Question for hiring managers..

[MJB2010]

Do you value a BSN the same as a BS in Nursing? I am noticing that some schools offer a BS in nursing instead of a BSN and after questioning the school, I could not get a clear answer on what the difference is? I am going to google, but was wondering if anyone knew if when applying for a job it would make a difference which one you had.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Ok , I got an email back from one of my former proffesors and she said a BS with a major in Nursing is more academic and has more research and is geared towards pursuing higher education or doing research. The BSN in more geared towards working RNs and has more leadership and less research. I have never heard of this before, so if it is accurate or not I have no idea.

If anyone can confirm or correct this info I would appreciate it.

Your professor is giving you the "official" version that reflects the history of the 2 different degrees, BS in Nursing vs. BSN. Historically, the difference in degree titles reflected the difference in the organizational structure and governance of the school. BSN's offered by professional schools within a university with the professional school having its own committees that govern the program ... and BS (Nursing) degrees offered by colleges/universities in which the nursing program was a department (and not a separate school), governed by the same bodies that govern all of the other academic departments.

The different degree titles also reflect the purpose behind the creation of the program -- to create scholors or to create practitioners. Professional schools usually emphasized the practice of the discipline -- and the nursing departments governed by the same faculty committees governing the other departments emphasized scholarly activity.

Over the years, the distinctions have blurred and you will find that the curricula of both types of programs (BS(Nursing) and BSN) are pretty indistiguishable from each other. But at some schools, you can really see their focus (practice or scholarship) reflected in their programs.

As you can see from the previous posts, most nurses are not aware of the differences or of the history of their academic programs. I've never seen it make a difference in hiring.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

as a hiring manager they would be equivalent to me