IS BSN slower paced than ASN

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Just wondering this after reading all the horror stories about what hell nursing school is. Is a BSN program slower paced than an ASN since it is stretched out over a longer period of time? I am in a BSN program. I have the first two years to complete the pre-reqs and then enter the nursing program where it is only nursing courses for 2 years. It seems to me that an ASN could be more challenging in that you are compressing so much material into a shorter period of time ( granted you have more time in school with the BSN). I chose this program for many reasons but this was one of them. I have 3 kids, 7,6 and 20 months, and a slower pace would be more ideal for me even if it takes longer.

Do you think this is a fair assumption or am I way off?

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Not necessarily. In a BSN program you are having to earn more unit credits in order to graduate to get the bachelor's degree. The university adds extra goodies to the nursing curriculum that they feel are necessary for the graduates of their program to know is all you are getting. You still get the same ASN challenging coursework intermingled in with it all. And you will probably do a heck of a lot of paper writing that an ASN program doesn't have time to have you do either. The nursing care plans in my BSN program were more like major term papers. You are gonna work for that BSN.

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Dont get me wrong, I expect this to be very challenging.

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I wouldn't say so. Very few people actually get an ADN in two years -- usually, you have to complete all (or most) of the prerequisite courses before starting the two years of nursing courses. Most BSN programs are set up as you describe -- two years of general college/prereqs followed by two years of nursing courses. The time frame works out to about the same.

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An ADN is a 3.5 year 2 year school. It finishes up only slightly quicker than a BSN, and therefore a BSN is only a couple of 6 hr semesters away when combined in a dual graduate program, but its big bucks. The ADN is very competitive due to low cost, so everyone is a star student, or should be anyway (depending on school politics). Competition is good though, since you may get washed out at any time any way. Employers can see who bought their degrees at private schools and deal with them differently. BSN's are competitive as well, with additional requirements that may be a distraction at times. Grade competition may be more difficult at BSN as well due to more students. The main thing (prime choice) is to get accepted somewhere that is a public school with undisputed transferable credits. ymmv

Oh yeah, its harder to get accepted at BSN program, but once you're in you are safe. Anyone can pre-nurse at ADN, but competition for 2 year ADN program is stiff and you never know until you get accepted. Its a stress-nightmare for sure, and you have to be prepared to change your whole life semester by semester until you are accepted :-(

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.
...Employers can see who bought their degrees at private schools and deal with them differently...

Assuming that you're lumping all private schools together...I won't take offense to this statement. :-) My (private) undergrad alma mater is fully accredited by the NLN and approved by the state BON. And I would wager that a majority of employers are concerned with licensure status/eligibility as opposed to where you matriculated.

However, my coworker's school was approved by the BON (for licensure) but was not accredited by the NLN or CCNE. Now she's having difficulty getting into certain MSN programs.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

No not at all. The first two years of my BSN program required the same nursing education as an ASN plus I had to work on my upper division courses at the same time.

I wouldn't say so. Very few people actually get an ADN in two years -- usually, you have to complete all (or most) of the prerequisite courses before starting the two years of nursing courses. Most BSN programs are set up as you describe -- two years of general college/prereqs followed by two years of nursing courses. The time frame works out to about the same.

How do you figure?? The BSN requires one whole year longer than the ASN and that does not included the additional courses needed to transfer to the university, and the additional pre-reqs for the BSN that are not required by the BSN such as organic and inorganic Chem, and Statistics (you can get an associates degree and not have enough units to transfer)

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An ADN program is still 2 full years of nursing classes. Most people take 3-4 years to get an ADN. At my local schools, at least, the BSN program is more than full time for the last 2 years while the ADN program is 3/4 time (you have to complete the coreqs to be competitive) because the BSN program has more credit hours, so the BSN is more work.

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How do you figure?? The BSN requires one whole year longer than the ASN and that does not included the additional courses needed to transfer to the university, and the additional pre-reqs for the BSN that are not required by the BSN such as organic and inorganic Chem, and Statistics (you can get an associates degree and not have enough units to transfer)

I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. When I said the time frame was about the same, I was referring specifically to the nursing courses -- which take about the same amount of time in both ADN and BSN programs.

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Our advanced placement RNs who had gone through ASN programs never said anything about the BSN program courses they were taking to finish up BSN program requirements being slower paced than their ASN programs. By that point they were just as eager to get everything over with as the other students.

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I wouldn't say a BSN is slower paced. If you look at the breakdown of the semesters it's often 17-18 credit hours at both ADN and BSN programs. That said, as many have said before, many in the ADN programs can't start their nursing courses until all of the other classes are done. Some people choose to also take courses that will help them secure a BSN later on while taking those pre-req courses. For instance, I'm taking Statistics right now while taking some classes that I have to take before I can get accepted into the nursing clinicals. If a person consistently did this, it would take a year to 18 months to get a BSN after graduating with an ADN through an RN-BSN program.

I think it all depends on how long a person takes to complete any program. A person going for a BSN may take 5 years to get that. Someone completing the BSN in 4 years is going to think that the 5 year BSN person had a slower paced program. Likewise, someone in an ADN program who completes all core classes and nursing courses as intended and finishes in 2 years (I've yet to find a school that you can actually do that at!) compared to someone who took 4 years to finish (and didn't take extra courses for a BSN down the road) will have an easier load than the 2 year person.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.
I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. When I said the time frame was about the same, I was referring specifically to the nursing courses -- which take about the same amount of time in both ADN and BSN programs.

We have a whole year of additional nursing courses. Not all are clinical nursing courses but still they are still nursing courses. Community Nursing, being one of them, which does have clinical.

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