Pre-Nursing Student w/ a BS and MS in other fields

[MsNicki]

Hello! I am currently in a stressful situation of which route I should go that will be more ideal for my career goals and less painful on the pockets.

I am about to finish my first semester of prerequisites but came across a dilemma while registering for Spring classes. I was told that my high school biology was outdated and my undergrad bio may be outdated as well meaning I will need to complete intro bio again before enrolling in Human Anatomy and Physiology. By I already hold a BS and MS in other fields, I was trying to complete courses needed for a direct entry MSN CNL program because my ultimate goal is to be a Psychiatric Mental Health NP. However, I was told I need a year of bio and chemistry before enrolling in microbiology. Ughhh!!!

My question to everyone is should I continuing taking the needed classes at the community college making it even longer for me to apply for the MSN program or would it be ideal to enroll in a BSN program (my undergrad loan availability is limited) and then later complete the MSN program?? I am so confused...please helpful??

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Less painful on pockets: probably communuty college (providing your direct entry program will take coursework from one and is the only one place you'll think of).

You take prereqs to apply to direct entry MSN/CNL, but mention your goal as NP. CNL role =/= NP role, mental health or otherwise. If you want to actually work with patients every day as a provider, you will probably better off either finding direct entry MSN/NP program and do whatever it takes to get there, or even go BSN way. The latter one may be longer but 1) there will be opportunities to experience different branches of nursing and make sure that you will study what you really want in grad school, which decision is actually half of the business, and 2) with right choice of program and using all possible insensitives like tuition discounts for campus work and part time during grad school, it very well may be cheaper than direct entry MSN even with grad program added thereafter.

[MsNicki]

Thank you for this information. It is very helpful! I told by another nurse the same regarding maybe taking the BSN route to gain experience in different branches because my mind may change when I get to graduate school. I have been stressing this issue so long now and having so many tell me I would be crazy to go for another bachelors. I haven't even made it to actual nursing school yet and I am all over the place. Thank you once again!!

[dnw06]

I have a previous bachelors and masters and will be starting a BSN program in the Spring. I do not think there is anything wrong with getting another bachelors degree! Will you institution accept CLEP exams? Maybe you can test out of bio and chem and go directly into micro. My previous bachelors was from a different state so I took CLEP exams to avoid having to take some some "unnecessary" classes.

[SFnursetobe12]

I would check other community colleges also if you have any others around you. Within the same CC district around here, one school required prereqs before mico and another school didn't! I was surprised that within the same school district they had such different requirements. Good luck!