Do you have a previous bachelors degree before going into nursing? (RPN/RN/LPN)

[suits2scrubz]

I'm asking because I am 24, with no good career prospects, and a bachelors degree in human resources. Looking to do practical nursing (since it's shorter and cheaper) this coming Fall. I hate the feeling of being the old one!! LOL!!

[Neats, BSN]

Before I became an RN I had Bachelor in Business and Healthcare Administration and Masters in Healthcare administration and Project management.

I think being in HR will make you a very well rounded nurse. I would however pursue a RN avenue though and there are accelerated programs out there you can take. You must have your "STEM" classes out of the way however i.e. Anatomy & Physiology with lab, Chemistry with lab, and other classes that require lab components.

You can take those at a community college which would be less expensive. Make sure the college is regional accredited and once completed save your syllabus for you will need it to transfer to a nursing school. All this take up to 2 years before you actually start nursing school.

Lastly because the schools are now so competitive and based on GPA (which to me only shows you are book smart) you will want to get the highest grade you can. These classes are intense so can be very time consuming.

Good Luck to you.

If you do go the LPN/LVN route you can use your BA degree however when it comes to supervision for any type of clinical skills you will not be able to manage- you will only be able to manage the "Administrative" part of the nurse employee, reality is you will be "Judged" each time you tell/instruct an RN about a nursing skill issues, I would do the same thing- if it is something I would do regardless then fine but if you are instructing me to do a nursing clinic tasks that is new or different I would seek out a RN for peer to peer. No offense to LPN's but the reality is most states do not allow LPN's to perform assessments and my job is to assess my patient as a RN.

I am responsible for my license and I will always place my working tasks on me and no one else, I would never want to place myself or a LPN/LVN in a position where we are discussion patient cares, patient care outcomes and ultimately if something went wrong who would be responsible.

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

I really hope you'll go straight for your BSN. You won't regret it.

[monkeyshines, ASN]

Still doing my prereqs for an ASN degree, but you would not be old going back to school at 24. In my micro class, my lab group is me, almost 30, a 39 yr old, a 29 yr old, and the youngest at 24. Age is just a number anyway, and we're all trying to accomplish the same thing.

[firstgenrn, BSN, RN]

I'm 26 with a BA in Spanish, and I just now started the process of applying for nursing schools. I've learned that being the old one has its perks sometimes haha

I always thought I would be a nurse with a BSN at 21, but life happens! I'm glad I'm not the only one though :)

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

Um....24 will not make you the OLD one, that one made me laugh. Especially for an LPN program. I had much older classmates for m LPN program than my RN Bridge. The traditional RN program had students of all ages, but a lot more of the classic college age was in that one. More and more adults are moving on to second careers these days.