I am a new RN, graduated from one of the toughest nursing programs in the country.
I was lucky enough to land a job in this economy, even better in the department that I love the most!
Life is great, seriously..What could go wrong?!
Its another day in nursing orientation, a handful of us new nurses listening to lectures, performing skills, participating in work shops. FUN!
One day, for the head to toe assessment, a nursing instructor from a private school sits in with her clinical group to listen to the head to toe lecture.
She starts off by saying..
Congratulations you all have jobs!!!
Its because you all have your bachelors... be sure to tell that to all your friends who have their associates.
I was the only one in the group with an associates in nursing.
So I said, I have an associates, and last I checked I have a job.
I SOOOOOOOOO wanted to go on.
I wanted to ask her, with a genuinely dumb look on my face..
The nurses with their bachelors, do they take a different board exam from those associate nurses?
Wait for a response, then come back with EXACTLYYYYY!
I felt about 2 inches tall, but whatever. The school I went to had 1500 applicants, and I was the lucky person to be included in the 150 to get accepted ...of those 150, i was the lucky 70 to graduate on time (we had 90 something at pinning but we had about a dozen of LPNs and the rest were students who had to repeat a course)
Needless to say, I felt small. Was unable to concentrate, but I reminded myself of the little things..and began to feel better.
No student loans to pay back!! So my first paycheck, Im going to blow it and go shopping!!!
I am only making a whopping...drum roll please...50 cents less per hour than those with a higher degree.
I saved a ton of money by taking the NCLEX once and passing it on the first try, with 75 questions baby!
I am going back for my bachelors, my masters even (i would love to have that clinical instructor work for me one day) this time the place I work for is going to reimburse me for my tuition.
This post is not an invitation to flame and debate some more on why one is "better" than the other
This was an opportunity to share my experience, hopefully lift the spirits of someone who had a similar story.
We are a Magnet (whoop-T-do:( hospital. I don't understand why you would think that a hospital working toward Magnet status would want to hire BSN grads? There is nothing in the Magnet that requires this.
To my understanding, the bigger hospitals in my area that either have Magnet status or working towards it, mostly hire BSNs over ADNs. I've been told by nurse recruiters that they are willing to invest in BSNs because they have more education that will benefit the hospital. Of course, in reality, I know that ADNs can be just as qualified as any BSN out there. I've seen ADN students on the floor, and they seemed more hands on and better on the floor than BSN students. The reason I went for my BSN is because I've been told that ADNs wouldn't be able to find jobs since the nursing profession is still trying to make BSN the standard minimum entry level. On top of that, I wanted the extra education; I wanted to be bachelor's prepared.
Had I known then what I know now, I would've saved myself some grief and heartache, and accepted the offer from my community college to get the ADN.
I don't understand why you think a Magnet status hospital is probably not one of the best places to work? I thought that Magnet status means the hospital has created an environment that supports nursing? Am I wrong? I would love to hear what an experienced nurse like yourself has to say. As a jobless RN, BSN new grad, I need all the advice I can get.
i don't believe anyone who says they are NOT getting hired BECAUSE of the BSN while ADN friends are getting jobs. i believe someone with an ADN can get a job while someone with a BSN may not, but i don't think it's related. where i live/work and where i will work when i get my BSN - registered nurses are payed the same (adn or bsn) at a magnet hospital so there'd be no reason to hire ADN over BSN to cut costs. it seems kind of pointless to get a BSN if you get paid the same as an ADN, but it's really not bc there are SO many opportunities for BSN students shortly after getting in the door that aren't open to ADN's.
i don't believe anyone who says they are NOT getting hired BECAUSE of the BSN while ADN friends are getting jobs. i believe someone with an ADN can get a job while someone with a BSN may not, but i don't think it's related. where i live/work and where i will work when i get my BSN - registered nurses are payed the same (adn or bsn) at a magnet hospital so there'd be no reason to hire ADN over BSN to cut costs. it seems kind of pointless to get a BSN if you get paid the same as an ADN, but it's really not bc there are SO many opportunities for BSN students shortly after getting in the door that aren't open to ADN's.
Huh? It's not like I'm making up stories just for fun. I network with ADNs and they tell me what's going on in their new grad programs, and who they're working with. They tell me that there are only few BSNs, if at most, one in their programs. I'm not sure WHY this is happening...maybe they interview better? Who knows. In my class of BSN's only 3 have found jobs in acute care. In my friends ADN's class, only 2 have NOT found jobs....I don't know, maybe it's a coincidence? Maybe hospitals don't really care about ADN vs. BSN, but at the fact of who interviews better? Beats me.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Huh? It's not like I'm making up stories just for fun. I network with ADNs and they tell me what's going on in their new grad programs, and who they're working with. They tell me that there are only few BSNs, if at most, one in their programs. I'm not sure WHY this is happening...maybe they interview better? Who knows. In my class of BSN's only 3 have found jobs in acute care. In my friends ADN's class, only 2 have NOT found jobs....I don't know, maybe it's a coincidence? Maybe hospitals don't really care about ADN vs. BSN, but at the fact of who interviews better? Beats me.
