Published Jun 9, 2011
FutureRN618
15 Posts
Please excuse me if I am rambling, but I am just very confused by this whole process. I received my letter of acceptance to CNR's 2nd degree BSN program. The letter states that a 3-credit class is over $2,000. That is extremely expensive. Additionally, due to the distance of the school, I would have to move on campus and resign from my job. I like CNR's program because it is designed for students who do not have the prerequisites other Accelerated BSN programs want you to have. But I am not quite sure if CNR is worth the price.
It seems it would be cheaper to go and get my prerequisites then apply for an accelerated BSN course in one of the CUNY colleges. But that would means extra years (the CNR program is only 5 semesters) and due to personal reasons, it's not feasible for me to devote very long to a nursing program. Plus, I have heard that some of these programs are hard to get into and have waiting lists that can stretch to 2 or more years.
Others have suggested to me to go get my ASN instead of BSN. It's cheaper and only 2 years. Plus, they've told me many schools will accept your credits from your B.S., which will decrease the length of the course. But I worry about the marketability of having an associates instead of a bachelor's in nursing.
I apologize if the above is confusing. It just seems like there is so many different information out there and I don't know which one to believe. In your professional opinion, does it make sense to go to CNR or would it be better to look into the other 2 options? And which one would make me more marketable?
I forgot to mention, I am already $70,000 in debt from my first B.S. program so CNR will bring up that already high debt quite a bit.
NursingN.C
84 Posts
I would strongly recomend that you get your ADN and then do your RN to BSN. Check with your local university to see what pre reqs you need for their BSN and take all of them while you are at the community college. This will be the cheapest, wisest, and quickest route for you. Well probably not shortest compared to the 5month program at that very expensive college. Please do not allow yourself to go into that much debt for a degree it is very unecessary. I wish you the best of luck on your nursing journey.
Grindin26
135 Posts
Personally I would spend the money and just get it over with in 2.5 years. What's the total cost looking like? If it's under 40k total, I would say go for it. You'll be all set once you're done.
An ADN program can become a big headache, they tend to be very intense and with no prior nursing background I'd assume, you might struggle. The time you're going to lose by doing pre-reqs with no guarantee of even getting into a cheap ADN program. Then the 2 years to do the ADN and finally spending more years going for a BSN. RN to BSN as I'm finding out is not as easy as it sounds. Pretty much every school has unique gen. ed. requirements, so you roll the dice with your prior credits. Again possibly wasting more time.
If you think about it you're potentially going to lose 2-3 years of salary by going the "long" route. Your situation may warrant you having to move, so definitely weigh all your options and take your time to decide.
Another option I've heard of is getting your ADN and with a Bachelors you can get your Masters right away from Excelsior. Unfortunately I don't really know much about it.
Good Luck!
missbsn
3 Posts
I have a Bachelor's degree from Mercy College and am taking my prereqs at WCC right now, i'm taking A&P I this summer, 2 in the fall and hope to take microbiology in the spring. Can you please tell me what your GPA was that you had from your first degree and you said you can take the prereqs at CNR? Do you mean the science courses? What did you wind up doing? Are you in the program...please let me know, I really appreciate it.