did i just ruin my career at 21

[LookForward]

I graduated last december 2009. In May, I landed a full time position on a med-surgical floor. I was of couse happy and my family proud. I was finally making a regular income.

Midway through orientation, I got a full scholarship offer from a university. However, they want me to study full time in order to retain it.

I realized I could not work and study full time at the same time. My director said I couldnt work part time because Im only a new graduate. Consequently, I resigned. It was the hardest decision, since my preceptors were awesome and the hospital environment was good.

Now, Im just gonna go to school. I cant help but wonder what future employers would think of my resume. Will I still be considered a new graduate in 2012 (year i get the bsn) if i dont work in the next 2 years? I should have just gone straight to the bsn years ago...I feel like I keep making the wrong decisions and starting to despise myself....

[CNL2B]

I was actually inquiring about why the length of her degree would take 2 years not judging the choice. All the adn-bsn programs that I have looked at don't have enough credits to equal 2 more years. I've been weighing my options and was really curious. Some people choose the adn path because it is much cheaper not because they are too lazy to attend a university.

This varies alot and what your ADN program requires for you plays a role. Believe it or not, you actually used to be able to get through an ADN with approximately 70 college credits (two years, summers off, going FT) and do your sciences concurrently right along with your nursing curriculum. I went through one of these (already had a BS, so I did my ADN PT over a two year period.) Ahhhh, 90s education -- the ADN program I went through required good HS transcripts, a letter of recommendation, and you needed to have been through a CNA class and it was strongly recommended that you have some work experience as an NA. I went through my nursing program with recent HS grads that were eligible to sit for the NCLEX at 20, with 70 college credits. The face to face RN-BSN programs around here are 50-60 credits more (about 130 total) if you don't have your general education stuff completed, so it is indeed two more years of school (did mine in 5 very part time semesters considering my previous BS.) No, the nursing curricula isn't 50-60 credits, but the complete program is. Likely OP went through something similar if she is only 21.

These days, it seems like you need to have 40 or 50 credits of stellar college coursework just to be eligible to apply for many community college ADN programs, so those grads just about have a 4 year degree coming out of one. (OK, may be stretching that one a little.) It was not always that way. Likely OP doesn't have 100+ credits (many ADN grads these days do, but at 21 unless OP did PSEO or graduated HS early, she probably does not.)

[LookForward]

CNL2B nailed it =) all of the classes I have to take are on campus. It's not as "flexible" or friendly to a working RN's schedule, compared to many other rn-bsn programs nowadays. It's a state university in new jersey.

Ultimately, I return to being a college student, and will most likely be considered a new grad if i dont work at all as an RN...(maybe)

THANKS again to everyone for the advice and support!! Appreciate you all BIG time.