Is ABSN well worth it?

[Tomato378]

I have B.A. in psychology, and my overall GPA was somewhere above 3.0

I got accepted to the community college for pre-nursing to take pre-reqs like A&P, microbiology, chemistry, and so on. So that will be 1 year (2 semesters) that I have to take no matter what.

Then I bump into this question: should I go for ADN->BSN(rn-bsn bridge) or ABSN?

(I know there are a lot of questions just like this.)

I'm working full-time right now, and if I go for ADN, I can still work full-time (since I only need to take couple nursing classes per semester) and will have no debt. And I'll be able to make more money as ADN (I only make $16/hr now) and go for BSN bridge program, which will take me 1 year. So that's 3+ slow years to get BSN, 2 years still working with my current job until I get ADN.

Then ABSN program. Fantastic path, but jeez, the money is ridiculous. I wouldn't be able to work at all, so everything needs to come from borrowed money. Including living and supplies, that's like almost 100K to finish the program! (Yea, on top of what I already have..)

I'm in my late 20s, and I haven't thought of any specialty I want to study for. But I definitely want to work at big hospitals, travel around, and more that requires BSN. I even thought about maybe getting ADN and later (when I save some money and decide my path), go straight to accelerated MSN program (the one combined with BSN).

Q. Do you think it is worth taking that huge amount of loan to shorten the school time from 3-4 years (ADN -> BSN bridge) to 2 years(ABSN)? what about AMSN after ADN(RN)?

[oceanblue52]

If you can afford the tuition/living expenses, go for the ABSN. It will save you time and, in most metropolitan markets, make you slightly more competitive for jobs. This is NOT to say that an ADN is a bad choice, many excellent nurses only have an associates. But it's time consuming to have to go back for that RN to BSN and take a bunch of extra classes when you can transfer credits from your first bachelors degree. Some ABSN programs ARE ridiculously over priced, so do a lot of research before you put your applications in.

[PedsMurse916]

I was in a similiar boat as you just 3 1/2 years ago. Tough to decide the path of least resistance. Bitting the bullet and doing the ABSN was one of the best choices in my life!

You will pay for it up front, but when you do the math of time saved(which is priceless) vs the future market moving towards BSN preference, you can't go wrong.