I'm still torn ADN or BSN in Los Angeles

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2009

if i get the adn, i will have to go to night school to get the bsn - question 1: does anyone knof if these classes will be time consuing and challenging like the pre-reqs (like micro, physio, anatomy)? are you talking nursing classes, or your rn to bsn courses? the rn to bsn can be done part-time, and there are plenty of online rn to bsn courses, so you won't have to go at night.

and i hear that with an bns there are more jobs, or it will be easier to get a job: question 2: does anyone know if this is the case? entry level jobs, at least around here seem to be given equally to bsns and adns. however, there are many non-entry level jobs that you might be interested in later on, and this is where the bsn would come in handy.

and lastly, i hear that with a bsn you can teach, which could be a emotionally less stressful. question 3: are there that many positions open for teaching at hospitals?

whomever told you teaching nurses was less stressful is fooling themselves and you. in order to teach with a bsn you're going to have to have some experience under your belt. most places require a masters to teach rns, but perhaps you could teach cna's or lpns, or in private schools.

teaching at hospitals is usually done by masters prepared clinical nurse educators, but some smaller places use bsns. again, experience is the great teacher here. in order to educate staff nurses you're going to have to have experience as a nurse yourself.

given your situation, here's my opinion and it's only an opinion. i would get the adn for free and take entry level nursing positions. soon after some experiences in clinical and on the job, you're going to get a feel for what you want to do from there.

how long do you intend on working before retirement? if you're going to retire early, the adn might just suit you. if you're going to age in nursing and need to get way from the bedside, then you can get your bsn through many rn to bsn programs out there. you can take them part-time and all online if you want to. most all employers have some sort of tuition reimbursement program.

so get that free adn and go from there. no need to get into a lot of debt or spend your savings at your age (i say this with kindness because i'll be 50 this year myself.).

good luck!

jjjoy, LPN · Jan 13, 2009

I agree with Tweety. As a new grad, there isn't much difference in job opportunities between ADNs and BSNs. While many facilities may say they "prefer" a BSN grad, they won't hesitate to hire an ADN grad who meets their requirements. You can ask around at local hospitals to see if there's any clear benefit given to BSN new grads. Getting into a good hands-on internship as a nursing student would probably be the most valuable in helping land a job after graduation. I don't know how common such opportunities are in your area.

If you are hoping to avoid hospital floor nursing (which does tend to be stressful), having a BSN would be advantageous. However, it's not an automatic ticket to a nicer job. Many jobs that require a BSN also require several years of hands on clinical nursing experience. And even if they don't REQUIRE that hands on experience, you would be hard pressed to be a success at that job without the experience. When you hear about the "demand" for nurses, it's usually either for those very stressful jobs or for nurses who already have certain experience and expertise.

You might want to look into public health nursing or correctional facility nursing as an alternative to acute care nursing. Check with the county for positions, descriptions, and requirements. It can hard to land county jobs in popular areas, but if you're willing to relocate to less popular areas, there's usually more opportunity (eg San Bernardino County, the Central Valley, etc). I'm not expert there, so if anyone has better information on that, please correct me!!

Finally, as Tweety noted, RN-to-BSN programs are usually geared towards working nurses and are much more flexible than traditional degree programs. You can look up the details on actual programs out there to find out more.

cook1043 · Jan 14, 2009

go adn, then BSN part-time. I did. I worked at the hospital which offered the BSN program, so that was free for me. The nurse manager was all for it and I was able to schedule around my courses. Don't get me wrong, it was not easy, but it was well worth it, especially since I had no school loans to pay back!!

findingmyway · May 28, 2009

Do many hospitals offer to pay for your BSN schooling once you work for them as an ADN?