you work smarter, not harder. This is why you want to connect with those who have been before you.
You can always forge ahead in whatever direction you choose, but you can never "go back". Make sure that you've exhausted your resources before you walk away from classes that may have an expiration date for Grad school. Some MSN programs require that your Statistics be only 5 years old. Sometimes there's a recency requirement on some of the "-ology" classes. It just depends.
Some may think that something magical happens between an Associates Degree exit point and a Bachelors Degree entrance point, and they are sadly mistaken. The Associates Degree in Nursing is packing all that nursing stuff in there so tight that the seams are bursting ~ so that when you continue on to BSN, you're continuing on in a degree progression.
elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P
508 Posts
Don't you dare...