not working for a year to get BSN

Nurses General Nursing

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a little back ground.

last year my husband went to school full time...and it works out that because of the loss of income from that I will get a full pell grant for 2011-2012.

i had originally planned on waiting and going to a BSN program fall 2012 *next class that is open* BUT the idea of getting my school paid for...well its too good to pass up. So ive decided to just go for the ADN this fall and then bridge over.

my question is....would it look BAD to graduate from the ADN and start the BSN bridge right away and NOT work. I only ask because Im interested in applying for a nurse residency program that only accepts new graduate BSN students w/out ANY experience. The residency is at a teaching hospital and is one year in length. The way it was explained to me is they offer 5-6 new grad positions on various floors each month or so..and if you get the job you get the residency as well.

If i didnt get the residency...would it look bad to other employers that I didnt work while getting my BSN?

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Specializes in NICU.

Many people do not work while going to school. Unfortunately I didn't have that luxury but it sure would have been nice! Trust me, working toward your bachelors IS a full time job! I really don't think employers would care about this. Good luck!

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

No, I don't think it would look bad at all.

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I think you should go for it...it would not matter one way or another to employers if you work or not. But working while going to nursing school is very challenging. What ever you decide good luck!

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Specializes in LTC.

With your plans to bridge, you have an excellent way to explain your gap in employment.

I would think that you wouldn't have any trouble at all.

The trouble is when you're asked about that time, & you don't have a clear answer.

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thanks for the replies!

i was just worried that they might ask why I didnt work at least part time after getting my ADN while bridging for my BSN.

also...do you think i would loose a lot of my skills...not working for a year after graduating w/my RN?

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

It is very likely that the residency program you want to do would NOT consider you a new grad since you will have at least two years of licensed time under your belt. I would check with them and ask if they would even consider you a new grad. My bet is they won't.

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It is very likely that the residency program you want to do would NOT consider you a new grad since you will have at least two years of licensed time under your belt. I would check with them and ask if they would even consider you a new grad. My bet is they won't.

I actually did talk to them a couple of months ago and thats how i found out that they wouldnt accept me if I worked and then got my BSN...which got me looking at BSN programs. It only takes 12 months to get my BSN from the schools im looking at..so that would only be 1yr of actual time that I was licensed as a RN.

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With an ADN and then an RN-BSN right after with zero work experience puts you at huge risk of being considered an "old new grad" once you ARE ready to apply for jobs. Your clinical skills will be stale and you'll be competing for one of those 5-6 spots with hundreds of new BSN grads with "fresh" clinical experience. If you ONLY want to work in that residency, you should look into a traditional 4-year BSN program.

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With an ADN and then an RN-BSN right after with zero work experience puts you at huge risk of being considered an "old new grad" once you ARE ready to apply for jobs. Your clinical skills will be stale and you'll be competing for one of those 5-6 spots with hundreds of new BSN grads with "fresh" clinical experience. If you ONLY want to work in that residency, you should look into a traditional 4-year BSN program.

I have looked at the traditional BSN programs like my initial post stated...the reason im going for ADN is because I can get it paid for..at least the first year..for free...if I wait until fall 2012 it will be 100% out of pocket for me.

When I spoke to the HR person they didnt seem bothered by getting my bsn after ADN...but we didnt talk in depth about it..she just said if I worked I wouldnt qualify...and thats when I started looking into BSN programs because I thought it would be best to just get it out of the way and go straight from clinicals to working....then when I filed my FAFSA a few days ago I realized that my EFC was zero for this year...which makes waiting for school until 2012 a little silly.

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Best of luck to you then, if the hospital said you could apply. -It's a super competitive job market regardless of which route you go to end up with the BSN, in a way there are no perfect options of how to arrive at that destination, especially as an adult student who has to finance it themselves.

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I took time off to get my BSN full-time so it all depends if you've saved up enough money. You could always pick up a few extra shifts during the summer or term breaks.

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