Pre-Nursing with a Bachelors of Science in Biopsych

[jenniferrgraham]

I graduated from a 4-year private liberal arts college in Atlanta, GA with a Bachelors of Science in Biopsychology. I am currently going back to school at a local community college to get my ADN. I couldnt find a job with my first degree and really wanted to be a nurse anyway. I keep hearing that Ill be fine and might possibly a leg up because Ill have a Bachelors in a related science field (its essentially a degree in Biology) and be a RN. Is this true? It just didnt make sense to me to go back to get a BSN when really all Im missing is the nursing course. Hope someone can give me some advice .

[Stephalump]

I don't think there's anything wrong with getting an ADN as long as you're aware that many hospitals are making the move to preferring/requiring BSNs, and people with bachelor's degrees in other fields aren't exempt from that. The courses that are "missing" from an ADN are nursing theory courses, not science courses. My ADN program is 45 credits of clinically based course work (plus prereqs) and the RN-BSN is 30 hours of theory - the ADN isn't all of the BSN core work in a community college setting.

I'm not saying you won't be able to find a job, but depending on your area, it may be more difficult to obtain hospital jobs instead of LTC/nursing home jobs. I'd look at job postings for hospitals you'd like to work at and see if anything is mentioned. If your area is ADN friendly, I say go for it, as long as you're aware that you may very well have to go the RN-BSN route in the future. Times are a'changin.

[robyn_a]

I am in a similar situation...I graduated about a year ago with a Bachelors of Science in Health Sciences. This previous degree covered all of my nursing pre-reqs except one. I've heard the same thing about my first degree helping me out, but I am only going to be starting nursing school this fall so we'll see. I decided to pursue a BSN instead (I was worried about not being able to find a job since the hospitals in my area all prefer BSNs). Though like Stephalump said, if your area is ADN friendly then go for it!!