I started a new job yesterday and was talking to my manager about NS. He made some offhand comment that all nurses act like they have worked so much harder for their two year degree. He said he just laughs it off because even though he "knows it is a challenge (he doesn't have a degree in nursing by the way), it isn't nearly as hard as a regular BS, say in Psychology or Business or whatever".
I mean, what is up with that? I explained to him that I had to take two years of pre reqs just to get into NS and will ultimately be in school for four years. I told him that "I know many nurses that would strongly disagree with you" (maybe not the right response for my first day on the job:roll ). He said, "I know, but I don't care, because I am right and they are wrong":madface: . (LOL, BAD SIGN right???:roll )
I don't have a bachelors. But what I do know is that every single academic class I have had, including Organic Chem, was by far easier than the overall stress of NS. Maybe not easier than each individual class, but by far, NS has been harder for me and more stressful than even my toughest semester of "normal" college.
After seeing how much information nurses are expected to know and internalize and understand at the core, I am really suprised at the people who still don't think they are as smart as someone with a bachelors in psych. A bachelors in psych would seem like a vacation for me right now...:roll After being in nursing school, I will forever bow down to nurses who have completed their degree. Their level of knowlege is staggering!:bowingpur
I'd like your opinion on this from those of you that have previous bachelors degrees and have completed nursing school....
I can tell you from my experience that I feel that getting a nursing degree is harder than getting a non-nursing bachelor's degree. I have a Bachelors in business finance and took many hard classes such as calculus and international finance to obtain my degree. I have also been enrolled in a nursing school and withdrew due to stress. I do not believe one is harder than the other just more stressful. In nursing school you literally learn you will be holding your patients lives in your hands where as if you are working in the business world the most that is at jeopardy is the bottom line.
All degrees require learning knowledge but I feel the big difference is the level of stress involved. And then again, comparing a business degree with a nursing degree is like comparing apples and oranges. I also feel that almost anyone can obtain a degree in business, not everyone can make it through nursing school. This in of itself should say something about the degree of difficulty or stress level. But this is all subjective and everyone perceives things differently.
I am happy to say, I will be going back to nursing school in Sept 06 and this time I will make it. Well, that is my 2 cents in the matter.
Gads, I hope we are not scaring all those nursing students and nurse wannabees to death! Sorry ladies! You CAN do it. It just takes a "can do" and "If she/he can do it, so can I" attitude. Hang in there!:chuckle
Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
Gads, I hope we are not scaring all those nursing students and nurse wannabees to death! Sorry ladies! You CAN do it. It just takes a "can do" and "If she/he can do it, so can I" attitude. Hang in there!:chuckle
And at the end of it when you have managed to make it through, you are so darned proud of yourself and ready to use your knowledge...the rewards are priceless! You never hear of nurses becoming "bored" with nursing and there are soooooo many options/ways for you to use your nursing degree...It is quite as versatile as a business degree only you normally can get paid alot better!
Gads, I hope we are not scaring all those nursing students and nurse wannabees to death! Sorry ladies! You CAN do it. It just takes a "can do" and "If she/he can do it, so can I" attitude. Hang in there!:chuckle
hello
OH my god!!! I laughed when I read your message. No you are not scaring me to death. Thanks for the encouragement!
...you pretty much have to dedicate 4yrs anyway (sometimes 5 when all is said and done) you might as well have gotten a bachelors anyway.:uhoh21:
...
Hi SMK1,
This is what I overheard one of my coworkers relaying to another that she had told her daughter, (this was in 1986 when I was working as a CNA and really first started to think about becoming a nurse). At that time it seemed so far out of my reach to try to go to school for so long.
However, all the while I was on waitinglists for ADNs and completing the pre-reqs and other coursework I did not limit myself to just those waitlists for the ADNs or to stopping at the pre-reqs for the BSN and ended up getting the BA in (mentioned earlier) Soc/Psych and the AS as well.
Some folks have a good strategy for completing the pre-reqs in a year and then starting the ADN program but, for me, life got in the way, scheduling errors got in the way and by the time you knew it. Here we all are.
When it came time to just start the junior year of the BSN I had completed the BA and discovered the Masters Entry to Nursing. Heck, it took long enough, why stop at the BSN or limit ourselves.
Upon completion of the MSN/RN I hope to work for the post masters CNS, then immediately upon completion of that work towards the PhD.
Hmmm, never knew way back then that this waiting list situation at school was going to force me to discover that I do like school and learning and broadening the scope or stretching the boundries of a degree. :)
Gen
p.s. congratulations and Good luck with your Nursing Degree, (at whichever leve you choose!)
My ADN program was much harder than my BA, and took three years with all of the reqs and support classes. I have a degree in Russian Language and Literature (a good idea in 1990 before the fall) with a minor in business. I'm telling you learning to speak and read Russian was easier than nursing school.
i have a bs in marketing and that was not a cake walk but my pre-reqs in nursing classes have been very difficult! it's just a background i'm not used to so it takes that much more to understand and apply it. i know that this "2 year" degree is going to kick my bootie a lot more than my bs did!!
