It will take me 7 years just for a bsn.

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I am 19 going into 2nd year of college. It's going to take me 5 years( 1 down 4 left to go) to get a 2 year degree (adn) because of prerequisites. Im going to a community college so I don't have to take out loans. Then I'm assuming to do an online bridge program for my bsn will be around 2 years. This is really discouraging and I feel like it's a ridiculous amount of time since people only spend 4 years for the exact same degree. Idk if it's just stupid to continue this route but what if it's my only option? Should I do it anyway since I wanna be a nurse. All other schools by me are way more expensive yet faster and would require loans. What do I do. Another thing that makes this so discouraging is all I see on here is how hard it is to find a job.

It took me 6 years to get a BSN. I went to a 4 year college. I decided I wanted to change majors late in the game but it made more sense at that point to finish my degree and then go back for an accelerated BSN. I wish I didn't have all my student loans.

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I will graduate in December with with my BSN. It will have taken me 5 1/2 years to do so. It took me 3 years to complete my pre-requisites...mainly because I decided to transfer universities and because I needed to retake some classes to be competitive enough to apply to any nursing program. In the beginning I was pretty upset about how long it would take me to finish. But I'm 23 and in 4 months I'll have my BSN God willingly. That's still pretty awesome in my book and the extra years spent trying to aquire this degree will make it even more rewarding. Throughout the program, I've worked here and there. But there were times I couldn't work because of how demanding school was. I made most of my money during the summer and my parents helped as best as they could. A lot of times I just had to go without but with the help of federal student loans I've been able to pay for classes, student housing, and books. No private loans. I have no other means to pay for school besides that. I understand that you don't want to take out any loans but sister you've got to do what you've gotta do. It all boils down to how bad you want it. My suggestion is to finish your pre-requisites at the community college and apply to a BSN program at a university. There are BSN programs lasting anywhere from 2-3 years long. My program is 2 1/2 years long. Do your research and figure out which program will best suit you and your financial needs.

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IT'S OKAY. I am 22 years old and I have been in college since 2014. I will graduate shortly after I turn 25 if I get into nursing school next year. I'm in the same boat, I took classes at a CC, transferred, figured out how difficult it was to work and pass my courses, took a year off and changed my major. I'm a first generation student so I have no support financially at all so I have to work my butt off. No matter how long it takes you it will be worth it. It'll be even greater because when you're done you can say you did it all by yourself without ANY debt as well!

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Specializes in Case Manager/Administrator.

As you can read from all these posts it takes just as much time as you need.

Keep in mind that A&P and those pesky hard STEM courses have a time limit, when I went back to get my RN degree I had to take A&P and chemistry over again...in my first go round HIV was really not even a thought.

It took my husband 10 years to get his AD in "Individualized Studies" from Ohio State University. He was in the military and the work he completed was amazing. He now has a BS in Computers.

Just keep moving forward!!!!

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Some of your pre-reqs might expire if you are not careful. Labs are only good for 5 years, I thought?

Going part-time, it took me about 8 years, start to finish, because I worked and because it was really hard to get my pre-reqs done with my work schedule. I could only take night classes, mostly, and they were often full until my registration priority improved. That being said, I was more than twice your age when I started, and had a mortgage and other responsibilities that stopped me from going to school more than part-time. Have you spoken with an academic counselor? Maybe they can advise you. Unless you are raising kids, maybe you can be poor for awhile and focus on school.

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Specializes in Colorectal and Gastroenterology.

Hi futurernmaybe from your username it sounds like you are unsure if you really want to be a nurse. Maybe it is the time that it will take to achieve or maybe you are not sure of your decision. You may even be influenced by others around you to "want" to be a nurse.

The situation is you are young. Which means time isn't moving as fast as older people perceive it to be. Right now you have over 45 years to work if you worked to retirement age. You can't even fathom that because you aren't even half of 45 yet!

My suggestion is you find a nursing assistant program to enroll it during the summer if you can or whatever works for you and you get a part time working as a nursing assistant in a healthcare setting. This will determine to you if you want to work in healthcare and if you desire to work beyond the scope of practice as a nursing assistant. Unfortunately the older we get the more difficult going back to school is, it is possible, but its harder. If you work as a nursing assistant and completely hate healthcare then you know you need to explore other options. If you love it and decide you want to pursue nursing you are benefited as well.

My advice to you is NEVER let a long term goal overwhelm you. You only take one step at a time.

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I also got a 2 year ASN degree that took 4 years to obtain including the prereqs, and I went full time as well as took a summer class every year. Yet I graduated with my RN, passed NCLEX, and had no student loan debt. Totally worth it. Many coworkers were drowning in student loan payments, and I got to keep my money. I had no difficulty finding a job. It was a good path for me.

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I worked my way through undergrad and graduate school and came out with no loans. I also applied for a ton of scholarships and was awarded a few (a couple substantial scholarships and a few small ones...but I appreciated every single one of them!) Someone mentioned looking at the cost of state schools. You should also look at private schools that have scholarships, you may be surprised at what you find. If you are associated with a religious group or another national group, they may have scholarships or people who can connect you with options.

I agree with you, you don't want to be strapped with student loans. But, as another poster mentioned, every year you are in school is a year you are missing out on a professional wage so maybe go to a 4-year school while working in order to avoid loans and graduate in a reasonable amount of time. It is hard work but could really be worth it. Those "more expensive but faster" schools do not require loans, they require you to get creative if you want to attend without loans...and you can do it :)

Try not to get trapped into thinking you only have one or two options. You are 19 and, if you don't have a spouse or children, then you have a TON of alternatives! And even if you do have a family, you have choices. Could you go back to your high school counseling office or the community college career center to explore options? Public libraries also have programs and/or knowledgeable staff. Set a deadline for yourself to make a decision and dive into checking out options.

Try not to get discouraged. You have possibilities, you just need to take a fresh look at things!

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My advice to you is NEVER let a long term goal overwhelm you. You only take one step at a time.

I may post this on my wall! Thanks for a great quote!

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

It took me 4 years to get my ADN: 2 for pre-reqs, 2 for the program itself. In my defense, I was only able to take one 1 pre-req class at a time...I'm sure I could have saved a year right there if I took on more classes each semester.

It took me 4 years to go RN-BSN. But that was not the fault of the RN-BSN programs that I was in. I started one RN-BSN program that wasn't online and had to withdraw when I moved out of state: there went 2 years, 1 of which were taken up by yet more pre-reqs. A lot those courses transferred over to the second RN-BSN program, which ended up taking 2 years because I had to take time off due to an emergency c-section. I like to joke that I'm one of the few who had to take a full four years to bridge to a BSN :)

On the positive side, I came through all this with zero student debt.

I'm planning to do my MSN in 2 years. I really kind of have to: my scholarship depends on it.

Anyhow, OP: if nursing is really your dream, don't let the time it may take discourage you from it. Just take it one step at a time.

I second all the recommendations that you get a job as a CNA/patient care tech to get some experience in healthcare and also get an idea of what nursing really is like by seeing actual nurses in the trenches. And if after doing that you decide that nursing isn't your dream after all, that's OK too. Better you figure that out early than before dropping years and lots of money on nursing programs.

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