There's a lot to unpack here written by someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, so let's take it from the top.
If you're going into nursing specifically to do advanced practice, you're going into the wrong field. If you know that you want to do that, go be a Physician's Assistant. The various advanced practice fields in nursing exist for experienced nurses who decide to go to the next level, not as a quick route from lay person to provider.
There is no functional distinction between an MSN and an MS in Nursing; the difference is largely historical, and you can sit boards just the same. My classmates (and students) later matriculated to and graduated from many different post-masters and DNP programs. The MSN-DNP programs that heythatsmybike talks about are properly referred to as DNP-Completion programs...and those require prior advanced practice certification. MENP grads apply to BSN-DNP programs, just like any other baccalaureate-prepared nurses - although I suggest keeping your syllabi to see if you can get out of some grad courses if you matriculate elsewhere.
As a graduate of both the MENP and the DNP at DePaul, more than once class transfers over. In fact, for the first year you can go part-time and generally keep pace with the full-time students.
DePaul's DNP options are limited, so if you're counting on staying for the DNP you should keep that in mind in case you want to do Acute Care.
Graduate School is expensive, but if you go on to pursue additional education in nursing, be it a doctorate or post-master's certificate, the Nurse Practice Act of the State of Illinois requires only requires faculty to have a Master's Degree...which all MENP grads have. I was not unusual in being able to teach my way through my DNP, getting tuition waivers for all the classes I taught. I ended up graduating with no additional debt.
Part of the reason for the MENP is that graduate education opens up access to GradPLUS loans, while second bachelors degrees aren't supported by Dept. of ED.-backed loans.
