BSN's vs. Community college

That tops the cake!!!!!:rotfl:

It does make you wonder if you are getting the real thing... The accelerated BSN programs are designed for experienced ADN's and LPN's. The theory behind it is..you've already got the basics and the experience, they're just going to build on that and throw in some admin. I am currently pursuing my BSN. I decided to go this way in order to get it done all at once (3yrs). I don't knock the ADN's, they work just as hard. But, I do see the rationale behind the first post. Every other profession pays more with education. Nursing should offer an incentive seeing that everywhere you look, places are asking for nurses to get a BS and/or advanced degree. Just as he/she (sorry) said, some places, such as VA hospitals, and others ran by the federal gov. will not hire you unless you have a bachelors .

NewBSN is right. So it is kinda better to get the BSN rather than the ADN if you want to pursue a more advanced nursing career. But having a BSN vs. ADN doesn't make you smarter or better, just more in line with advancing your career and not restricting your potential advancement. :)

Well said, Cherish, and good luck on achieving your goals.

I know that some other professions pay based on education, but when you are talking about a profession that deals with people's lives...I just think a person with an ADN who has been in the field deserves a lot more then the person who just graduated with a bachelor's. Experience is important. If I go into the hospital, I don't give a crap where you went to school or if it was four year/two year...I want you to know what the hay you are doing. I think the BSN is great to enhance your career and open up more doors, but to just graduate and think you should be paid more then the nurse with an ADN who has been in the system is kind of snobby.

Yanno, this is SUCH a tiresome, old, boring argument. No one in his/her straight mind will 'diss education and advancement, but snobbishness is NOT a sign of true education in my thinking. Education, truly well-rounded education, involves a lot more than doing time in the classrooms and putting a bunch of letters behind one's name. True education need not brag or be boastful; that is all i will say in this thread. peace out.

Go Deb! I am all for compensating nurses more for more education and more for more experience, but I am not for the snobbishness that seems to come along with either one!

Soooo...someone with a bachelors degree in Parks and Recreation (yes my brother in law has one) who goes for an accelerated BSN deserves to be paid more than the community college trained nurse? Listen, like it was said earlier...you PROVE your credentials are higher by passing a harder test and take the most difficult patients and you can HAVE more salary...you just cant justify it now. If you think it is unfair to go through all the BS to get a BSN and not be paid more then just go to a community college!

I don't have a prior degree or anything of the sort. I am just in a 'traditional' BSN program. My program you can get into it straight from highschool, its 4yrs just like any other degree would be. The first 2 years you basically take prereq.(BSN have to take way more prereq. than ADN) and some nursing courses. The last 2 years is straight clinicals, summer internship at Johns Hopkins and other hospitals, and the rest of the nursing program. I like my program cause the school allows you to start your Master (depends on what you are doing) after you pass the NCLEX. Mostly everyone in my program is either a CNA, phlebotomist, tech, etc. So they are not uneducated when it comes to patient care. It really doesn't matter what program you go into (except for advancement). If you look at it with most ADN's, you have to have prereqs. before you go in, so thats like 3-4 yrs for an ADN. Or 4 yrs for a BSN. So its the same time your spending (this is for my state Maryland, other states differ). Plus BSN programs get graded more heavily for there program (in my state). That is why Maryland has some (not ALL!) of the top 10 nursing schools in the nation that reside here. So its about what you get out of your education and and the quality of your patient care you provide. Not about flaunting your degree, and demanding more pay, cause YOU will find yourself very disliked!

Doesn't mean they're better nurses, but it does seem like taking the time and money to get more education should be worth something, or why do it?

Exactly...the way it is now ADNs and BSNs are looked at as "nurses" and entry level remains the associates. Sooo if one chooses to go the extra school and $$ route that is their choice. Personally, I had always planned to do the BSN but I have never needed it and it has not stopped me from going into whatever facet of nursing I have wanted that includes management. My "learning time" has been better spent taking additional certifications IF I ever need that BSN be rest assured I will get it. It is such an old argument and seems to come mostly from those not even practicing as nurses yet. Many of the posters (not all) seem to want to fight about it to justify why they are going to school longer and getting out with higher debt...Bottom line is at this point ADN is entry to be an RN. As far as status, that is laughable...nurses in general are not held in very high regard and in my opinion that has more to do with the fact that nursing is a female dominated profession rather than the different degrees...If I had a nickel for everytime I have heard "It's just the nurse" or some variation of it, I could retire.

Some pts/families think of us as bedpan pushers, bedmakers, and maids. Others think we are Gods gift to mankind, and can do no wrong, LOL. Time, and experience make for a great education in nursing. But, I still say education hurts no one, and it may help you in your career years later. If you can afford it, and are in a position to do it, then go for it.

I have my BSN and do not think that I am any better than anyone...in fact, I know many ADNs, diploma nurses and LPNs that could run circles around me with their clinical experience, and I will always defer to that.

At the time I finally got the opportunity to go back to school and get some sort of a nursing degree, I had been hacking away at college courses here and there forever, so had all of my core...just needed my A&P, micro and organic chem for either BSN or ADN programs in my area...I decided to go for the BSN because I got a more advanced degree in the same amount of time. I was able to get scholarship help which was a big plus. Yes, I do have some student loans now, and that bites because I am looking at sending my own kids to college in 4 years - but overall I have no regrets with the program that I chose.

All that being said, I do think BSN should have a little bit of a premium just because, in my experience, the courses like health assessment, genetics and research have added so much to my knowledge base and practice. I am not really management-oriented so the management, etc. has not really benefited me.

Lets not get sensitive about this whatever side we're on - a good nurse is a good nurse regardless of which or how many letters he/she has behind the name, and WE ALL SHOULD BE PAID MORE!!!!!