Guess what RN's, you didn't need that college degree!!

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

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This Sunday's Parade Magazine featured their annual report "What People Earn." Always very interesting but...if you look on page 4, there is a colorful box listing jobs that do not require a college degree. Here's the list: Sales Representatives, Translators, Dental Hygienists, Registered Nurses, Insurance Adjusters, Transportation Workers, Athletic Trainers, Auto Technicians, and Legal Secretaries. Shocking to say the least. I hope I won't be the only one writing to this magazine to correct this terrible misconception.:angryfire

California doesn't even require that you actually graduate from an nursing program (RN) to take the NCLEX-RN and work as an RN. There was recently a thread from someone who is moving to Tennessee who is upset because they won't accept her California RN license as is. She has to go back and finish school first.

Uh......not true as I understand it. This didn't make sense so I looked up the CA BON website. One of the requirements to apply to take the NCLEX is to have your nursing school forward your transcripts.

I also know that people with medical experience from the military canNOT challenge the NCLEX, so it's not true that graduation is not required.

Is it possible the TN nurse did not graduate from an accredited school and that's what TN requires?

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

It's true. You can become an RN in California without graduating.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f283/what-degree-213532.html#post2107898

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Then the website is misleading?

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Specializes in Emergency Dept.

Okay . . a little off the subject, but dental hygenist was listed there also and I know my Aunt worked her butt off to get her degree from UMKC (University of Missouri - Kansas City). It is a four year Bachelors degree. But maybe it is like nursing where the degree isn't ABSOLUTELY necessary. Just wondering if anyone knew anything about that?

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Then the website is misleading?

I'm not investing the time to study the website, but based on the other thread ... Apparently LPN's who take a certain number of RN courses/hours in an approved program can take the NCLEX-RN in California even if they don't actually graduate. The school must send the transcripts to verify the courses taken, but the students don't have to meet all the requirements for a degree.

It sounds like a very bad idea to me -- but then, I don't make the rules.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.

I didn't read the article but experience tells me that nursing was represented as a job that could be obtained easily without a college degree although we know that nurses without degrees are not the norm and do have limited opportunities away from the bedside as compared to nurses with degrees. So while the article may have been technically correct, it is misleading. Additionally I went to the website and looked at the salary survey. They featured two registered nurses, one made $76,000 and the other made $88,000. We all know that these are far above the average salaries for registered nurses. But if I'm considering a career in the field and reading this, then I'm thinking, "Hmmm......I can be a nurse with very little education and make a lot of money doing it. That's a cinch!" Yes, very misleading.

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

I just thought about this. Here in NC (at least 8 years ago) you could take the LPN boards after the 3rd semester of nursing school. Actually, I did that and worked as a LPN until I completed the program. So, if you failed out or dropped out or whatever, after the 3rd semester, you were still a LPN but didn't have a diploma or degree.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.
how is it a misconception? an rn may practice with a diploma. when speaking of a degree, the article means bs or ba.

:yeahthat:

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Oh please, and that's why ADN and BSN programs are swamped with applicants. I've never heard of a diploma program to become a RN. Touting that you don't need a degree to become a RN is ridiculous.

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Oh please, and that's why ADN and BSN programs are swamped with applicants. I've never heard of a diploma program to become a RN. Touting that you don't need a degree to become a RN is ridiculous.

Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are many diploma nurses here on these boards - there is no diploma program where I live, but they are still out there. Also, in the spirit of articles like these (as other posters have noted)- college degree generally means bachelor's degree (BA or BS) - so an ADN would not be considered a "college degree" in that sense.

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Specializes in Cardiac Care.
Oh please, and that's why ADN and BSN programs are swamped with applicants. I've never heard of a diploma program to become a RN. Touting that you don't need a degree to become a RN is ridiculous.

They do indeed exist. They're mostly in the northeastern US, but they do exist.

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Specializes in L & D.

Being three and a half weeks from finishing nursing school (ADN), I literally screamed when I read that today!! Nursing school is the most challenging thing I've ever done in my life, including my BS in civil engineering.

Perhaps we should write to Parade and ask for a clarification....

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