Is This a Good Plan?

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

Dear Nurse Beth,

I'm putting this out there to get some advice and to hopefully connect with someone who may be thinking along the same lines or in the same boat...

I am 36 and my ultimate goal is to have my BSN by the time I'm 40! I am a first-time college student meaning no degrees, I got my Medical Coding certificate years ago and have been working in Medical admin for over 11 years. I work full-time and have two small kids.

I first completed my prereqs to put my name on the LVN waitlist since it issoooolooooonnng and I'm currently on Fall 2020. I figured I can do LVN then LVN to RN bridge and still continue working. All my nurse friends say I should go straight to RN and not mess around. So I took my TEAS and scored kinda low 76, didn't study that much and realize now since I passed I cannot retake until 2 years.

Now I'm almost done with my prereqs for the RN application and hope to finish by the deadline of Aug 2018 for the Spring 2019 RN cohort. Honestly, I'm concerned that my points are just not competitive enough to get in but I'm going to try my best. If I don't get accepted I can try again or take the LVN route. Any thoughts or advice are welcome. Thank you in advance!

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Dear Planning,

It sounds like you have a plan, and a backup plan to the plan:). If you don't get into the RN program Spring 2019 you can go into the LVN program Fall 2020, or as you said, re-apply. By then you should have a better idea of which path to take.

Keep in mind that it's not usually possible to work full-time while in the nursing program. Hopefully, your job is flexible and you'll be able to work around clinicals and class time. There are always loans for when the time comes.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"...and your next!