I think asoldierswife05 summed up a lot of my feelings quite well. I have a bachelors in psychology from a top-end university on the dean's list, and nursing school is currently killing me. Nursing school is so much different than 'regular college' because you have different grading scales, and clinicals, attendance, lab skills and assessment tests which can only HURT you but can not be used to help your grade. Had a wait list of a year which is actually not bad compared to what other people have gone through. They mark nursing courses as 4 or 5 credit hours when they should be considerd 8 or 9 each. If you fail (
nice to see other psych people out there ! What did we think we were going to do w that degree anyway (lol)
i personally thought i was going to work in a battered women's shelter, a hospital, or even a nursing home .. little did i know that social workers fill those positions and they are few and far between. lots of 'funding' issues w not enough funds.
This is what I overheard one of my coworkers relaying to another that she had told her daughter, (this was in 1986 when I was working as a CNA and really first started to think about becoming a nurse). At that time it seemed so far out of my reach to try to go to school for so long.
However, all the while I was on waitinglists for ADNs and completing the pre-reqs and other coursework I did not limit myself to just those waitlists for the ADNs or to stopping at the pre-reqs for the BSN and ended up getting the BA in (mentioned earlier) Soc/Psych and the AS as well.
Some folks have a good strategy for completing the pre-reqs in a year and then starting the ADN program but, for me, life got in the way, scheduling errors got in the way and by the time you knew it. Here we all are.
When it came time to just start the junior year of the BSN I had completed the BA and discovered the Masters Entry to Nursing. Heck, it took long enough, why stop at the BSN or limit ourselves.
Upon completion of the MSN/RN I hope to work for the post masters CNS, then immediately upon completion of that work towards the PhD.
Hmmm, never knew way back then that this waiting list situation at school was going to force me to discover that I do like school and learning and broadening the scope or stretching the boundries of a degree. :)
Gen
p.s. congratulations and Good luck with your Nursing Degree, (at whichever leve you choose!)
Thanks for the congrats! I have always known that i want a bachelors degree, however CC's are just closer and more convenient. I have all of my transfer prereqs done execept for finishing Statistics and will only hae 1 year after i graduate the ADN left to finish the BSN. The funny thing is, they just moved our CC's adn program to the University campus so after i graduate and enroll at the university i will be on the same campus. A few other schools have joined a consortium that allows their CC students "if qualified", to complete their BSN on the CC campus from another University. I have always said that access is an issue to making BSN the entry level. I have also always wondered why CC's and University aren't working together to make the BSN completion available on the CC campus. Well, now more and more are doing this. When you have to spend so much time on the ADN anyway, in mho they need to just add the BSN classes to the ADN curriculum and call the who thing a bachelors degree. So many are in the same situation of spending 4-5 years anyway, that it just makes sense to. :uhoh21:
He has a PhD in engineering, and he tells me (over and over) that he thinks that my ADN program was more challenging than his MS in engineering. He conceeds that his PhD was more difficult than my ADN.
a non-nursing bachelor's degree requires you to bust your hump, too. that shouldn't be minimized, b/c the message you're giving to me is that a bachelor's doesn't take work. i wasn't a big partier (didn't smoke or drink, either). and i worked outside of school during the school year, at times, as well. mine was a ba in psychology.
that is point exactly, but i guess it was missed. i am not belittling the bs or ba in non-nursing (like the op's narrow-minded boss is with the adn degree). and if you continued reading my post, i do acknowledge that every degree/college/person is different. i have plenty of friends who busted their humps in college to get a non-nursing bs or ba
i certainly hope this thread doesn't turn into an adn vs ba/bs bashing, because both degrees are respectable, and both should be treated as such. it's immature and unnecessary. no one here should try to act like one is better than the other.
while i haven't read all the subsequent posts (after yours), i do not believe that this is what this thread is about (or at least it wasn't intended to be about).
Sorry ladies! You CAN do it. It just takes a "can do" and "If she/he can do it, so can I" attitude. Hang in there!:chuckle
nursewannabee
72 Posts
Hello
I can tell you from my experience that I feel that getting a nursing degree is harder than getting a non-nursing bachelor's degree. I have a Bachelors in business finance and took many hard classes such as calculus and international finance to obtain my degree. I have also been enrolled in a nursing school and withdrew due to stress. I do not believe one is harder than the other just more stressful. In nursing school you literally learn you will be holding your patients lives in your hands where as if you are working in the business world the most that is at jeopardy is the bottom line.
All degrees require learning knowledge but I feel the big difference is the level of stress involved. And then again, comparing a business degree with a nursing degree is like comparing apples and oranges. I also feel that almost anyone can obtain a degree in business, not everyone can make it through nursing school. This in of itself should say something about the degree of difficulty or stress level. But this is all subjective and everyone perceives things differently.
I am happy to say, I will be going back to nursing school in Sept 06 and this time I will make it. Well, that is my 2 cents in the matter.
Peace and Grace
Heather