MSN education to DNP/ PHD?

[Kevin Gao]

Hello!

Im a BSN RN and I eventually want to be a nursing professor. I realize that at most universities, you need a DNP/PHD/EDD. I want to apply to Duke's MSN education and eventually get a DNP. They told me that they recommend me getting their MSN leadership instead, saying I cannot get a DNP/ PHD with a MSN in education at most schools. That sounds bizarre, and was wondering if that is true! I would love to learn how to be an educator rather than into administration if I want to eventually want to teach. Thanks in advance!

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

What? I mean, pay attention to the standards of the programs where you intend to attend, but that doesn’t sound right.

For one, there are a good number of BSN to PhD programs out there, and some in Public Universities; they obviously are fine with the basic BSN level education/leadership content. I’m currently in dissertation in such a program. My program included about 15 hours of MSN educator courses which will allow me to become a certified nurse educator once I defend if I want to go into academia.

The program I attend doesn’t distinguish about what kind of MSN one has (most of my cohort were MSN). Only one of my cohort was MSN-leadership, the rest were MSN-Peds (that’s how they did it in the 80s), or FNP, WHNP.

Once more I’d encourage you to investigate the standards of the program(s) you are interested in but Educator courses will serve you well if you want Academia.

[HeatherISU]

I'm MSN Education in the first semester of my DNP program at Indiana State University. There are a handful of MSN eds in my cohort.

[m4howie, ADN, BSN]

I am currently looking at getting a PHD. I considered getting a masters first as a bridge but financially it is almost a waste of money. A masters on average is between 40 to 60 credits. Most BSN to DNP/PhD programs are around 70-90 credits. Most DNP/PhD programs will only accept 10-20 credits at most from people who have a masters degree. That really isn't much of a saving financially and definitely not a savings from a time standpoint (2 to 4 years to getting masters then going back for DNP/PhD). Getting a MSN in nursing and then a DNP or PhD in nursing is more likely to have credits that overlap than a general masters in education. That might be why they suggested going that route. I hope this is making sense.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

3 hours ago, m4howie said:

I am currently looking at getting a PHD. I considered getting a masters first as a bridge but financially it is almost a waste of money. A masters on average is between 40 to 60 credits. Most BSN to DNP/PhD programs are around 70-90 credits. Most DNP/PhD programs will only accept 10-20 credits at most from people who have a masters degree. That really isn't much of a saving financially and definitely not a savings from a time standpoint (2 to 4 years to getting masters then going back for DNP/PhD). Getting a MSN in nursing and then a DNP or PhD in nursing is more likely to have credits that overlap than a general masters in education. That might be why they suggested going that route. I hope this is making sense.

I have to agree with you on the efficiency of going straight from BSN to PhD. The thing is, most people don't realize they want the PhD until later. The program I'm in has it set up where someone with an MSN could possibly complete the program in 2 years but I've never met anyone who has managed this. Also, this program states that as a BSN one will complete 110-120 hours but consider that each semester one is in dissertation one will "earn" (read pay for) 9 credits and most people spend a minimum of 2-3 semesters in dissertation.

In my cohort we had 3 (including myself) going from BSN to PhD and 5 going from MSN to PhD. After 4 years we are down to myself as the only remaining BSN to PhD and 3 others who were already MSN. The BSN to PhD program has required me to take a full-time load and at this point I seem to be slightly ahead of all the remaining students in getting to defense.