A quick about me, first time poster. I am a 22 year old male located in North East United States. I have been in community college the past 2 years taking everything from business, accounting, humanities, whatever, trying to find my niche. I eventually found nursing and I truly believe this is a career for me and have been researching every aspect of nursing for the past couple months.
Now for what I seek advice on...
I don't know where to go from here. I desire to eventually become a NP, CRNA, or a APRN of some kind. I will figure that out as I gain education and experience. But I don't know what school I should go to now.
I could get my ADN here in my hometown, but then I have to move to a larger city to get my BSN and MSN. If my life goal is to end up as a APRN should I just move now and get into a bigger school where I can start a BSN program and move to MSN directly afterwards? Or is it a smart move to obtain a ADN, gain work experience, then move towards a BSN and MSN program?
Any personal stories of a similar situation of how you got started would be great. If you did the ADN to BSN to MSN did you regret it, or do you think that was a great route? Same if you went initially for a BSN to MSN all in the same school...
I'm reaching out for some advice here, I did the guys forum, but if any women are browsing this your advice is greatly appreciated as well!
Get the BSN. It will save you time and money in the long run. To become advanced in practice, you will need the hospital experience. It's much harder to get work in a hospital as an ADN unless you have connections or are a known entity. Hindsight is 20/20 for me.
I got my ADN first. Worked for a while and then got my BSN. Have been working with my BSN for six months and going for MSN in the fall. You should stay where you are and get med-surg experience first. BABY STEPS!
Where did you obtain your ADN? I a m trying to take the same route. Get my ADN first. But the wait at COmmunity colleges is too long for me. It's a 1-2 year wait. SO I was thinking about going to get my Lpn first since that will knock off a year and a half and then going right into a bridge program for my ADN? Is that too much, or do you think I should just start completing my pre reqs for my Associates degree which will take me about a year and then hopefully either be able to start the ASN program? Or wait that additional year to start? Im 21 and ready to take conrtol of my life so my son adn I can have an amazing future.
Similar to other posters: If you end up going for your CRNA, (please understand this is slightly different in some places, so your area may not be like mine), going for you BSN would be best. The schools in this entire state require 3 years BSN ICU experience before applying to CRNA school. They won't count ADN experience.
There areas on here where some people have gotten irritated with me when I said that bc I guess it isn't like that in some areas of the country. So I'd do some checking on specifics at your local schools.
I am very familiar with your current position. I myself am from the Northeast and was faced with a similar decision. I decided to go the diploma route from a nearby hospitals nursing school then to a university once I was working for the BSN. This route took especially long and painful. The total length of time for the diploma in nursing was 4 years and the additional BSN part time was an additional two years. OUCH!. Now I need to decided whether or not I want to go for another 2-3 years for my MSN.
If I was in your position, I would lean towards going to a school that offered the BSN straight up with a good program that will bridge to an MSN degree if you choose to go that route in the future. Reason's being are that most hospitals (as others have stated) require the BSN to be hired. Also, having the BSN can put you a leg up above your associate's or diploma degree peers when on the hunt for a job. The abilty to use those credits towards an MSN can also save you time and money... and in the long run lets face it, thats what matters.
Some hospital will offer you money towards getting a BSN or MSN like mine did. However, in my case I recieved 4800/year which was approx 1/3 cost of the school per year. It would have been worth it for me to just save myself 1-2 years and go directly for my BSN.
Good luck, hope this helps.... How exciting for you and exhausting. It will all be worth it very soon.
Where did you obtain your ADN? I a m trying to take the same route. Get my ADN first. But the wait at COmmunity colleges is too long for me. It's a 1-2 year wait. SO I was thinking about going to get my Lpn first since that will knock off a year and a half and then going right into a bridge program for my ADN? Is that too much, or do you think I should just start completing my pre reqs for my Associates degree which will take me about a year and then hopefully either be able to start the ASN program? Or wait that additional year to start? Im 21 and ready to take conrtol of my life so my son adn I can have an amazing future.
Not sure why you think the LPN will shorten your path to ADN by a year and half. Things vary from one Community College to the next but LPN's at my CC only skipped one semester of the nominal five semester (two year) AAS-Nursing program. Most nursing programs require quite a few classes for the associates degree over and above those in the nursing program, which could easily make things 3 or more years long.
It sounds like you need most of the associate degree pre-reqs. For nursing, these typically include Bio, Micro, Psych (usually Intro, Abnormal and Developmental), Stats, Math, Chem at least two semesters of A&P and possibly Nutrition. You may also need a couple of semesters of other social science courses (Soc, Anthro), probably English and perhaps other Humanities (History,Philosophy, Art, Music, etc) to be eligible for the degree.
It will take some time to get these out of the way, so why not apply and get accepted to the nursing program and in the interim, take care of all your pre-reqs?
Not sure why you think the LPN will shorten your path to ADN by a year and half. Things vary from one Community College to the next but LPN's at my CC only skipped one semester of the nominal five semester (two year) AAS-Nursing program. Most nursing programs require quite a few classes for the associates degree over and above those in the nursing program, which could easily make things 3 or more years long.
It sounds like you need most of the associate degree pre-reqs. For nursing, these typically include Bio, Micro, Psych (usually Intro, Abnormal and Developmental), Stats, Math, Chem at least two semesters of A&P and possibly Nutrition. You may also need a couple of semesters of other social science courses (Soc, Anthro), probably English and perhaps other Humanities (History,Philosophy, Art, Music, etc) to be eligible for the degree.
It will take some time to get these out of the way, so why not apply and get accepted to the nursing program and in the interim, take care of all your pre-reqs?
thats actually exactly what I'm planning to do. But here in my city, Chicago, it's a 1-2 year wait for the Nursing program at the city colleges. So I was thinking about doing all my pre reqs now which will take about a year to complete. If I'm not in by next year, Fall of 2015, I was thinking about going for lpn which is another year, so that way when I get into the nursing program for RN, I can just do a bridge program. Work as an LPN while I'm in school for my ASN.
A post graduate degree as a Cardiac Perfusionist will lead to a highly respected career with very very high salary.
Wow! I don't hear much about that anymore. Everybody wants to be a CRNA or NP for the perceived salary I presume because they don't usually have a clue what the jobs entail.
ceebeejay
389 Posts
Get the BSN. It will save you time and money in the long run. To become advanced in practice, you will need the hospital experience. It's much harder to get work in a hospital as an ADN unless you have connections or are a known entity. Hindsight is 20/20 for me.