"Completing a BSN" ...or, "The Great Revenue-Generator."

txerrn6942 · Jul 29, 2013

I was an ADN for almost 18 years when I completed my BSN. I took my "new pre-req's" concurrently with BSN program. Only took 10 months! I did have to take a Texas Govt as required by Texas, Tech writing, British Lit and maybe one more. It was not that much trouble.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Jul 29, 2013

I got my AS 5 years ago, and I started UTA's BSN program this month. The amount of reading was surprising, but I'm getting through it. I have to take 3 history courses (including Texas Government) and a math course, but I should be done by next fall.

Katie71275 · Jul 29, 2013

I'm a new nurse but start my ADN to BSN in a month. Some of the classes are redundant to me. I also have a BA in Sociology so that at least knocked out alot of the "pre-reqs" I'd already done. If I go the plan, I should be done in a year or so. I'm not looking forward to the research papers.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Jul 29, 2013

ASN here for the past 3 years. One of the main reasons that I'm doing an RN-BSN program is because of the fact that after the college reviewed credits that I had, which were not all applicable to the ASN program, I was more than half-way to BSN completion. As luck would have it, life threw me a curve ball and out of the game for a while. So I jumped back in during this past late spring and if all goes as planned, I will be done in April. I'm doing an online program and am biting the bullet by taking four courses during the fall and then the capstone (hopefully) beginning in January. If all doesn't go as planned, I will be in the summer capstone.

I work PRN as a float nurse so I get to set my schedule by the day, week, or month. So, for the sake of passing these courses, I'm only doing every Friday/Saturday or Thursday/Friday. That will give me five days a week to work on these courses. Early in the courses, I plan to find the paper assignments and go ahead and do them and save them for submission later. Gotta have a plan if I'm gonna survive the next four months with four classes.

Had the economy not folded in recent years, I would not have even gotten an ASN because I was making more money than a lot of RNs as an LPN for 24 years at the time in the same position that I'm in now, but at a different hospital. And I was MORE than content as an LPN especially since choosing nursing as a career for me was my dad's idea many years ago being that a nursing education was all that he was willing to pay for. So, LPN? My dad; ASN? The economy. BSN? Me, because to NOT use those spare credits would mean money wasted since it was all funded with student loans that I'm still paying back.

As far as the revenue-generator, I have to agree with that. One of the classes that I had to take was a $300-1-credit computer course on using the Internet. Seriously? This is an online program! I sought you out online! I applied online! I was accepted online! And I saved this darn computer class until the very end while I took all of the other ONLINE exams. I'm here, aren't I? I think I know how to use the internet including using symbols to describe how I really feel about this ******** computer course. :madface: :yes:

elkpark · Jul 29, 2013

I'm going to presume that a lot of the courses you are identifying as "revenue generators" are actually courses that reflect the difference between academic requirements for an associate's degree and those for a baccalaureate degree.

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Jul 29, 2013

elkpark, more along the lines of Lyndaa's $300 internet class.

nkochrn, RN · Jul 29, 2013

Every time I've looked into getting my BSN I have decided the cost is just not worth it. In my rural setting it just doesn't gain me much. I know there is always the chance that I could move to another area, but considering this is DH and I's hometown it's pretty unlikely. I have no desire to be a Director and can still be a supervisor with my ADN if I wanted to. I think last time I looked there were several pre-req's that I didn't think should be necessary but it's been awhile. I graduated in 2005 with my ADN.

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 29, 2013

As far as the revenue-generator, I have to agree with that. One of the classes that I had to take was a $300-1-credit computer course on using the Internet. Seriously? This is an online program! I sought you out online! I applied online! I was accepted online! And I saved this darn computer class until the very end while I took all of the other ONLINE exams. I'm here, aren't I? I think I know how to use the internet including using symbols to describe how I really feel about this ******** computer course.

I was going to stay out of this thread, but I thought maybe I could through some useful light on your internet course requirement. Yes, it might be lame. Yes, YOU PERSONALLY might not benefit from it. But you would be surprised at how many people need it -- even people already registered in online programs. Here are some considerations you might not have thought of.

1. A lot of people sign up for online educational programs and then struggle with the process of taking classes online. Those are 2 different things. School recruiters lure people in with promises of it being easy and convenient and help the person sign up. Some end up "over their heads" technologically when courses actually start. So schools are encouraged by their accrediting agencies to require a course that assures that the students can handle the technology and successfully take a class in an online format prior to enrolling them in the more advanced classes.

2. A lot of people signing up for online programs get help from the friends, kids, spouse, etc. -- people who will not always be there to help them with their schoolwork. They need to learn to do it themselves.

3. A lot of people THINK they know all about how to use the internet because they can do non-academic stuff online. Those same people may be clueless has how to do on online literature search, judge the quality of an online source of information, work with certain types of files, use the standard procedures that the school uses to assure security and privacy, etc.

A lot of those "intro to computers" courses are really "orientation to your program" that bring all students to a certain base level of competence before the real classes start. They weed out those for whom the online format is not going to work -- and get the borderline students to a level at which they can succeed. But like ANY course, if you already know the material it can seem useless to you ... while it is necessary for someone else.

~PedsRN~, BSN, RN · Jul 29, 2013

I graduated with my ASN in December 2012 and went straight into a BSN program pretty much. I graduate this month. :) (Well, I get my diploma, I walk in December). I will tell you that I found the courses ridiculous, and nothing but giant time wasters full of busy work. I learned nothing additional, IMO, that will enhance my career as a nurse. Basically, I just paid for three more letters after my name.

MunoRN, RN · Jul 29, 2013

One thing to keep in mind is that the characteristics of both ADN and BSN Nursing education have changed significantly over the time many of us have been in Nursing. Many, if not most, ADN graduates these days have received an education that is more similar to the current BSN education than BSN graduates of 20 years ago received. So if you graduated from an ADN or diploma program 25 years ago, then most if not all of an RN-BSN program will be relevant.

There are a few stragglers left, but at this point most ADN programs have adopted BSN curriculums, minus a few credits, it's graduates of these programs, who got a BSN curriculum eduction minus about 12 credits, that will find the 45 credits needed to make the jump to BSN to be excessive and redundant, which in those cases they are. It's completely possible to use placement assessments to start RN-BSN students at the point where they left off, but to some degree at least the OP is correct, these programs are intended to make money and they make more off of 45 credits than 12. I've had the opportunity to hear a Director of top Nursing program speak to the lack of multiple starting points in RN-BSN programs, expecting some sort of "spin", but she was actually pretty straightforward; a longer program means more money.

Personally, if we're going to require a RN-BSN transition it should include BSN's who graduated 20 years a go or more as well, although most likely faced with that choice they would just leave Nursing.

S.G. · Jul 29, 2013

I graduated with my ASN in December 2012 and went straight into a BSN program pretty much. I graduate this month. :) (Well I get my diploma, I walk in December). I will tell you that I found the courses ridiculous, and nothing but giant time wasters full of busy work. I learned nothing additional, IMO, that will enhance my career as a nurse. Basically, I just paid for three more letters after my name.[/quote']
This is how I felt about my BSN. The only new information I learned was through a research course. I really enjoyed it because it enables me to better understand EBP. Aside from that, my BSN was mostly a nice refresher with some random electives thrown in (like the history of Canada, a class about Vietnam, and economics).