Question about an ADN Program at a Community College?

Hi Dustin,

I am 25 and went to an ASN program after I got a degree at a four year school. If you are just graduating high school, go to a four year school for a number of reasons. First off, college is a time to grow and mature and experience so many things. Two years flies by and is not enough time to go abroad, take many interesting classes, etc. If money is a problem, go to a state school. Secondly, I plan to go on to get my BSN one day--but if you are young, get it now! Even though they are hard up for nurses, I think you will have a better chance at a job with a BSN, you are more well rounded. You have to take more chems, etc. I went to a four year school first time around and it was SO MUCH FUN! You meet so many people beign away at school, living in the dorms, you really grow up.

Dustin, please, persuade your parents into letting you do the AWAY AT SCHOOL THING! It's great!

Hello there, my name is Dustin; I am fairly new to this Nursing Forum! I will be a senior in high school next year, and am very interested in becoming an (R.N)! I would say that I am a very studious/active student: National Honor Society, Student Council, Class President, etc! Right now my overall GPA is a , as well as making straight A's the past few semesters! I honestly could have a 5.0, but I had a bit too much fun my Freshman year. Anyway, in a few months I will begin applying to different schools around the state of Illinois. I would like to attend the (University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana), and work toward earning a BSN. On the other side of the spectrum, my parents think that a university of that size will be too overwhelming for my first two years out of high school! My parents would like for me to attend Parkland Community College of Nursing, and live at home with them. (they are both Educational Administrators) After those two years in the ADN program, I would then go back and get my BSN! In the long run this might be beneficial to reaching my goals! My main goal is to get my BSN in Nursing, and then hopefully become a CRNA or attend Medical School! I want my choice to be the right one! Do any of you professionals/Nurses have any comments or opinions that might give me more assurance? Would the ADN route be the best for me? Your comments and knowledge would be appreciated!

:rolleyes:Thank you, Dustin (Future R.N/M.D)

Hello there, my name is Dustin; I am fairly new to this Nursing Forum! I will be a senior in high school next year, and am very interested in becoming an (R.N)! I would say that I am a very studious/active student: National Honor Society, Student Council, Class President, etc! Right now my overall GPA is a , as well as making straight A's the past few semesters! I honestly could have a 5.0, but I had a bit too much fun my Freshman year. Anyway, in a few months I will begin applying to different schools around the state of Illinois. I would like to attend the (University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana), and work toward earning a BSN. On the other side of the spectrum, my parents think that a university of that size will be too overwhelming for my first two years out of high school! My parents would like for me to attend Parkland Community College of Nursing, and live at home with them. (they are both Educational Administrators) After those two years in the ADN program, I would then go back and get my BSN! In the long run this might be beneficial to reaching my goals! My main goal is to get my BSN in Nursing, and then hopefully become a CRNA or attend Medical School! I want my choice to be the right one! Do any of you professionals/Nurses have any comments or opinions that might give me more assurance? Would the ADN route be the best for me? Your comments and knowledge would be appreciated!

:rolleyes:Thank you, Dustin (Future R.N/M.D)

Hi Dustin....

I think your parents are right. Get your ADN first. As an R.N. you'll be able to first get your feet wet, and see what you like best. You may decide that a BSN is enough for you and that you have no interest in becoming a CRNA or anything else. Remember that working directly with patients and seeing the impact you have on them is very rewarding!

Also, and this is something I learned first hand as I go through my own program, is that you must put all of your energy and time into your studies; a bigger university campus will have many distractions that will interfere with that. Better to stay at home and let your folks help you as much as they can. I have also seen many bridge programs that go from ADN to MSN and skip the BSN altogether. Talk to an advisor at the college and see what is available in your area.

The bottom line is 1) Get your R.N. and start working.

2) See what's out there and learn what you like and what you hate.

3) Once you're in the field, then decide what your next step is; don't map out your entire journey without taking a few steps first.

Hope this helps.

It all depends on money, and determination. If you are as studious as you say, then the 4 year might not be so bad. However, the ADN program will get you to be an RN faster.

You really need to weigh the pros and cons, in a mature fashion, with your parents. If the cost is what they are worried about the 2 year is much cheaper. If they only want you to do the 2 year to keep you at home, then they need to cut the umbilical cord.

I will be facing the same thing in 4 years. My daughter plans on going to UT in Austin, and it will be hard for me to let her go. At the same time, you need to realize how hard it is for them to let you go.

Good luck in your decision.

Dustin it seemed to me in your post that you're not really sure whether you want to be a nurse or a doc. If that is the case then the four year would be better, it would give you more time to decide exactly what you want to do. If you decide to pursue the ADN, just realize that the program is increadibly rigorous and intensive. I completed my ADN right out of high school, and it was the hardest thing that I have ever accomplished. It requires an incredible amount of discipline and maturity to accomplish. I'm not trying to discourage you but present the reality that it is harder to go 2 years out of high school than 4 years out of high school.

Hi Dustin, welcome to allnurses, please come back often.

Good advice so far. It's cheaper and quicker to go to the community college and live at home. I don't know you, your parents do, but I'd have to question the assumption that college away from home would be a bit much for a National Honor Society student who is the class president. Millions of high school seniors across the country go to universities away from home fresh out of high school.

Anyway, I'm a community college grad myself now in BSN school. The thing to look for is make sure they are National League of Nursing (NLN) accredited. NLN schools readily transfer credits to a baccalaureate level (sp?). Also consider many ADN schools now require up to a year of pre-reqs. So that's one year of pre-reqs, two years of ADN school, then 2 more years after for the BSN, which is five years total.

Good luck in all you do. I wish had enough about me to go to nursing school fresh from high school.

