Education advice

elkpark · Jun 25, 2010

If you are planning on staying in nursing (as opposed to getting a baccalaureate degree in something else in order to get out of nursing and into something else), there's no other baccalaureate degree that will benefit you as much (professionally) as a BSN.

If you want to complete a degree in something else simply for the personal satisfaction, that's a different matter. If the point, though, is to advance your career in nursing, get the BSN.

PetiteOpRN · Jun 27, 2010

It really depends on where you want to end up. If you aspire to be an advanced practice nurse (like a CRNA or NP) or teach nursing, the BSN would certainly be the way to go.

There are, however, MSN programs that you can apply to without a BSN. These are mainly management focused. If you have an associate's degree in nursing, and a non-nursing bachelor's degree you can enroll in an ADN-MSN bridge program. This allows you to explore other academic interests and become a little more well-rounded.

Do the degree program that most interests you. If you loved microbiology so much that you started a club called People for the Ethical Treatment of Prokaryotes on your campus, a bachelor's degree in biology or microbiology might be in order (it would certainly come in handy for an infection control nurse).

Really, any of the hard sciences would lend themselves well to certain sub-specialties in nursing. A business degree would be useful if you plan on going into management. A foreign language would open up doors to travel and even do mission work.

I have not seen degrees like sociology, anthropology, education, recreation therapy, psychology, history, or literature be particularly useful to RNs who hold them. The RNs I know who hold these degrees sought them prior to becoming RNs and find them enriching, but the degrees have not enhanced their careers.