Is RN to BSN while working full time possible?

Nursing Students Western Governors

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Hi! I am very much interested in the RN to BSN program at , however I work full time at 40+ hours a week. I understand that I should plan on spending 20 hours a week with online studies. I would love to hear from someone else who has gone through this program while working full time. How did it work for you? Was it manageable? Thank you so much in advance for any feedback you are able to provide! ~Rachel

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Specializes in Outpatient/Clinic, ClinDoc.
Hi! I am very much interested in the RN to BSN program at WGU, however I work full time at 40+ hours a week. I understand that I should plan on spending 20 hours a week with online studies. I would love to hear from someone else who has gone through this program while working full time. How did it work for you? Was it manageable? Thank you so much in advance for any feedback you are able to provide!!! ~Rachel

I worked and still do work full time - banker's hours, M-F. I was able to complete the program in record time, but did have to take off a few days here and there to do interviews for the practicum. I did probably closer to 30-40 hours each week of study, but I was trying to get my degree in less than a term. 20ish is more realistic for most people. I don't have kids and my home time is my own - that made it easier.

There are lots of FT RN's both with and without kids doing the program right now so it's definitely doable! Only sticking point is the 90-hour practicum, which you can tailor to your hours somewhat.

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Thank you for your comment! It certainly is helpful!

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

The overwhelming majority of WGUs students hold down full-time jobs while pursuing their degrees. I did while getting my BSN and MSN.

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Without a doubt if you do it online. I am working fulltime 56 hours a week and they are all overnights 11pm-7am and Im mostly in bed during the morning to early afternoon and again in the evening. Im doing Excelsiors LPN-Rn (adn) program and it is self paced credit by exam. They offer courses with virtual instructors but I prefer to study at my own pace and test out. For BSN I think its a little different but there are some classes you can test out of at Excelsior and probably other online programs too. ..i would be careful with wgu because of the way the do their gpa. For example, I am going to apply for CRNA programs in a couple years and wgu would hurt my chances with their 3.0 for passing. Its not possible to get a 3.5 or 4.0 just 3.0. This would hurt my current gpa of 3.5 most CRNA programs require a minimum of 3.0 but admit most of their students are 3.5 or higher students, some also don't accept students under 3.5. Just a thought if you are going to graduate school. I do know someone here was a wgu graduate and got accepted into a CRNA program however

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I work 55-60 hours a week and I am taking 1 class at a time with OU to get my BSN. It is discouraging because it is taking forever but I figure slow and steady beats not at all.

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Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.

WGU's program is designed for full-time RN's. In fact, I've read stories of people being denied entry because they only had a PRN or part-time job, but I'm not sure how often this happens. Like others, I worked 40+ hours a week throughout the program. It took me 14 months, only because I was lazy about it. Looking back, I could have easily knocked it out in 6 months or less if I had applied myself.

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WGU's program is designed for full-time RN's. In fact, I've read stories of people being denied entry because they only had a PRN or part-time job, but I'm not sure how often this happens. Like others, I worked 40+ hours a week throughout the program. It took me 14 months, only because I was lazy about it. Looking back, I could have easily knocked it out in 6 months or less if I had applied myself.

6 months really? Is that with or without prereqs? How did you feel about the gpa scoring? I find that a bit strange anyone got denied because of that. I wonder if there was anything else contributing to that. What if they are caring for an elder parent or grandparent full time you know?

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Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.
6 months really? Is that with or without prereqs? How did you feel about the gpa scoring? I find that a bit strange anyone got denied because of that. I wonder if there was anything else contributing to that. What if they are caring for an elder parent or grandparent full time you know?

That was with transferring in my ASN. I don't know if has changed their policies on transfer credit, but when I came into the program, the ASN waived the vast majority of GenEd classes. The AASN, on the other hand, required a credit-by-credit evaluation. I also had a few CLEP/DSST exams and other undergrad courses from my local college transferred in, but I don't know that they made any difference due to the ASN wiping out so many credits.

The GPA didn't bother me, but I can see how it could be a concern for a CRNA program. I was accepted into my local university's MSN/FNP program (now in my 2nd semester) and was also accepted to Maryville's FNP program. Neither program had any questions about my degree or GPA.

CRNA is a different animal, and is quite a bit more competitive to get into than FNP, on average.

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Specializes in Tele, Med/Surg, Geri, Case Manager.

If you are motivated you can complete your degree quickly. I have worked full time, sometimes two jobs, had two children and still managed to get my BSN through . I'm currently in my last semester and my only enemy for finishing in time is me and my procrastination. If you are single you should have no problem! Good luck to you!

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Specializes in Outpatient/Clinic, ClinDoc.

WGU did change the policy on the 'ASN waives all sorts of genEd', at least a little. I ended up starting after that and had to retake several things that were previously waived under that policy. Not sure about the non-science gen-ed, as I actually had most of those. But even with 50CU to take, I still made it in way under 6 months - it can be done if you really really want to. :p And yes, as stated above, I work full time. There are several people over on the fb board that have recently been accepted to NP programs, even with the 3.0 GPA. That didn't matter to me, as I don't have any plans to become an NP - I did get accepted into several MSN programs, but haven't picked one yet.

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I cannot speak to the RN->BSN, but I did the MSN track while working full time. I did not, however, have much of a social life during that time (I just finished in June of '13). My life was work-WGU on Saturday, church and Sunday afternoon, with reading during lunch when I could get the time....rinse and repeat. It is AWESOME, however, to finally finish and get the new alphabet behind your name!

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