any previous bachelor's degree ASN/ADN students?

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where do you plan on working after graduation? do you think your previous degree helped get admission into the RN program?

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Specializes in telemetry, icu, med/surg, peds.

I have a BS and was a teacher for approx. 5 years before going to nursing school at an ADN program. I am not sure if my degree helped me get into school or not. I started working with adults and switched to ped about a year ago. If I were you and it is possible, I would go for a BSN because that is really what employers are starting to lean towards. I so far have never had a problem with employment, but there has been a lot of scuttlebut about all nurses having BSN degrees eventually. Good luck! I have to say I am glad I became a nurse and have no regrets whatsoever.

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Specializes in neurology, cardiology, ED.

I have a previous bachelor's and have to say that other than helping me out with the pre-req's it hasn't been of much use to me. Employers don't really consider any degree other than a nursing degree when looking at your job application. I'd be just as well leaving it off of my resume.

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I have a BS and was a teacher for approx. 5 years before going to nursing school at an ADN program. I am not sure if my degree helped me get into school or not. I started working with adults and switched to ped about a year ago. If I were you and it is possible, I would go for a BSN because that is really what employers are starting to lean towards. I so far have never had a problem with employment, but there has been a lot of scuttlebut about all nurses having BSN degrees eventually. Good luck! I have to say I am glad I became a nurse and have no regrets whatsoever.

I'm sure my prior bachelors had some baring on my admission into school; it definitely shows that a person has the ability and committment to finish the degree. BUT, I definitely agree that my prior degree helped me get jobs. It seems like employers didn't view me as a "new grad" because I had a resume full of past professional jobs. As for the "scuttlebut" about everyone getting BSNs, there's scuttlebut about phasing out LPNs too. Neither of these scenarios will ever happen and if it does, many jobs say "Bachelors degree necessary or preferred" which I have, it's just not in nursing.

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I have a previous B.A. and went for an ADN primarily due to cost. That said, if I go on for more education, I will go the RN-MSN route vs. the RN-BSN. It doesn't really make sense to get another Bachelor's when you can surpass that with a Master's in only slightly more time. The only downside is that graduate classes cost more then undergrad, and financial aid is harder to get. I live in a extremely competitive market, and I found a job in a hospital as a new grad, so having the paper may have helped me.

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I just completed an ASN in May 2011, and I had a previous BA in English from a "name-brand" private non-profit school. I am currently working in med-surg and doing my BSN. I think the previous degree helped me somewhat.

1. I didn't have to take all the pre-reqs, I had some transfer credits.

2. The nursing school I attended took 20% of applicants which is competitive, I got a spot when apparently only a few were left.

3. When the instructors and Dean found out where I got my previous degree, they seemed impressed and perhaps already pre-judged me as a good student who they should have high expectations for.

4. I got a summer externship in NYC (one of the toughest markets in the country), I was chosen out of thousands who applied. Perhaps the previous degree just made me "stand out" from the crowd.

4. Once I followed through and validated their expectations, the faculty nominated me for an award that came with a large amount of cash towards tuition and carte blanche at an affiliated hospital for a med surg job as soon as one came available after I passed NCLEX.

5. With non-nursing 120 credits from the previous degree, I only have to take 8 nursing classes to get my BSN.

6. Since I'd already been to college the non-nursing classes and BSN classes seem fairly easy. I was used to researching and writing papers.

Overall, I do not feel the previous degree was worth 4 years of my life and all the money that was spent on it. A BA in English by itself is useless. I probably would have had a similar outcome if I'd gone to nursing school in the first place, since I would have graduated when the market was much better anyway (2001). But to graduate from nursing school in a bad market where only a few people in the class land acute care jobs, I'm glad I had the previous degree.

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i was hoping to get a rn job and have employer pay for me to get bsn

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