Going back to School - RN, NP, or PA?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi! I'm a 27 year old male with a previously earned 4 year BA degree in professional photography/video production, and I currently run my own freelance production business. Unfortunately in this bad economy I fear my future will look grim unless I make a big change. Therefore, I'm considering a second career in the medical field! Before starting down the career path as a professional photographer I actually had a lot of medical experience... My plan since I was just a kid was to work in the medical field. I already have over 2,000 volunteer hours working in Hyperbaric Medicine and Major Wound Care, plus several summers spent working with an ENT doc. Anyways, to make a long story short I need help deciding exactly what is the best/most efficient career path for me. I'm considering ADN, BSN, MSN-NP, or PA routes.

Because I already have a BA I want to take the quickest, most efficient path to working in the medical field. Should I:

A. Get an ADN-RN so that I can start getting real life work experience ASAP! Then continue on to MSN-NP (bridge program) if I decide I want that.

B. Go straight for the BSN or accelerated program. Then MSN-NP if I decide I want that.

C. Go to PA school

Does the NP path take longer to achieve then the PA path?

Is getting a second Bachelors degree redundant?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm open to moving... I'll pretty much go to school anywhere I have to long as its a well accredited program and I don't have be on a waiting list for years. I want to get started ASAP and plan on taking as many pre-reque's as possible this summer. Price of the program isn't really an issue ether. Please any school suggestions would be great! Thx

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

If you havent even started pre-reqs, your going to be waiting at least a year before anything serious. The school I'm going only requires a gpa of 2.5, and require A&P1 to start the program. This is near Altoona, PA, so it may or may not be close to you. But I wouldnt move just to go to college unless its within a few hours. Still my school has lower admission requirements, but the courses are significantly tougher, and the grading is skewed up (80% = C).

Just going to emphasize, Nursing will not be easy. You should really take some Pre-reqs before you start considering which field. Its great to plan, but before you have any pre-reqs done may change things. I would say go to your local community college and try to take the courses. I know a few people who waited 2 years into a BSN program and 3 weeks into clinicals decided they didn't care for nursing, and other friends who started A&P and just said they had too much already. Id consider taking classes.

And as far as PA school goes, most applicants who get in are either RNs, Pre-meds who didn't get into med school, or top tier students coming off a BS in a field (i don't know of many students who didnt come from those backgrounds although i am sure there are a few). Also for the NP route, you will have to gain experience in the field (usually 1 or 2 years experience) before applying, so your going to be an RN for some time before advancing. The exception to that rule is if you go to a good school like , Yale, COlumbia, etc, they have direct BSN-MSN programs, but they have very competitive GPAs (3.7-3.9) for those programs.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Totally agree with Fireman767 - great advice there.

Just wanted to provide a splash of reality here. Even though OP has accumulated a lot of exposure to clinical settings, this won't really have any impact on acceptance to nursing school. Competition is fierce - everyone is trying the same things. Schools select applicants based upon criteria that have been shown to be predictive of success. Unfortunately (for most people) the strongest predictor is GPA. So - GPA, along with it's "isotopes" such as scores on entry tests, are usually the defining factor for admission to nursing programs.

Seems like everyone and their great uncle wants to be an NP or CRNA, or CNM or some such advanced/exalted high-paying nabob... anything but an actual nurse. However, very few actually make it that far. It's a hard slog and can be cost-prohibitive for folks who have to support themselves along the way.

FWIW, I don't know of any employers who hire entry-level NP without any clinical experience... I can't even imagine a situation in which this is feasible since most of the roles are expected to function independently.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

@HouTx: When I was in my ABSN program, 99% of the class wanted to become an advanced practicing nurse, with many especially wanting to be a CRNA. Prior to graduation, a few were trying to figure out what graduate programs will take them with minimal clinical experience. Yikes! The nurses who were in the MSN program at the same University, had no less than 5 years experience.

There were a few people in my program who couldn't get into Med School so they took the ABSN route to become NPs. Will 99% of us actually make it to become APNs? It depends on our determination. There's nothing wrong with having a long-term goal, but once you graduate from nursing school you focus on: finding a job, being a good nurse, and finding our specialty niche. We've graduated a year now, if I polled them again, nobody's thinking about NP school now.

Your priorities do change once you start working in the field.

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I'm open to moving... I'll pretty much go to school anywhere I have to long as its a well accredited program and I don't have be on a waiting list for years. I want to get started ASAP and plan on taking as many pre-reque's as possible this summer. Price of the program isn't really an issue ether. Please any school suggestions would be great! Thx

Why don't you start your pre-req's first...THEN decide which school you want. Most schools will look at the GPA of both your pre-req's and your prior degree...your high school GPA will not be looked at since you have a bachelor degree already ( I saw you asked that question).

I want to be a NP as well..but after finishing my first semester of nursing school...I'm not sure I'll want to attend school after I graduate. I'm already beat!

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

To be honest, I would consider doing an ADN program, and taking as many classes and summer classes to reach your BSN. If you went to a normal BSN program, you would be there at least 3 years, because the required nursing courses are usually 2 years, and an additional year to do pre-reqs. Your electives are completed, which is great news, but thats it. Also, since it's been more than 5 years since the SATs or other standardized test, you will probably have to take the TEAS, or HESI, or Kaplan or any other entrance exam to be considered for most programs (besides standard BSNs). So you have a year to consider where to go as you take pre-reqs and look at schools.

And most people want to become NPs of some type, sadly less than 10% of the nursing community is NPs, and most people don't complete it because of things that come up (family, finances, time, location, etc). Its great to plan, but one step at a time, especially when your not in nursing shool and haven't experienced it's rigors yet. You should look at taking pre-reqs and then decide what you want to do.

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ADN --> work/ BSN --> work/NP/Masters/PHD/anything else. Why? Because its quick and affordable.

If you can get into an BSN quicker and for a decent price I'd go that route.

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The "quickest" way to become either an NP or a PA is not open to you as your grades were poor for your prior degree. You will need to take prerequisite courses in order to be eligible to apply for...well, anything. The hard sciences, soft sciences, mathematics, and anything else deemed necessary before the core programs will look at you.

You will not become an NP until you have time and experience under your belt. You won't get to that until you become an RN....and you won't get to that until you get past everything listed in the first paragraph as well as successful completion of a nursing program. First things first.

How do you know you want to become a PA? Short answer is you don't: learn what the differences are between two very different models of healthcare--NPs follow a nursing model, PAs follow a medical one. The scope of practice and level of autonomy of each is determined by individual States, so there is no one correct answer to "can I prescribe, diagnose, see patients independently, work without a physician supervising...." etc etc.

Your volunteer hours are admirable, but irrelevant. They will not gain you much (if anything). Likewise your highschool transcripts: colleges at this point don't care if you were once capable of doing better in school, your GPA from your alma mater is what they'll look at.

Advice? Figure out what it is you want to do "in healthcare" as it is quite a broad spectrum you're eyeing. Disregard the idea of "quick" as regardless of the route you take, it will be several years at a minimum to reach an advanced practice level....and you will need clinical experience along the way. Someone suggested shadowing some professionals, and that's a good idea if you can find one or more that will grant you permission. Talk with admissions counselors and see what it is that's required for the individual programs you are interested in. And get some of those basic prerequs done :)

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