Going through a major change- advice needed!

[calahannah]

Hello, I appreciate the work that you all do as nurses and I'm hoping to join you in the near future!

Here is my situation and I'm hoping that I can get some input.

I am just about to finish my second year of undergrad at Cal State Fullerton and have finished my GEs. I want to become a nurse but I don't know the best way to do it. The advisement at my school offered no help.

Since my school does not offer a pre-licensure B.S program in nursing, my choices are..

1) Receive a b.s. in psychology (my current major) and attend UCLA and enter their Masters of Clinical Entry Nursing program (prelicensure)

2) transfer to CSULB and enter their nursing program which offers a license and BSN

3) concurrent enrollment in a junior college to receive ADN and then move on to grad school.

Which would you consider to be the best option? Thanks for your help!

[Genista, BSN, RN]

What do YOU want to do? In 2 out of three you mention grad school. If you go the ADN route, you will enter the field sooner, and can continue on with school while you work (and possibly your employer may help with grad school costs). You can do the clinical MS entry route, but it will take longer right off the bat and cost more, though it does get it all done in one shot. Or, of course you can go for the BSN and do the middle of the two above, and later go for the MSN. BSN will take longer than an ADN, but less time & money than the MSN. It's really all a matter of what are the pros v. cons to you. Are you willing to go to school for several years? What is tuition at each of the schools/programs and how will you finance it? Do you need/want to get into the field & work sooner? What do you see yourself doing long term in your career? Do you have family obligations (more school often = less time for family). Just some things to consider. Maybe you could make a list of three columns of each and write pros v. cons. There's really no one right answer, as it is completely individual as to which is the ''best" option. Good luck in whatever you decide!

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Are you aware that CSFullerton works with Cypress College to bridge their ADN nursing program into Fullerton's BSN program? If you have your nursing prerequisites (A&P, chemistry, micro) already, you should talk to the counselors at Cypress College. My understanding is that the Cal State system is attempting to streamline their nursing programs so that all nursing students start at a CC with an ADN and then transfer to state colleges to complete their BSNs. That means primary BSN programs may eventually be discontinued from schools like CSLB and CSLA. If your final goal is an MSN then go that route. I heard that there have been several large grants made recently to schools of nursing in California to promote nursing programs for entry level nursing students to go directly to MSNs. You might want to contact the state board to find out which schools they are (because I can't remember which ones were mentioned), but I don't remember UCLA being on the list.