I'm confused..what's the difference between a ADN and BSN

[Maliatc]

What's the difference between the two as far as the amount of schooling? I just made an appointment with my school counselor, so I'm sure she knows the answer to this question, but in the meantime, maybe you guys can fill me in. I'm going to a community college, and i was working on getting my AA in Business and transfering to a Cal State school. This would've been my last semester at a cc, but now I decided that I'm going to do nursing, so now now I have to do my pre-req's for that. My cc offers a nursing program, but the waiting list is ridiculous! There's a few Cal state schools around where I live that I can get my BSN from, but what's the difference? Isn't the nursing program at a cc 2 years? Is that after my pre-req's?

[GracefulRN]

Just to add to what LadyT618 said, technically an accelerated BSN does require a bit more schoolin' because all of the accelerated programs I know of require that you already have a bachelors degree. My $0.02 to the OP, there is no difference in a real world setting between an ADN and a BSN prepared RN;however, as a caveat I will agree with those who said that if it is your desire to become an advanced practice nurse, then the most cost effective route is to go for the BSN directly.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

Just to add to what LadyT618 said, technically an accelerated BSN does require a bit more schoolin' because all of the accelerated programs I know of require that you already have a bachelors degree.

Yep, you do need to already have a bachelor's degree to do an accelerated BSN program.

In most 4 year BSN programs, you basically have 2 years of general education (history, literature, psychology, philosopy, etc.) mixed with your nursing sciences (A&P, chemistry), and then two years of straight nursing. So if you already have a bachelor's degree, you are exempt from the gereral education courses and may only have to take the science classes as pre-reqs. Then they cram those 2 years of straight nursing classes into 12-18 months and you're done.

An ADN program often has a very similar nursing courseload, but much fewer classes in the area of gereral education. I think there is some, but nothing like in a BSN program.

I agree with the posters who said to go for the BSN now if you plan on going higher in your education later on - you never know for sure if you'll have time, so just get it over with!

[francine79]

My question is, how do you cram all of that into a one year accelerated BSN program (or 16 months, etc.), when an ADN usually takes two years. And, in that scenario, is an accelerated BSN really more schooling?

Since you already have a Bachelor's degree, you would have already finished all the liberal arts and sciences classes for a BSN, you just need to do all the nursing classes. So it is possible to do in a year.

They also have programs in which you can earn your BSN in a year if you have already earn an associates degree.

[TopCat1234]

Never mind! :)

[unknown99, BSN, RN]

I asked my clinical instructor. She said that ADN/RN has more clinical time in in school, while BSN/RN gets in more theory. Do you all find this to be true?

[jenrninmi, MSN, RN]

I asked my clinical instructor. She said that ADN/RN has more clinical time in in school, while BSN/RN gets in more theory. Do you all find this to be true?

No it's not true - at least not at my school. We get just as much clinical training as the ADN program. But yes, we do get more theory, research application and management skills.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

Since you already have a Bachelor's degree, you would have already finished all the liberal arts and sciences classes for a BSN, you just need to do all the nursing classes. So it is possible to do in a year.

They also have programs in which you can earn your BSN in a year if you have already earn an associates degree.

Right - an acclerated BSN program is for bachelor's degree-prepared students who only need to take nursing classes. An RN-completion program (at least that's what they're called around here) is where an ADN gets her BSN by taking some nursing classes, but mainly the general education classes that set bachelor's degrees apart from associate's.

Does that make any sense the way I wrote it?

[Sheri257]

I asked my clinical instructor. She said that ADN/RN has more clinical time in in school, while BSN/RN gets in more theory. Do you all find this to be true?

Definitely true in my area.

[Nurse2bSandy]

I'm in an accelerated BSN program but do not have my bachelor's. I did have to have all prereq's done and yes, they cram the courses in. Our program does not have as many clinical hours as the local ADN program, but we do have more pathophys, leadership, management, etc than they do.

[caligirl]

I asked my clinical instructor. She said that ADN/RN has more clinical time in in school, while BSN/RN gets in more theory. Do you all find this to be true?

I think that is probably the case with diploma nurses vs. bsn/adn. we (bsn) get just as much clinical time as the adn program in our town... But I have heard that the diploma nurses get pretty much all clinical time...

[Hopegirl]

The way that you can get an accelerated BSN in only one year is because these programs are designed for second degree students (like me, people with a BA/BS in another non-nursing field) who decide to pursue nursing. Since we already have all the general education done, all we have to do in the upper division nursing classes, which would only take two years normally. But they make it 'accelerated' and cram it all into one, very intense year!

-j

[suzy253, RN]

I think that is probably the case with diploma nurses vs. bsn/adn. we (bsn) get just as much clinical time as the adn program in our town... But I have heard that the diploma nurses get pretty much all clinical time...

Yep that's true. I'm in a 3-year diploma program and we have a lot of clinical time!!! And within 6 weeks of starting the program you're in clinical...hands on...right away. Great way to learn.