Moving Missouri to Boston, MA. Do you need BSN to work at most major hospitals there

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I'm moving in abouta year and a half from small town in Missouri to Boston, MA. Can someone tell me what most major hospitals require as a nurse. LPN? RN? Or BSN? What is the average salary of a starting RN on a Med Surg floor in a major hospital in the area. Any living recommendations that are close by any of those hospitals? Do they offer many incentives or contracts to sign with them?

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It is pretty competitive here. I don't want to say it is impossible to work in a hospital without a BSN, but it will definitely be a challenge. I know a few hospitals that won't even look at you without a BSN. Do you have experience? If you do that will be a big help, if not you will have a difficult time getting into a hospital (LTC and home care are a different story).

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Specializes in ICU.

I believe new grad RNs are required to have a BSN my most, if not all of the Boston area hospitals. The Boston RN market is saturated and it is very unlikely you will find any kind of sign-on bonus, relocation assistance, etc. Since you have a year and a half, lots could change but I doubt it. If you want to live anywhere near Boston proper, count on paying a lot to live, park a car, etc. I've travelled around nursing for four years, if you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.

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Specializes in Public Health Nurse.
I've travelled around nursing for four years, if you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.

Have you worked for any hospital in Florida?

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Specializes in ICU.
Have you worked for any hospital in Florida?

Never in FL, I've heard far more bad stories than good ones about the poor staffing there.

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Specializes in Public Health Nurse.
Never in FL, I've heard far more bad stories than good ones about the poor staffing there.

Yes, well that is why I was asking you. I cannot find work here in South Florida, so I have been contemplating looking in Tampa or further up, but have not clue where is the best hospital to even try.

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Specializes in ICU.
Yes, well that is why I was asking you. I cannot find work here in South Florida, so I have been contemplating looking in Tampa or further up, but have not clue where is the best hospital to even try.

Georgetown University Hospital in DC was a great place to work if you want to go that far north.

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Specializes in Public Health Nurse.

Thanks HD, but I need to stay in Florida. Will keep looking.

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If you don't have a BSN I bet money that not a single hospital in the actual city of Boston will hire you.... If you don't have a BSN you will have a very very difficult time finding employment in the surrounding hospitals outside of the city too... But there is a small chance, and you must enroll within a certain time frame in a BSN program to be employed with an associates.

If you have an LPN good luck. You might be able to work in a doc office? Maybe... But def not a floor or any sort of speciality.

A year and a half might as well be no experience here.... Just being honest really..

My suggestion is apply to small community hospitals in a 20 to 40 mile radius outside of the city... Apply for everything and don't be picky.

Good luck!!!! Saturate that market with apps! Don't get discouraged. It's hard out there

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Thank you for all input - it's all great whether you think it is good or bad. I'm doing a lot of planning being a single father with two kiddies. Making sure I have it all figured out before I make the move. Basically, I am wanting to continue on in school, hopefully med school but I'm needing to make about $105,000/ year with RN or BSN to get where I want to be. I know the schools are great out there and I want to be apart of it.. I hope to continue to keep getting feedback. Thank You all.

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An RN, even with a BSN, typically doesn't make $105,000/year in Boston. Salary.com Salary Wizard- Do you know what you're worth? of living is also much higher here. If your goal is education and you have children you might want to consider loans/grants to go to school (grants don't have to be paid back, and if you make less than a certain amount a year a Pell grant can go a long way to funding your undergrad education ) so you don't have to work full time. Nursing isn't the best track to med school. You dont need a BSN to go to med school, you just need a bachelors degree in any subject with the proper math and science classes. After med school you have to do a residency, where unless you went to med school on a scholarship, you will be a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt, work full time hours, and make less money than the nurses for 3-6 years depending on your specialty (think about making $50,000/year and being in debt to loan companies that don't let you wait until residency is over to start paying them back). I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just trying to help you look at the reality. You might want to consider nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist as long term goals. You get a significant pay increase in both, and compared to med school they are much cheaper and flexible for a single parent. I'm also not saying not to go to med school, I just think you should pick either doctor or nurse, because becoming a nurse won't speed up the process of becoming a doctor, in fact it may delay it because you will have to take extra courses to meet the med school requirements. You should contact the universities that interest you and talk to someone in admissions before you make any life altering decisions. Med school will be enough work, don't add to it more than you have to!

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