Should I Take a Different Path to Become a Nurse?

[Eventually]

I would love some advice from people of all educational & professional backgrounds!

I got my first job in the medical field at 19 and instantly fell in love. I knew I wanted to become a nurse. Well, life happened, so it has taken a while, but I finally was able to return to school just before turning 30 to pursue this dream.

I have been working on my pre-requisites so I can apply to a local CC ADN program. I just met with my Nursing advisor to have a formal transcript evaluation and learned I have over 90 credits (I previously attended college but no degree). By the time I finish my ADN program I will have over 120 credits.

This got me to thinking...should I try to complete my Bachelor's degree in something such as Sociology and then apply to Accelerated BSN or Entry Level Master's programs? I do not want to get my ADN and lose all those credits since you can only transfer 60 CC credits. I could have a second Bachelor's, or even a Master's in the same amount of time as it will take me to get my ADN. What do you think???

Thank you!

:)

[travelgurl18]

I am in the same exact predicament, except the reason I was thinking about getting a bachelor's first is to have a chance to retake my pre-reqs (due to the 5 year recency) and increase my GPA. I think I'm going to shoot for the ADN another semester, and if I don't get in maybe consider another degree.

[jelly221,RN]

From my understanding, classes from an ADN program (actual nursing classes) don't "transfer" to the BSN program- the BSN program will just "give" you X amount of credits for having an RN license. Those 60 transferrable credits would be used on stuff like sciences, statistics, sociology, etc. That's how the schools I've looked at work, at least.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

Probably the reason they limit the number of credits you can transfer is because you're only transferring in 2 years worth of college credits to satisfy the general requirements & prerequisites for your BSN. You're going to have 2 years of schooling at the university to satisfy the rest of the courses. Furthermore, CC usually only offer courses at the 100 & 200 level, whereas your nursing courses would be at the 300 & 400 level.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Do any of the BSN programs you looked at concentrate nursing classes in the junior/senior years? If so, maybe you can transfer to a traditional BSN program and with your past credits plus prerequisite classes, you can finish in the same amount of time it would take you to get the ADN.

I would advise caution in completing a sociology degree first. I opted to finish the degree I was working on rather than transfer to nursing and it ended up being a longer route. My degree ended up taking longer to complete than anticipated, I graduated exhausted and in debt and had to get a job right away to make ends meet and then got stuck in the work/pay bills/can't afford school right now cycle for a couple of years before FINALLY getting in to prerequisites and moving forward. To put concrete dates on it, in 2003 I knew I wanted to go in to nursing. I thought I was graduating in 2004. In 2006 I finished my first degree, then worked until mid 2008 when I started taking prerequisites and in 2009 I started an accelerated program, finishing in 2010. 7 years to finish a degree, take prerequisites and go to nursing school. I think there was probably a faster way to do it.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

If you want a nursing degree don't waste time, money, and effort on other degrees. Just get into whatever RN program that will accept you, get it done, start working and make money. If you then need a BSN, having graduated from an ADN program, then enroll in a RN-BSN program affiliated with a nearby university. Even then most if not all of the didactics will be online.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

I want to mention, also, that certain forms of financial aid are directed towards those working on their FIRST degree.

[Eventually]

Thank you for all the input and advice! I really appreciate it and see that I have some more research to do. :)

[su9032]

Eventually,

I would suggest scheduling an appointment with the advisors for a couple of the RN to BSN programs asap. In my experience, the colleges want to work with the ADN students/RNs in terms of what will transfer into the pre-reqs. For instance, I needed a 3,000 level humanities and I was allowed to use a management communications class for it. These programs are fighting for the same business in terms of the ADN graduates. You may be pleasantly surprised when you see what you actually need.