*** I don't doubt what you are saying. It sounds normal to me. In my hospital ADNs are hired very readily. Most of them already work in the hospital as CNAs, ER techs, phlebotomists, house keepers, etc. They are already known by the managers. We already know which of them comes to work on time, is ready to learn, and who works hard. We very seldom have BSN students working here despite having a state university BSN program right inside the hospital.
For sure some hospitals really care about BSN vs ADN for their new grads. In particular those hospitals who's reputations and maybe a little shaky, or one of those places nurses avoid working seem to to care about BSN for new grads. At least that is my observation.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
To my understanding, the bigger hospitals in my area that either have Magnet status or working towards it, mostly hire BSNs over ADNs. I've been told by nurse recruiters that they are willing to invest in BSNs because they have more education that will benefit the hospital. Of course, in reality, I know that ADNs can be just as qualified as any BSN out there. I've seen ADN students on the floor, and they seemed more hands on and better on the floor than BSN students. The reason I went for my BSN is because I've been told that ADNs wouldn't be able to find jobs since the nursing profession is still trying to make BSN the standard minimum entry level. On top of that, I wanted the extra education; I wanted to be bachelor's prepared.
Had I known then what I know now, I would've saved myself some grief and heartache, and accepted the offer from my community college to get the ADN.
I don't understand why you think a Magnet status hospital is probably not one of the best places to work? I thought that Magnet status means the hospital has created an environment that supports nursing? Am I wrong? I would love to hear what an experienced nurse like yourself has to say. As a jobless RN, BSN new grad, I need all the advice I can get.
*** I have worked as an ICU nurse at three seperate hospitals while they achieved Magnet status. One in the state of Oregon and two here in Wisconsin. Nurses where told EXACTLY what to say when survayors asked us questions. Thing put in place for Magnet like nurse leadership and practice counsels and education programs were either done away with after Magnet or marginalized to the point of irrelevence, only to be brought back to life as soon as it was re-certification time. If the hospital was not a nice place to work as an RN before Magnet it remained so after. If a hospitals was already a great place to work, like the hospital in Oregon where I worked it remained so.
I suppose that eventualy all larger hospitals will be Magnet hospitals and it will become meaningless. As of now my observation and experience tells me that the early adopters where mostly hospitals that already had reputations as places where RN were not treated very well. Maybe it's different in other places. I have worked a lot of per-diem in the hospitals in the twin cities and have heard the same from the nurses I worked with there. The hospital in the twin cities with the best pay and benifits for RNs is not Magnet.
I graduated from a two year diploma program with no prereqs and got a job five months later at a hospital making a whole 85cents an hour less than ADN and a whopping 90 cents an hour less than a BSN. I went to the UPMC Shadyside school of nursing which has a 98% first time pass rate for boards. Just wanted to contribute my two cents because us "Dips" have apparently been discounted. LOL
BSNs are no smarter than ADNs. They get paid exactly the same at the facility I work at. I'm doing the University of Wisconsin Green Bays RN to BSN program and I'm taking a bunch of fluff classes. Classes like nursing theory and cultural studies. It's all common sense. I doubt I'll use much of it on the med surge floor. It just looks a hell of a lot better than a community college degree on paper.
Entry level education for nurses could easily be ADN programs. BSNs are overkill no doubt.
mnf4ever
47 Posts
To my understanding, the bigger hospitals in my area that either have Magnet status or working towards it, mostly hire BSNs over ADNs. I've been told by nurse recruiters that they are willing to invest in BSNs because they have more education that will benefit the hospital. Of course, in reality, I know that ADNs can be just as qualified as any BSN out there. I've seen ADN students on the floor, and they seemed more hands on and better on the floor than BSN students. The reason I went for my BSN is because I've been told that ADNs wouldn't be able to find jobs since the nursing profession is still trying to make BSN the standard minimum entry level. On top of that, I wanted the extra education; I wanted to be bachelor's prepared.
Had I known then what I know now, I would've saved myself some grief and heartache, and accepted the offer from my community college to get the ADN.
I don't understand why you think a Magnet status hospital is probably not one of the best places to work? I thought that Magnet status means the hospital has created an environment that supports nursing? Am I wrong? I would love to hear what an experienced nurse like yourself has to say. As a jobless RN, BSN new grad, I need all the advice I can get.