In-state accelerated bsn or out-of-state msn?

[raehanson09]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on allnurses so hopefully I did this right, any advice you can give would be awesome beyond words :)

I'm a recent graduate from James Madison University with a bachelor's in health sciences. I chose this degree because I really wasn't sure if nursing or another health-related career was right for me at the time. Now that I'm sure that nursing is what I want I'm looking at the accelerated programs and really not sure where I should begin.

I want to eventually be an FNP (maybe even a DNP one day) but- like most people- really don't want to have to dig myself out of massive debt when I'm done with school. My question for you guys is should I pursue an accelerated bsn in my home state of Virginia and then go for a masters once I've been working for a few years or aim for an accelerated msn first? (I got decent grades in college and graduated with a 3.3 GPA)

Thanks!!

[meljonumd]

I would strongly suggest that you check out the financial part of your choices. 2nd BSN vs MSN are eligible for different financial aide, etc, and the costs of a program can be very important. This is even more critical when you are considering an out-of state MSN program.

And there are not many direct-entry MSN programs, so make sure you are comparing apples to apples (so to speak).