which should i take to bexome a nurse?

Devon Rex, ADN, BSN · Dec 23, 2012

Hello! There are different levels of nursing. Listed from the least to highest amount of education.

1) Certified Nursing Assitant (CNA)

2) Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) ...or... Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)

3) Registered Nurse (RN) with an Associate's Degree in Nursing

4) Registered Nurse (RN) with a Bachelor's degree in Nursing

5) RN with a master's degree in: education, administration, or nurse practitioner

6) RN with a doctoral degree: PhD in Nursing ...or... Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Where do you start? Well, that depends on your ultimate goal. If you are new to the field, you can start your education at any of the first three levels I listed above. In order to progress to a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, you will have to have an RN license issued by the state you live in. You can only take the RN licensing board examination after you have completed the associate's degree. If you decide to take the bachelor's degree from day 1, you may opt for taking the RN licensin examination when you complete the bachelor's... but why wait that long?

There is too muchn information availabel for each degree, so I suggest googling the topic and read the information. You may also choose to access the Community College or University of your area to read up on their nursing programs.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

x_factor · Dec 23, 2012

Hello I am new to thi site. I really want to be a nurse but , I am confused on which route to take. I have several options...My overall gpa is a 2.7( I know very low dor nursing school). Ok here are my choose... Option 1: Retake all the classes of prereqites that I have a c in which will give me a 3.0 ..Try to apply to st johs river state college or fscj. Option 2: Apply for fscj lpn program and take the rn bridge later.( I've heard it is hard to get in). Option 3: Go to a careeer school , where I will have no problem getting accepted.I can start my career right away.I would be in debt and I would not be able to achieve my nurse prationer degrre..(sry about misspelled words, computer freezing). Could someone please give me your inputon what you think I should do. I am so confused.. Thank you in advanced for your comments::-)

I wouldn't put myself in debt with the 'career' school, which I am going to assume by your description is a for-profit type of school. You will be out of a lot of money and little room for future advancement.

My advice is to re-take the pre-reqs you did poorly in (only after you take the time to analyze why you did poorly, and find ways to improve those areas before taking the pre-reqs again), and increase your GPA. A competitive GPA is generally around a minimum of a 3.4 or 3.5, but it depends on the school. 3.0 is still realatively low, as most RN programs are very competitive.

Starting with the LPN route is also another option, the choice is yours to make. If you really want to be an RN, I say just re-take the pre-reqs, aim for all A's, and increase your GPA in order to get into a good, reputable RN program.

Good luck!

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2012

It will benefit your future chances if you concentrate on professional written communication including minimal use of grammar, punctuation, and spellcheck when requesting advice on a professional forum. Perfection isn't necessary online, but it is in applications Practice will help. Clear communication online will earn you better responses.

starnurse2b16, RN · Dec 23, 2012

Thank you all for your comments I am really thinking about bringing my gpa up.

runsalot · Dec 24, 2012

Hi,

Good luck in which ever path you take. :). But one word of advice; in nursing, your nursing 'elders' often give you advice. And if you do not develop a thick skin you will never survive nursing school. SummitAP was just giving you a piece of real advice on how to survive nursing school.

Good luck..

.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2012

Hello! There are different levels of nursing. Listed from the least to highest amount of education.
1) Certified Nursing Assitant (CNA)
2) Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) ...or... Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)
3) Registered Nurse (RN) with an Associate's Degree in Nursing
4) Registered Nurse (RN) with a Bachelor's degree in Nursing
5) RN with a master's degree in: education, administration, or nurse practitioner
6) RN with a doctoral degree: PhD in Nursing ...or... Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Where do you start? Well, that depends on your ultimate goal. If you are new to the field, you can start your education at any of the first three levels I listed above. In order to progress to a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, you will have to have an RN license issued by the state you live in. You can only take the RN licensing board examination after you have completed the associate's degree. If you decide to take the bachelor's degree from day 1, you may opt for taking the RN licensin examination when you complete the bachelor's... but why wait that long?
There is too muchn information availabel for each degree, so I suggest googling the topic and read the information. You may also choose to access the Community College or University of your area to read up on their nursing programs.
Hope this helps! Good luck!

This (the bolded part) is not entirely true. You need neither an RN license nor an Associate's Degree to begin a Bachelor's Program. I entered my BSN program directly out of high school with nothing more than a high school diploma, as did the majority of nurses I know/have worked with. You can begin your nursing education directly into a BSN program and, in my state, it would be the recommended route since new grads without a BSN cannot find employment. There are also other routes to becoming an RN... there are still some diploma programs out there.

Devon Rex, ADN, BSN · Dec 24, 2012

True, KelRN215...

I guess what I wanted to convey was that to become a Registered Nurse you do not have to attain a bachelor's degree. I got all tangled up in my thinking.