Independent Learning Class

Some people will tell you that no, a BSN is not necessary, but it truly depends on your area and specifically the hospital you either work at, or will work at in the future. The hospital I work at is labeled Magnet, so although they do hire ADN nurses, it's obviously a preference to have a BSN nurse. Also, BSN nurses are placed at a higher advantage for job security than ADN nurses, at least in my area. The general thought is, which I have been told by nurses at the hospital I work at, that when I go to apply for a job in two years, I will have a higher advantage of being hired because of having a BSN.

As for courses for transfer, if you really want to start taking classes for your BSN, it's important to look at specific programs because not all RN-BSN programs are alike. All should require Statistics and Nutrition, but definitely check with the other requirements so that you're not wasting time and money. When I transferred to apply to a BSN program, I tailored my community college classes specifically to the BSN program that I am now accepted into and beginning next month. I needed classes such as a specific Chemistry (General, Organic and Biochemistry), Genetics (Genetics and Genomics for Clinical Practice), Medical Ethics, two Religious Studies courses, an upper-level English which was not 102, etc. I took History and Philosophy at community college, and also finished out any electives so that I didn't have to worry about them. I finished all of my pre-requisites for my program last semester, so now I only have to focus on my nursing courses.

It's definitely not too early to look into RN-BSN programs to get an idea of what requirements you need to fulfill. You could also get in contact with the SON at your program of choice and let them know you're starting ADN and are interested in bridging. They could at least help you with what classes you would need as well as any other requirements you'd need. :-) Good luck!

Don't overextend yourself. If you can take the "extra" classes without negatively impacting your GPA, go for it. But if the extra load will potentially decrease your grades in nursing classes, don't do it. It is nearly impossible to repair a damaged GPA and this would be a limiting factor if you decide to continue your education.

It's hard to predict when a BSN will actually become mandatory for hospital jobs, but I believe that day is coming. This change is being driven by hard evidence from patient-outcome research so it is an essential component for improving quality & safety.It is a 'soft' mandate at this point. Right now, the Federal Government (IOM) is only "recommending" an 80% BSN staff for hospitals. Next, we will probably see some reimbursement ties - favorable rates for hospitals that meet IOM criteria. At that point, it will pretty much be a done deal because no hospital will be able to afford the 'cost' of non-compliance. If this movement is consistent with others in the past, there may be waivers for hospitals with evidence that they have tried to meet the goal but have been unable to due to uncontrollable factors (ex: too rural, not enough schools, etc).

I took most of my prerequisite classes (all except the lab science courses) online. Mine were not truly independent study, as they had deadlines and were on the same quarterly schedule as on campus classes. There are real pros and cons to online classes. They can be great because you can work on your own schedule, but because you are mostly learning everything on your own it can be much more difficult and take more overall study time. You will really have to be disciplined to make sure you get your work done and learn the material because it is really easy to put things off when you are doing it completely on your own time. If you choose to do those classes while doing your ADN program I would strongly suggest not doing more than one additional class at a time. I would also say you should not take the math classes online unless you are pretty strong in math. I took College algebra, trig, and calculus online and I can tell you it is very hard to learn those things independently even with strong math skills.

Evey class I listed are the requirements I lack for my schools bridge program so I know that is exactly what I need. I will not take the math via iL classes I'm not that brave!! I do plan on taking one course along with my other nursing classes each semester and then load up in the summer. I feel that if I'm not done with those requirements by the time I graduate with my ASN I will be ok and can just continue to do iL classes while I work and then apply to the bridge program when ready. I haven't really thought much about job interviews for in the future but I'm sure one of the questions they ask you is about continuing your education, if I answer that I am in the process of working on getting into the bridge program surely that has to count for something right?