Looking for advice please?

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Hello all. So I applied for a two year nursing program near my house and am waiting to see if I get in or if I get wait-listed. However, I am from NY and have seen/heard NY is trying to propose a bill that would make it so every new RN has to have a BSN. If it is passed, it will start this spring. So then basically my two year program would be pointless since I would need a BSN. However, I do not have the money for a BSN and realllly do not want to go to school for another four years. (I am currently attending a state school and will graduate in May, and before here I was at another school and dropped out due to a family members death and did not receive any college credit) So my question, would it be better to become a CNA, work in a hospital (I found 13 CNA hospital jobs around me) get some hands on experience, then go back get my LPN (which financial aid will cover, and it's affordable if I am working) and then get my RN if that's still what I choose? Or would it be better to just go into the ADN program with no hands on experience, and hope they don't pass this bill? I personally think the CNA thing is better, because then I have experience, I know if I will like the field or not, and I can always go back and gain more education. With the RN I may hate it, and I would have no experience once I graduated. So I am really looking for advice because now I am so confused and people keep discouraging me either way I tell them I am going. Thanks for your answers!

Anyone please?

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN

1 Article; 5,115 Posts

the bill before the legislature is to require a bsn within ten years of graduating from a lesser program. it may push some people into getting the bsn at the git-go, and may push some people into doing it later that wouldn't otherwise. personally, i hope it passes, because ten years is a long time and can't be construed as being too onerous a requirement for an actual, like, profession. would you want your children taught by someone with an associate's degree, or your architect or vet to be only associate's degreed? no? why would you want to have a nurse with that level of preparation, then? what is a profession?

cna jobs are only going to get you the hands-on skills that you will start to pick up in nursing school in your first semester; you'll have very little more to learn of those and if you do, you'll do so very, very shortly after graduation. lpn experience is not rn experience, so don't expect that to make any difference in your career progression except to slow it down. lpn is a waste of your time.

if you want to be a nurse, be a nurse:nurse:; save time and money and go to nursing school. bsn, if you can do it now, will take the least amount of time in the long run, and nobody expects new grads to have a lot of experience anyway-- why would you think otherwise? but doing an associate's degree is not "pointless," because it will be a stepping-stone to the bsn which you will need eventually anyway, for opportunities beyond your imagination and experience now (you'll just have to take my word for it). to save time and money, just do like all your other high school classmates and go to a 4-year college, get your bachelor's degree, and be done with it. if you can't start with the associate's program and plan to finish the bsn later. you can thank me later.:heartbeat

Did you see the part where I said I am currently in college, not high school? By state school I meant State University of New York. And I know it gives you ten years to get your BSN, but I really do not want to go back to school for an additional two years. By the time I graduate in May I will hold an associates degree and then with this nursing program I would hold an additional associates. And I am not sure being an RN is for me which is why I kind of want to "get my feet wet" and see how I like nursing.

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