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Discussion

RN (AA) versus Master's Entry RN

Can anyone offer suggestions? I have an M.A. in biology and have held a variety of jobs over the last ten years, switching back and forth from ecology to high tech. I am very interested in the Master's Entry RN programs (no previous nursing experience required) in my area in Northern California, however, the price is somewhat prohibitive (around $20k/year). I already have about $60k in loans that I have been slowly paying off from the first time I went to college.

The alternative would be getting certified through a junior college in the area that offers an AA-RN which is only $2k/year. Since I already have a Bachelor's and a Master's degree, I am really only interested in the RN portion, but I'm not sure how much better the training would be with the Master's Entry programs. Is it worth $18k/year more? Does having an MSN give me a lot more options than an RN alone? Ultimately, I would like to work in clinical research or possibly public health research.

I would be interested to hear what anyone's experience has been along these lines.

Thanks!

Featured Replies

  • Experts

Most MSN programs (direct entry or traditional) prepare you for a specific advanced practice role (CNS, NP, CNM, or CRNA). Although I realize the direct-entry MSN programs are pretty popular (and, as you note, typically pretty expensive), it's hard for me to imagine how someone who has never been a nurse and had any experience with any of the specialty areas of nursing decides which specialty advanced practice area s/he wants to lock her/himself into ... Many of us have had the experience of entering "regular" nursing school quite confident that we knew what we wanted to specialize in, only to find that our ideas had changed entirely by the time we finished school (I was one of those ...)

In my only experience with a direct entry MSN program (I was a traditional MSN student at a school that also had a direct entry program, and both groups took classes together), the "basic" nursing component that the direct entry students got was the very bare minimum (based, I guess, on the premise that they were going directly into advanced practice and would never practice as "regular" nurses) -- in fact, in my program, the direct entry students didn't take boards until the end of their second year (their first Master's year) because they didn't have enough clinical hours in the first, "regular nursing," year to qualify to write boards.

Because of those factors plus the money issue, unless you know for a fact that you definitely want to go into advanced practice (and are confident that you're completely sure what advanced practice specialty you want to commit to!), I would not go the direct entry MSN route if I were you.

Of course, that's just one opinion. There may be others here with entirely different viewpoints. Best wishes on whatever you decide.

You could do an accelerated BSN, which I am in my last semester of doing. It is a nice compromise between the two. I also have a masters in another field but could not imagine going into a direct entry field. I had 10 years work experience prior to nursing school and entered thinking that I would eventually go on to become a nurse practioner at this point-now even just with clinical experience I doubt that will be the case. I think learning to be a floor nurse is so important.

I used to be a teacher so I often make analogies to that field but I compare the direct entry programs to learning to become a principal of a school while never having been a teacher-it just does not make sense to me.

Vermonster

  • Author

I really appreciate everyone's input! This site is a great tool for anyone who is already a nurse and those of us who aspire to be. I have already learned a lot by reading the forums and I hope that I will be able to contribute some day. Thanks to all who share their knowledge!

I just wanted to add that most direct entry MSN programs do not lock you into a speciality right away. For the first year or so you are taking general classes toward obtaining your RN. Many students opt to take a year off after getting their RN to practice in the area that they are interested in. Once you are in the master's portion of the program, you still have a period of time in which you are able to change your track of study. If you see yourself practicing as an advanced practice nurse at any time in the future, this is the route that I would recommend. There are opportunites to work in research as a BSN-prepared nurse, but I would say that there may be more with a MSN.

Mika -- Gotta agree with Katy. Don't think a BSN is the way for you. Seems to me you'd being going backwards, instead of forward.

Good luck!

  • Experts

I am going to take the other approach. You already have a Master's degree.

It doesn't matter how you get your license, but that you can put RN after your name. Do what is the easiest and fastest for you. Get experience as an RN, then decide what you want to do.

It essentially comes down to where you can get in the earliest and where the cost will be easier for you to handle without such high student loans again.

Good luck with whatever choice that you make. :)

Just a note:

In my first day of class (at a direct entry MSN) they told us flat out that they do not prepare us to be floor nurses. It's a little different for the people in neonatal and CRNA tracks, because we have to be able to work as RNs first (and a good thing, I say!) but the point is not to fully train staff nurses. Make of this what you will.

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