Need help deciding

[Nurse_Bk]

Hello all,

 

I am a CA RN and I have come to this forum because I need the opinion of you all to help me decide what program to go with. I have been accepted into a FNP at I hate to say it but a diploma mil school, it is cheap (will cost me 24,000) and I will be done in 19 months. I have also been accepted into a DNP AGACNP program from a great school with the option of applying to get into their dual masters acute care and FNP Program. With this school it will take 2.5 years to before I can apply for licensure and begin working and another 1.5 before I finish the DNP portion (5 years total) it will also cost me 60,000. In California there is not much use for an acute care nurse practitioner but I really like the idea of becoming dual certified and having that knowledge base. With that being said should I go the easy route or should I proceed with the DNP program. My opinion is that the DNP Is a great way to future proof myself because I am of the opinion that with all these diploma mills pumping out FNP’s the only way to distinguish yourself from the rest and hopefully get those lucrative higher paying jobs is to be DNP prepared, but at the same time I believe experience speaks louder that what school is listed on your resume. Any thoughts ? I need to decide quickly, thank you all 

[DrCOVID, DNP]

You will read lots of hate post about the DNP here. But if you do not have an MSN, I would do DNP. It is worth the extra time and you will have leverage over other NPs that do not have one. As you noted, it 'future proofs' you as MSNs might have to go back at some point to stay relevant.

You do get more clinical time but sadly even 3-4 years is not enough as you will spend your time doing a lot of busy work that is lightly linked to the patient care you will be doing. Either way when you get to the job you can be a great provider if you take it upon yourself to be one.