LVN or RN?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I am doing prerequisites for an associates degree and I am almost done with my classes. I was aiming for RN but now I am thinking of doing LVN and can't make up my mind. I know that an LVN doesn't require an associates degree and an RN does. If I were to do LVN then later decide I want to go back for an LVN-RN program, would I have to get an associates degree all over again? Please I need advice.

If you go for LPN, what would you get your associates in? Liberal Arts? You might as well just go for RN unless you want to do LPN as a back-up plan. You can finish up and get that associate's. Then when you go back for your RN, you can get another associate's but this time in nursing. If you do this, you shouldn't have to retake classes, but sometimes science classes "expire" after 5-10 years depending on the school. Another idea would be to go for your LPN but don't graduate with your associate's yet. After becoming an LPN, then apply for the RN program. That way, you only get one associate's.

I mean, you're getting advice from a guy who got his associate's, got his bachelor's, then is going back to hopefully get his associate's in nursing. I know for me the first time I got my associate's, I just wanted to transfer. It felt good to get that diploma and feel like I was moving on and closing a chapter. Just do what feels right for you.

Thank you for the advice. I am getting my associate's in science. I'm doing all the pre reqs for RN so it might be too late to change my mind...

Specializes in Psychiatric nursing.

Well an LVN program isn't long so you can apply to one and maybe some credits from your associates degree will transfer over. Also, if you do decide to get the LVN it'll give you the chance to get real nursing experience and that'll look good if you go for your RN later on which you can get through a LPN-RN bridge program. My suggestion would be to finish your associates and then when you start applying to programs just apply to both LPN and RN programs to increase your chances.

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