Leave BA degree off my resume?

wacberry · Jul 8, 2009

I have been an LVN for 20 years. I started with an Associates Degree in

Business Management I received back in the late 70's. I worked in that field for about 12 years before going into nursing. I don't put it on a resume or bring it up in an intervies. Very few of my co workers know. It seems to put them off if they do. Like I am so much more educated than they are!

RNperdiem, RN · Jul 8, 2009

Go ahead and put your BA on the resume.

College degrees are far from rare these days, and if you live in an upscale area like I do, college educations are standard.

The majority of my classmates in nursing school had college degrees like Sociology, but were unskilled in the job market.

Unless you live in an area where few people go to college, I doubt anyone will be intimidated by your degree.

Kevin RN08 · Jul 8, 2009

I agree with keeping it on the resume. Now you may want to downplay the work experience unless it was healthcare related.

I would also add that if they are intimidated by your Sociology degree and work experience, they possibly aren't a very strong and well rounded team.

mochabean · Jul 8, 2009

Since we're on the topic, maybe you guys can help me out. A few years ago I got an MSW, but I never had the opportunity to use it because I had a difficult time finding a job. I've done internships at an LTC and a hospital. . .that's pretty much it. I just gave up on social work and have left it off my resume. Do you guys think it'll be benefical to list the MSW despite the lack of work experience related to social work?

Platypus · Jul 8, 2009

I have a BS degree and no way would I leave it off - HOWEVER , I was advised to leave the date of obtaining the degree off my resume because it had been over 20 years ago. Even though descriminating against a candidate based on age is illegal, we know it still occurs. No need to give anyone a reason to write you off before they actually can meet you in an interview.

donnasRN · Jul 8, 2009

You earned it, you paid for it, keep it on. If they don't hire you because you obtained a BA, you probably don't want to work there.

Penguin67 · Jul 8, 2009

If you earned the credential, use it! Be proud of your accomplishments! Also, if you left it off, it might look like you are hiding something. Time spent working on a degree explains a gap in employment, or erratic periods of employment.

mmm333, LVN · Oct 31, 2009

The short reply: Yes. BARNs should list their Bachelor's degrees.

Magnet status and hospital goals: Hospitals and nursing organizations that aspire to "magnet" status strive to sow numbers that reflect a highly educated nursing staff. This helps attract the best nurses and also the best doctors. Each individual nurse is truly unique, but in general there is evidence that the more educated a nursing staff is, the less mistakes, conflicts, etc. occur. More effective outcomes are loosely correlated with levels of education, whether or not this is the case with each individual is debatable, but generally it is generally true where large groups of nurses are concerned (statistically). You can look at the rationale behind "magnet" status for more about that. Then there are the doctors. Doctors are generally sharp and highly educated, not that this means you won't ever meet a doc who is a bit of an ass. But doctors want nurses to be on their intellectual level. The solid stigma is that the associate degree does not make someone an intellectual or a professional, doesn't require the same level of planning and perseverence, and isn't as difficult. Nursing is a bit different because of the number of prerequisites and waiting time (during which many study other healthcare or biology topics).

Nursing's view of the ADN - But in the end ADN nurses are not as appreciated as they should be, and this probably won't change much- even nursing organizations don't support the poor ADN nurses who don't plan to go on to BSN etc. If they could, they would probably do away with the ADN right away. Some might say that it holds back the advancement of nursing from the vocational toward the professional career. Associate's degrees are generally not recognized outside of nursing and some vocational areas and some do leave them off of their resumes due to the stigma (whether or not we think that is unfortunate). ANA or NLNA recommends that nurses have Master's degrees to meet the definition of "profession". Other organizations grudgingly recommend a miminum of BSN. Nobody really supports the continued existence of the ADN except for those programs themselves, but given the nursing shortage nobody can really force this, however. The trend now is for community colleges to team up with local universities to offer their BSN on the community college campus- however this is tough because those employed in the ADN programs may not qualify to teach at the BSN level and don't want to be unseated or left out in the cold.

The role of the Bachelor's Degree in society: The military won't consider commissioning officers with less than a bachelor's. Their idea of leadership involves first having a bachelor's degree. Society in general used to require the bachelor's degree at a minimum for membership in the "upper classes" of society. Today a bachelor's is more like a HS diploma and Graduate study is becoming more the ground floor entryway to the upper classes of society. This isn't a bad thing, accessibility to education has made the college degree much more common than before. But the bachelor's is more than ever a measure of your ability to interact with people of higher AND lower educational backgrounds- sensitively and with greater sophistication.

Since you are a BARN you should consider an RN>MSN, not a BSN. Another B-degree might be redundant. This is if you don't NEED your BSN very soon (for military programs, pay scale advancement etc). The RN>MSN will recognize that you have a B-degree and some of the classes for MSN will generally be the same as in the BSN with a little more writing and research.

In the rest of the world, there is no question that a BA in any discipline qualifies you to continue your education at the graduate level. For some reason many in nursing think that you should have to start all over and redo your education. I rebel against this anti-intellectual attitude and the idea that everyone should do things the same way, pay their dues from the ground up, etc. It's not as if you are going to get hired in above nurses with greater clinical experience. This stuff gets sorted out in the hiring process.

My degree was in legal studies and I got certificated as a paralegal. I chose nursing ADN over law school after getting accepted to both. I think that a good general understanding of law, ethics, legal principles, and the history and philosophy behind it can be a great asset to the nursing community. It won't be anytime soon, but I hope I can sit on an ethics, QA, or risk management committee someday and use my dual background, OR become a legal consultant or expert witness. I could also use it to fight for the rights of nurses and advance the profession.

I feel that I should be valued for that. Your understanding of people and families vis a vis society (no doubt with some exposure to psych, ethics, history, and some legal principles) is a great complement to your nursing of individuals, families, populations, etc. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

Most people in a position to hire you have a BSN or above and thus shouldn't be intimidated or discriminate against anyone with a BA degree in another discipline. In any case the points you might get for it are worth the risk that someone might decide that you are a no-good coffee house intellectual who thinks they are entitled to the good life based on their BA pedigree. If someone really thinks this way, would you want to work for them?!

Hopefully within the profession this stuff can be hashed out. Nobody should be expected to earn two or three B-degrees in order to move on with their lives. Anyway most RN>MSN programs (such as Loyola for example) make the ADN nurse take a few BSN-level classes in Nursing Theory/concepts, Public/Community Health nursing, nursing research or informatics, and physical assessment or advanced path/pharmacology. Usually it's 3-4 courses for this "bridge", which essentially converts your BA status to BSN status and allows you to move on to MSN-level work.

Also check out this thread: https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/ba-to-msn-112377.html