what should I do?

IMHO, I think you should finish your BA. The Cal States have an accelerated program which is funded by the people in the program, more expensive but no wait. The community colleges seem to be majority wait list and the wait in S. Cal is approx. 3 years. You may be even able to go directly into a master's nursing program as well. But the most important thing is to finish your degree. I think you would really regret it if you didn't. Besides then you will have two!

As a fellow nurse to be, I think you should go ahead and finish your Bachelor's Degree. I am in a similar situation, only that I'm in CT and I don't have to take prereqs. I'm sure you won't regret your decision to finish. I also believe that you still need the prereqs for the ADN. Best of luck!

Hi fellow nurse-to-be's....

I have a dilemma. I am trying to finish up my bachelors (in non nursing field) and hopefully i will be end of this year.[/Quote]

End of this year (Dec 2008, after next semester) or end of the school year (May/June 2009)?

Should I finish up my bachelors first, then apply for accel BSN?

I heard this can be very competitive and hard to get in.

ALL the programs around here are hard to get into. They're either very selective, or multiple-year waiting lists, or lotteries with 800 people applying for 50 spots.

From that standpoint, it probably makes sense to finish your BA. It's not uncommon for people who have finished their prerequisites to spend a lot of time applying or on waitlists before getting in, and you may as well have the increased earning potential during that time.

Should I opt for the ADN instead?

If I decide to go the ADN route, can I start applying for for any nursing school now?

Also, in the ADN route, they may not require me to take all those prereqs, right?

ADN will mean a few less prerequisites (no o-chem or statistics), but you'll still have to finish the core prerequisites before applying. The specifics of what needs to be done before applying vary from program to program, but always the three lab sciences (anatomy, physiology, and microbiology).

Most people around here spend 1-2 years on ADN prerequisites.

There are programs in other areas of the country that don't have prerequisites and incorporate everything into the program itself, but not around here.

I know eventually I want to shoot for the MSN so I can teach. But I cannot imagine taking another 2 to 3 years to get into a nursing program.

If you finish your BA, you'll be eligible for direct entry masters programs once you finish the prerequisites, so that's another consideration.

Can you take an extra class per semester while finishing your BA? Not necessarily the lab sciences, but things like English (well, you've probably already done that!), Human Development, Nutrition, Anthropology/Sociology and so on.

You could always do nursing school prerequisites now, then finish up your BA while applying to nursing programs.

Also, keep in mind that, whatever route you choose, your current BA work won't be wasted - you'll presumably have fulfilled some or all of the upper division GE/breadth requirements that go along with nursing programs.

Are you getting financial aid?

That is an important consideration.

The cutoff for a first degree is around 140 semester hours. They will cut off loans/grants after about that number, which forces people to finish a degree.

After you finish your first degree, you are only eligible for loans.

So, if you get grants, try to work some of those pre-reqs in before you graduate.

I'm working on pre-reqs for the adn program where I live. I have a ba degree already. None of my prereq's were waved based on my previous degree (except english). I'm just finishing my first quarter in which I took two classes. I'll be done next June with the 8 prereq's I need. Since you are still attending college, if you have taken basic bio or chem, the psychs or algerbra they can wave those. If it's been 5 or more years most programs won't wave the science or math. (that was my issue)

In general, people who already have a bachelor's degree have more options: another Bachelor's in nursing, an AA degree in nursing, diploma in nursing, accelerated bachelor's in nursing, direct entry masters in nursing... So if it it were me, I would finish the BA and try to squeeze in at least some of the prereqs while doing so. Just MHO, of course.