HELP ME!!

Temeika, LPN · Aug 30, 2015

I am a senior in high school, and I have decided that I would like to pursue nursing as a career. I have several options for schooling, and I would appreciate some help about which to choose.
Option 1:
Attend my local communtity college and get my ADN, then try to work while taking online RN to BSN courses. (Cost effective)?
Option 2:
I am also applying to a 4 year BSN program at a college that is strictly for nursing that is close to home. (I imagine more expensive)
Option 3:
Apply at other schools that are farther away, and would cause me to move. (Most expensive)
Option 4:
Take pre-reqs at a local community college, then just go 2 years at a nursing school
What would you do? Try to save a few bucks or pay more for an all in one degree?
Thanks in advance.

Option 1, you get to making money faster than other options and anything u may want as a nurse for advance degrees you will in most cases always have option to do online. Most of what you learn as a nurse will be from on the job training. Having a license is what most employer look for. So go the fastest and cheapest route to start off. You will enjoy the money as a RN.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Aug 31, 2015

If Option #2 is a commercial, for-profit school..... I don't know of any other 'nursing only' BSN programs.... go ahead and eliminate it.

You'll have to do your pre-reqs no matter what type of program you choose. It makes sense to spend as little as possible on this process. If you're eligible for a Pell Grant, it may offset most of the cost of CC. I encourage all you 'young'ns' to go ahead and opt for BSN. You're going to need it anyway - take the faster route by eliminating the ADN step. Make sure you look up each program's NCLEX results (should be available in public records for your state) as you are going through the selection process. DON't place a lot of focus on student "yelp-type" reviews.... they aren't really relevant.

Best of luck to you on your educational journey

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Aug 31, 2015

It is a fallacy that ADN-and-work-and take-BSN-later is better, although many kids are seduced by the idea of a paycheck early on. Why? Because when you take an associate's degree in, say, English, it's two years. When you take an associate's degree in nursing, it's two years...AFTER a year and a half of prerequisites. The aside about "you really learn to be a nurse after you get out of school" isn't really the sum total of endowed knowledge :), although all new grads from every type of program learn a lot in their first year ... and this is not the time to be stressing about extra classwork for the BSN. Without which you will not be at or even near the top of the pile for hiring anyway. BSN is preferred or required just about everywhere now, so that merry "OK, I have my ADN and I'm ready to work!" may not translate into an actual, like, paying job.

Best to go to a real BSN school, at a real university or college, not a for-profit school, which will take you four years and done. If you can find a BSN program (home or away) that will accept your 2 years of prerequisites from your local community college, so much the better for the budget, but get it in writing. Many BSN programs have integration relationships with CCs, guaranteeing you a spot in the nursing program after you pass their 2-yr-approved CC prereqs; that would be great. Some don't accept any transfer students at all.

Some BSN programs are two years prereqs on campus followed by two years nursing content. Some integrate all courses into the four years. It is vanishingly rare to find a program that will let you transfer mid-program because of that-- they just aren't equivalent. Apply to several. Pick one and stick with it.