School school school, what should I do?

Hey all,

I'm a newbie here, and would like some advice if possible... I am finishing of my courses for my associate's at the cc near my home, and am interested in nursing. I've already started taking the pre-reqs required to attend a CSU nearby but... I'm the single mother of two young daughters, and I don't know how I will be able to balance a courseload and be a great mom and work at the same time. My dream is to be an NP, so I already know I will be in school for a bit of time. And honestly, it would be nice to get my license sooner than later, so I can better provide for my girls than I am right now.

My best friend suggested attending one of those nursing schools and acquiring my license that way, but that's $22K, at least. My advisor at school recommends I get into the ADN program at the college I am currently attending, and I can have my RN and transfer after.

I quite frankly do not know what the **** to do. I'm happy that I'm two semesters away from finally finishing school, but I am unsure of what step to take.

Attending one of "those" nursing schools? Do u mean in general?

I also have two young daughters, five and two. I'm entering next fall. I think the sooner you get it done the better. You can provide better for your family. So I say go for it!! Good luck!

It's a private nursing school... It's like attending Everest or one of those other techy kind of schools, but the 18 month course is at least $22K and prepares you for LVN, versus the ADN program at the CCs I attend which out you on track as an RN. I've been told doing ADN is tedious and yes, I can work sooner but I should get my pre-reqs done and co-reqs and transfer to the BS program at the CSU... not sure, and very confused!!!

Well sometimes CCs have long wait lists so it ends up taking about the same time as a BSN. The CC that I did my pre-reqs in had a requirement that you had to have 30 credits before applying to the nursing part of the program. So for me I would have had to take 2 semesters (Fall '08 Spring '09) of pre-reqs before being able to apply for nursing school the (Fall '09) 3rd semester and then actually start the 2 yr program a year later in Fall 2010. So yeah it would have taken me 4 years to get a ADN. It didn't make sense to me to go for an ADN when I could get a BSN with the same time.

I also want to be a NP, so in order to reach my goal of that faster I decided that BSN was the best way to go, even if it was more expensive. But every situation is different and you mentioned having to provide for your girls. Find out how your CC does enrollment to their nursing program.

22k seems kind of steep for an LVN program. You can do a cost analysis and also find out what kind of places are hiring LVN and how much they are making to see if it would be worth it to go with the shorter time. But you'd still have to go back to school for LPN to RN. I would find out how much those programs cost and how long it would take vs going straight for your 4yr BSN....

Sorry I didn't mean to write an essay. I went through the same dilemma that you did about going ASN vs. BSN and I decided that BSN was the best for me in terms of my final goal. But I am single and without children so that took a big factor away...

I would go the ADN route. It's cheaper and you can still get an RN license. Yes, CC's have long waiting lists and loads of applicants. So just make it an option. Apply to every program level you are eligible for and see what happens. Maybe you get into a CC or you get into a BSN and get a decent amount of financial aid. Either way, don't put all your eggs into one basket.