As far as getting a job when you become an RN, it won't matter right now if you have an ADN or a BSN. Depends on what you want. There are ADN's getting hired right out of school right now everywhere, and, with great nurses (either ADN's or BSN's) showing them the way, they (we) are doing very, very well. If you have plans for administration, etc, well, guess you need to take that extra load of classes after all.

With all you've got going for you, surely you could get a scholarship that would enable you to go to the 4 year school for about the same cost as the 2 year.

I really, really liked my 4 year school (degree in languages); I learned a lot, and not just about my chosen subject. At a 4 year, living in the dorms, you are "on your own" without really having to mess with all those pesky details like electric bills. Some people even wind up changing their minds about their majors (not always a bad thing). At a 2 year school, you won't do much outside your program area.

I don't think a 2-year would have worked for me at 18. But it was great at 40. :)

Good luck on whatever you choose!

Hi Dustin

I attended the University of Illinois in Urbana, and I loved being there. To tell you the truth, it was not about the academics, but all about growing up in a semi-protected environment. I do not do anything now connected to my major there (Business Admin), but I loved the life experience I had. I see you have Mustang Music as your screen name. I was in the Marching Illini and that was probably one of the greatest experiences of my life. That alone is worth being on the U of I Campus. I also know that there were a few Parkland students in the MI, so that is an option too.

That said, as far as the lower level academics go, your classes at U of I are taught by teaching assistants, or are huge lecture (like 600 people) given by a professor, then you have a session with a teaching assistant. (A teaching assistant is a graduate student). And I believe, for the BSN, you only do your first year in Urbana, and then you go up to Chicago for nursing school. If you go to Parkland, which has a great rep, you can then finish your BSN in Urbana.

When I was there, you could cross-register between Parkland and U of I for some classes, so maybe getting your RN at Parkland and testing out a few classes on the U of I campus is an option.

The other thing to consider, is that if you end up applying to Med School, some schools do not accept your science sequences unless you do them at a 4 year college. Check out the admission policies at the Med schools you are interested in to be sure what you take at Parkland is acceptable.

Either way I don't think you can go wrong. Go talk to the nursing advisor at Parkland, then the Nursing advisor and the Pre-Med advisor at U of I. They can counsel you on the details of all the programs.

BTW, when I started reading your post, and you gave your GPA on a 5 point scale, I KNEW you were in the C-U area. No one else uses a 5 point scale. LOL

Kathi

My parents would like for me to attend Parkland Community College of Nursing, and live at home with them. (they are both Educational Administrators) After those two years in the ADN program, I would then go back and get my BSN!

:rolleyes:Thank you, Dustin (Future R.N/M.D)

Hi Dustin,

Just an opinion here but, I do think that going away is a good idea -but- maybe you could do your basic core courses at Parkland, (ask the University what their core courses are for your BSN and then ask what they will accept as a transfer). Thing is,this way you will ease into college, save quite a bit of money by paying at the junior college for a lot of classes that will indeed transfer towards the BSN.

There is another big thing that I want to share with you too that you may want to find out more about so you can share with your parent...many ADN programs will not accept you into the two year portion of your degree until AFTER you have completed the pre-requisites for them, (those can take up to two years in themselves!)

So, find that out if it helps and let your folks know how long it would actually take you to complete that two year degree, (believe me, I know more than a handful that I met through my community college who said that had been on waitlists or completing pre-reqs so long that they had to re-take their pre-reqs A&P dut to the five year minimum restriction).

When I transferred to the four year school after two years at the junior college, (just to complete the nursing pre-reqs) I met quite a few students in the BSN program who thought it was easier and less competitive to become accepted into the BSN over the ADN programs. The junior colleges near me, (near Chicago) all have waitlists and such a high volume applying to get in that it IS and was quicker for me to transfer to the four year school.

Although, I decided to pursue this another way because I didn't plan my two year school right and didn't fully complete the pre-reqs, (some semesters classes are full and you have to wait) turns out that I have enough credits to graduate with my BA and am applying to a graduate entry program now for nursing. This works out better for me. While I was also, like you, interested in nursing and in becoming a doctor the graduate nursing program is for Nurse Practitioners and they are primary care providers, (yet with more positive things for me than the m.d.)

Possibly you could work towards a general Associate Degree specializing in completing the nursing pre-reqs for University of IL at Urbana, (I know they require micro, A&P, Orga&Inorg chem, and the general core courses of degrees and stuff).

Or, better yet, maybe you could work towards an Associate of Applied Science in Biology or Chemistry or something and then transfer with your good grades and get a Phi Thetta Kappa scholarship, (at four year schools for transfers from CC who are honors.)

I see the R.N./M.D. behind your name and want to suggest that you make the Associates in Chem or Bio because those will help to have complete before applying to medschool. I have been in classes with a couple of pre-meds, (had one as a dormmate in school) and they have different Chemistries than the nursing majors, (for medschool you will need to have a minimum of one year complete of chemistry but they won't be the same chemistries for the nursing major, you may want to check out which classes will agree for both or which will not so that you can strategize your time and courseload at college to complete enough to satisfy both),

Okay, good luck, hope some of this helps.

Gennaver

p.s. I do also believe that the two years at Parkland will better prepare you for your final two years on campus at the four year University, (by then you will already be a college student).

I would go to University. Not b/c of the BSN vs ADN. You're young. I wouldn't trade my fours years at University right out of high school for anything. You grow, you mature, you have fun, you work out the decisions (nurse vs. doctor.) If you can afford it, or can get a scholarship, and don't have anything that would hold you back from attending a four year, do it.

That said, I go to community college for my ADN now b/c it works best for me. I really love that too. They've both been great experiences.

Of course, you have to decide which one fits you best. Me, I couldn't have grown the way I have while living at home at 18, 19, 20.