Tell me if you are ADN or BSN please!!

moni rn · Jun 6, 2001

I currently have 2 bachelors degree. One is in Sports Medicine, and the other is in Mathematics.

I chose an ADN program. My ultimate goal is to become a Nurse Practitioner/Midwife. Since I already had a bachelors degree in something, I do not have to have a bachelors in nursing. I just have to have my license. Also, with an ADN, one can get to actual work a lot sooner.

That is my little "novel"! :)

Welcome!

MollyJ · Jun 6, 2001

I am a diploma grad who subsequently got the BSN and the MSN. I have been a nurse 23 years.

I am pro-BSN because it gives you the best future career mobility with the OVER ALL least time investment. One study that I know of supported that BSN generic grads had better lifetime earning potential.

Find the BEST BSN program that you can find. They are not all created equally. Do look at board pass rates, clinical site hours and informally survey groups of nurses that will tell you which BSN program grads they would rather work with. Your BSN program should be the jewel in your education experience. That's pretty flowery but what I am saying is go to a program that can avail itself of the best clinical facilities because you will see a wide variety of clinical problems that way. This last piece of advice relatively assumes that you are free to move anywhere in your state and attend the best in publicly funded colleges. Any hospital can teach you to take care of strokes, diabetics, abdominal post-ops, but regional referral centers will let you see neonatal ICU, open hearts, a wide range of peds (not just croup in the winter), well organized public health systems, and "rare bird" illnesses such as tetorifice, black widow envenomation, Guillian-Barre (to name a few from my own experience) _in a greater quantity_ so that your thinking of possible health care problems is broader. The ADN does a creditable job of preparing bedside nurses and they MAY experience decent job mobility but in order to have the fewest hassles with job mobility no matter where you end up living, chose the BSN. In my state there are probably 15 BSN programs, but there are 5 I would recommend to a friend.

Good luck in this career defining decision.

ShannonB25 · Jun 6, 2001

BSN for me. Personally, I was always set on getting my bachelor's, regardless of the specific area. It also happened to fit nicely with future plans to go to grad school later on down the road.

Shannon

JennieBSN · Jun 6, 2001

I got my BSN partly due to family expectations, partly due to ignorance on my part. If I had known about the existence of ADN programs when I was getting ready to start college, I don't know if I'd have gone through with the BSN. I started college as a theater major, though, and changed midway through to nsg. Not going to college is a big 'no no' in my family, though, so then again, who knows what I would have done. It's a personal choice. Do what works out best for you.

hanginginthere · Jun 6, 2001

Hi,

I'm a student myself and I'm going for an ADN. However, I'm planning to go for my bachelor degree because I talked to a lot of nurses. Even though, the pay is the same

but they told me it is easier to get hired and also have the priviledge to be manager or some kind of leadership. Prior to that I really didn't want to go for my bachelor. They

also heard some rumors about nurses will need to have a bachelor degree instead of the ADN. I figure I have nothing to lose if I go for my Bachelor degree. On the contrary more opportunities will be open for me that's why I'm planning to go for my bachelor degree.

peaceful2100, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2001

I am currently working on my BSN and It is because by the time I finally worked up the confidence and the courage to apply for nursing school I pretty much had all my pre-req's out of the way for both the ADN and the BSN expect one class so either way it went if I went for the ADN it would have took me two years just like if I would have gone for the BSN my graduation would be May 2003 so I figure oh well I minus well. A second Major reason is that I have a strong interest in public health/community nursing and in my area it is required that you have a BSN before they will even consider you as an serious applicant. Another thing is in my area there are long waiting lists for the ADN programs in my area but the waiting lists are not as long for the BSN but that was not my main reason. A 4theason that is not so major is that I kept hearing the rumors tht the ADN's will be phased out and it would be required that everyone has BSN's well that is in CANADA not the US in CANADA starting in 2005 everyone will have to go for the BSN.

Tonya :)

shyviolet78, LPN, LVN · Jun 7, 2001

I am going for BSN for several reasons. 1-I'm interested in going to grad school to become CRNA and that requires a BSN; 2-after all the pre-req's, BSN is only one year longer than ADN; 3-the nursing portion of the ADN and BSN programs in my area are both 4 semesters, but the BSN requires twice as many credit hours per semester, so I feel I'd be learning more; 4-the waiting list for ADN is something like 40 openings for 300 applicants while the BSN is 100 openings for 200 applicants (if I'm remembering the #'s accurately); 5-I have to work at least part-time while in school, and the night shift doesn't end until 7AM. Many ADN classes here start at 6AM while the BSN classes don't start until 8AM. I could go on, but these are the major reasons for me choosing BSN over ADN.

Valerie

zannie · Jun 11, 2001

I chose BSN. For 2 reasons... one, I don't have a bachelors and I want one in case I make (yet another) career change. 2. There aren't any ADN programs in my area. :-(

#2 being the biggest reason. :)

--zan :)

mustangsheba · Jun 11, 2001

I have an ADN because that's all that was offered where I lived. In any case, I would have opted for an ADN prior to getting a bachelors because of the hands-on training, and because I needed to work. I am getting a bachelors now, but not a BSN.

jcardwell · Jun 12, 2001

I decided for my BSN because 1. I'm so late starting my career in nursing (I'm 35) that I decided to just go all of the way right now 2. The BSN looks like you can go part time to work on your clinicals at our school and the ADN you have to go full time. With 4 kids under 8, I just can't do the full time school right now.

Jill

lalajenn · Jun 13, 2001

First I am doing the ADN program and then eventually going for my BSN and then my Master's. The reason I am doing this is because first it is easier to get into the ADN program around here and it is at a community college and cheaper for me and I don't have to drive that far and also because I had all but one of the classes I will need for my ADN but I needed more classes for my BSN and I would like to start towards my degree now instead of to wait.