Should I chose accelerated or traditional program?

medsurgrnco, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2008

Suggest you look at the cost. How expensive is the accelerated program vs the 2-year one? You probably wouldn't want to work during the accelerated program, but could during the 2-year program.

Nurse Salt · Apr 23, 2008

The main reason I attended an accelerated program over a traditional 2 year is that the ABSN put me in the work force a full year earlier... That income has more than made up for the additional cost of my program! Good Luck!

PS

As long as you buckle down and get into some regular study habits, tackling each class and assignment as it comes, the ABSN is VERY doable!!! :twocents:

HM2VikingRN, RN · Apr 23, 2008

Do the accelerated program. I have no regrets about taking the accelerated path. If you have other health care experience it will feel very doable. PM if you want survival tips.

Quickbeam, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2008

I chose an accelerated program because of opportunity cost...being out of the workforce was a huge issue for me and I needed to get back to earning ASAP. If I had had bags of money I'd have probably taken a slower approach.

Still, I loved my program and felt I got a spectacular education. I'm out 21 years now and have been in at least 6 specialties...and I felt well equipped to handle them all.

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2008

Aside from the advantage of getting into the workforce sooner, the accelerated program will allow you to be in a class with other second-degree students. One of the most frustrating aspects of my program was that for the first two semesters we (the ABSN students) had to take courses with the 21 year-old BSN students. Most of them were very nice, but a good proportion were just plain immature and prone to drama...

llg, PhD, RN · Apr 23, 2008

While there are lots of advantages in accelerated programs, they are not the best choice for everybody. You need to be able to devote yourself to the program completely and be prepared for the accellerated pace. If you are going to have outside committments (e.g. children that will require your attention or a job you can not give up), you might be better off taking school at a slower pace.

Also consider your learning style and abilities. If you are the kind of student who can take in lots of information quickly and does not need a lot of practice or review to learn technical skills, then an accellerated program might work for you. However, if you need to review material or skills several times to master them, then you should probably choose the slower route. The slower route is probably a little more expensive in the longer run ... but if you flunk out of the accelerated program -- or get so burned out that you start hating nursing before you've even started -- that's not going to worth it in the long run.

You need to do some serious self-assessment to make a good decision. What is best for one person might not be what is best for you.

mcs1505 · Apr 23, 2008

The main reason I attended an accelerated program over a traditional 2 year is that the ABSN put me in the work force a full year earlier... That income has more than made up for the additional cost of my program!

This is the exact reason I'm taking the ABSN route too. Also, I've heard of a few people whose programs weren't so intense that they couldn't work on the weekends to make a little extra. That's what I'm hoping to do *crosses fingers*

medsurgrnco, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2008

I worked an average of 20 hours a week while in an accelerated BSN program, but I still finished school with 50K of student loans. I think I would have come out ahead with a 2-year program assuming I could have started at the same time and worked part-time.

medsurgrnco, BSN, RN · Apr 25, 2008

If you aren't quite sure about becoming a nurse, you might want to do the 2-year program so that you have more time to re-evaluate and can bow out if you want without losing so much $.