Need help Figuring out if I need a ADN to get into BSN

[unsureity]

Hey Ya'll,

I am in an interesting spot and need some advice. I am already enrolled in a university originally going into Psychology. I just finished my freshman year and want to try nursing. I have to get prerequisites and was wondering if I should go to community college to finish them and then onto UTMB for the BSD (in four semesters), which is inclusive and wouldn't have to worry about the ADN part and I would get killer hands-on practice. Whereas, TWU is a four year college and I have no idea the difference with hands-on practice but would have to try to to finish my prerequisites, their curriculum, and the nursing classes as well as pay for all four years.

So, finally, my question... I need help with figuring out a cheap, time-wise school which will get me in the nursing program the quickest but also with the most knowledge so that if I want to go into becoming a NP later my background education would carry some extra weight with experience.

Any ideas/personal stories/school input is welcome and begged for!

[caliotter3]

For the most part nursing school is nursing school. The end result is what matters. Generally it is better to go directly for the BSN unless your financial situation is such that you need to work or can not afford the BSN program. Most people apply to all nearby nursing programs and go to the school that accepts them or accepts them first.

[ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN]

how much college do you have under your belt now? if you are close to finishing your BA then stick with that and look into accelerated BSN programs, once you graduate, be it with an ADN or BSN we all take the same test.

[Guest 360983]

There are more schools in the medical center. You need to do some research if you're interested in seeing what options you have and what the requirements are. You might start at the med center webpage.

All of the schools in the med center will allow you to transfer credits from any local school, including HCC or Lonestar. All nursing programs have a similiar number of clinical hours, since that is state mandated. Edit: ADN programs and BSN programs may differ but you can compare ADN with ADN and BSN with BSN.

[Guest 360983]

Forgot to mention: aside from Houston Baptist (which has a very small program), there are no "4 year" universities with nursing degrees in Houston. You can get a BSN from a variety of sources but you need to complete your first two years of courses elsewhere. TWU only has all 4 years at their Denton (and maybe Dallas) campus.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

Forgot to mention: aside from Houston Baptist (which has a very small program), there are no "4 year" universities with nursing degrees in Houston. You can get a BSN from a variety of sources but you need to complete your first two years of courses elsewhere. TWU only has all 4 years at their Denton (and maybe Dallas) campus.

I only went to Denton for the graduation ceremony, but looking at my TWU transcript, it LOOKS like I only went to TWU. I have my prereqs from a community college but they transferred to TWU.

[happy2learn]

I would go for your BSN for two reasons:

1. Competition is high in the nursing field and a higher degree, all other factors constant, may give you some advantage.

2. You are wanting to become an NP, which you will need your BSN. Keep a watch on the NP programs. The ones by me are all switching from MSN to DNP in the next few years, which means by the time I get my BSN, I'll have to go for the DNP program.

I am actually going for my ADN then BSN directly after, but only because my community college has all of the BSN courses I can take besides the BSN clinicals, so by the time I get out of the ADN program here, I will only need the BSN clinicals to get my BSN. It also takes the same amount of time for me to go this route or just the regular BSN route. It saves me about $6000. Then I'll be going into the DNP program after I get my BSN.