much needed advice from professional

how important is the school that you go to? i have been an rn for over 30 years. i have worked as a nurse's assistant (didn't have cnas back then), have both an adn and a bsn. over my school career i have taken anatomy and physiology 4 times because of the way things worked out. i have a bsn because i always wanted a bachelor's degree and nursing happened to be the profession i was in. whether you go to nursing school at a community college, a tech college, a hospital based school or a top 4-year university you will get, at the minimum, what every state board of nursing in the u.s. requires--basic rn training enough to pass the nclex exam and become licensed to practice legally as an rn. the difference between these different kinds of schools after those minimal licensing requirements that they must provide to every student is the special features they offer up. some schools, particularly the top-notch university programs are involved in nursing research and have nursing professors that are educational leaders in their fields. some schools are known for one or two special areas that they focus some extra training of students in. you find these things out by looking at their curriculum, reading the information on their websites and talking to people about their programs.

as someone who has moved around the country and worked in several states as well as been a manager involved in the hiring or nurses i can tell you that after graduation and once you have been working and have a couple of years of experience under your belt, the school you went to for your rn makes absolutely no difference or impact on whether or not you get hired by a hospital as a staff nurse. they look at and consider your work experience. a bsn is going to get you into management and supervision jobs if you have leadership aptitude although it seems that more and more facilities would like to hire a bsn over an adn if they could. the fact is that in many areas there just aren't enough nurses. and, since california passed its nurse/patient staffing ratio law, some places are starting to push for this as well. that will contribute to the nursing shortage and need for more rns in the future. if your goal is an advanced practitioner role then getting a bsn is required. read the pre-requisites of programs you are interested in so you know very clearly what they are. never take a low or failing grade in a class--drop it before that happens and take it at another time in order to protect your gpa.