New here, a few questions

[beaconshome]

Hey everyone! I thought I would get some feedback from some of you. I am currently finishing up my undergrad degree in psychology, with a chemistry minor, and I have been thinking about nursing school. I would like to work as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, but first I must get my BSN. Bellin College in Wisconsin is the school I'm looking into for the accelerated program. I need a few pre-requisites before I can apply, but I was wondering what can I expect from the accelerated program? Am I making the right decision? I was thinking about graduate school as a professional counselor before, but compensation and advancement aren't in abundance. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. Also, I thought I would just share that I'm a 23 year old male.

[laxxrickLPN]

Psychiatric nurse practitioner isn't just an MSN, I believe it's a post-Master's certificate. Which equates to 4 years BSN, another 2 MSN, another 1-2 post-Master's certificate. 7-8 years in total.

I think it's an awesome career choice though. My ultimate goal is RN, then BSN, then join Army Reserve, then go for CRNA. The great news is that if we shoot that high in our career goals and fall short, we still have an RN license w/ a Bachelor's to fall back on... pretty much guaranteed work! Aim BIG, miss SMALL.

[elkpark]

Welcome to allnurses! :balloons:

You can go directly into an MSN program with a psych NP focus; you don't have to get another MSN first and then do a post-Master's certificate.

There are a lot of threads here discussing psych NP roles and career prospects; if you haven't already, you may want to look around at some of what's already here. There are also plenty of threads here discussing accelerated BSN programs, and people's experiences with them. I encourage you to have a look -- you can browse the student and graduate student fora or use the "search" button in the upper right corner of the screen to find what you're looking for specifically.

Best wishes!

[Mr ButtWipe]

Go the BSN route. I am a former psych major that is wrapping up the final level of my accelerated program. The opportunity to have an impact as a nurse is greater than that of a counselor in my opinion.

[beaconshome]

Thank you everyone for the replies! I have been searching around the site, but there is a ton of information to sort through. I just wanted a few opinions from some of you. I am considering nursing school everyday and I do believe I have what it takes. I won't be done with my psychology degree until Fall, but right after that I'm going to start taking the pre-reqs. to get into nursing school. I hope that my grades are well enough to get in. I was a chemistry major for 4 years but then just switched to psychology because of some bad grades in p. chem and I had to withdraw from classes because of a brain tumor. Anyways, I'm very excited to get started.