Nurse Practitioner

We can't possibly give advice as to whether it's worth it, only you can answer that. How do you know you want to be an NP if you haven't even had experience or specialized yet? What kind of NP do you want to be? I'm in my final year of my acute NP degree and it's the hardest thing I've ever done, cost me a bunch of money and has taken 3 years of my life. I've sacrificed social life, rest days, sleep and energy and it's relentless. Was it worth it? I hope so. But I have 25 years nursing experience behind me and I had already specialized in critical care for many years. Why not take some time to work as an RN and find your niche. Get some experience in different areas and get a feel for your strengths and weaknesses. Don't rush into a huge expensive commitment just because you think you should. You really have to want it to be successful.

I agree you should spend some time finding your place in the nursing world before trying to go for an advanced degree. Where you start out in nursing is not always where you'll be happiest. I started in the hospital on a transplant unit. I loved it and thought I would be there forever. Over time I found that while I enjoyed the hospital and transplant unit, my skill set and passion is in wounds and geriatrics - two areas I never thought I would practice in. My advice is to work on your BSN and spend time working to see what you want to do with your career. I don't think every nurse needs to be an NP, it doesn't guarantee a greater paycheck but it does guarantee more responsibility.

Not all advanced practice settings require crazy hours and being on-call, in fact if you find an area where your specialty is in demand you can negotiate a pretty great schedule.

A few examples - in my area my specialty is in high demand. In school a preceptor of mine worked 8-3 no on-call, no weekends and 2 days a week she worked from home doing telemedicine for her company. Another example, I recently accepted a position offering 8-5 m-f, no on-call, no weekends with 32.5 paid vacation days and 10 days of paid cme leave per year. Another colleague of mine recently accepted a position with no on-call only working M-Th.

Point is, if you're smart with your chosen specialty and the area you work in, you can negotiate great schedules as an APRN. Or just go into practice for yourself and make your own schedule...

The RN to BSN may save you quite a bit of money. By doing it that way, I saved over 4 thousand.