What to do after high school to become a RN/BSN in short amount of time and money?

Luckyyou, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2013

Try to go to a direct entry 4-year BSN program, although they are usually very competitive.

zoe92 · Mar 10, 2013

You will have to take pre requisite courses & then clinicals. This can be in the form of an associate's degree (2-3 years) or a bachelor's degree (about 4 years). I would highly recommend looking into the military because they will help pay for school. Talk to some military recruiters who specialize in health careers because they would have more information.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Mar 10, 2013

First find a school with a nursing program. I highly suggest going for your BSN straight out of school if you can afford it, since BSNs are more in demand than RNs with their ADN. You will complete pre-reqs which usually include classes in English composition, math (statistics or college algebra...calculus isn't used in nursing math), sciences (chemistry, microbiology, A&P), psychology/sociology, maybe an ethics course....every program is different. Then you apply to an RN program.

I also suggest looking into the military if that interests you because they can help pay for school. At a university, you can do an ROTC program and commission as a second lieutenant when you graduate. I know at my school if you were on an ROTC scholarship (which you had to be to continue on through ROTC) you were guaranteed admission into the nursing program, as long as you had the minimum GPA to apply. I'm sure other programs are similar.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Mar 10, 2013

Hey i am alyssa powell. I am in senior level in high school and i want to become a RN. i took a program that takes 2 years called project lead the way tha helps with leanring the body and every science class possible. i am also in precalc right now and i always keeps a c+ or higher in every class i ever been in. i want to know if do i go to college then RN school? or to just RN school straight? or is any branch of the military faster too?

Being that you're in high school, you have a LOT of options ahead of you. Since you're looking at the BSN, you can seriously check out the universities. You'll need to make sure you have all the prerequisites done before actually applying to the nursing program, but at least get into the university first and get your stuff DONE. Also check out the local community colleges because they may be a faster way to get your lower division stuff and nursing prerequisites done, or at least less expensive. Think of it this way: Nursing school will be 2 years, whether it be at the community college or university level (ADN or BSN). Both will require essentially the same prerequisites to be done, and consider taking both O-Chem and Microbiology as most RN schools want one of those two, but not both. In the Sacramento region, Sac State and Sierra College require O-chem and the rest generally require Micro. If you take both courses, you can apply to basically all the programs in the area. Your most expensive option will be taking an RN program at any of the private colleges. You'll pay basically over $80k, for what amounts to an ADN. The BSN will be your best bet if you're going to spend some serious money...

shadowshodan · Mar 10, 2013

Being that you're in high school, you have a LOT of options ahead of you. Since you're looking at the BSN, you can seriously check out the universities. You'll need to make sure you have all the prerequisites done before actually applying to the nursing program, but at least get into the university first and get your stuff DONE. Also check out the local community colleges because they may be a faster way to get your lower division stuff and nursing prerequisites done, or at least less expensive. Think of it this way: Nursing school will be 2 years, whether it be at the community college or university level (ADN or BSN). Both will require essentially the same prerequisites to be done, and consider taking both O-Chem and Microbiology as most RN schools want one of those two, but not both. In the Sacramento region, Sac State and Sierra College require O-chem and the rest generally require Micro. If you take both courses, you can apply to basically all the programs in the area. Your most expensive option will be taking an RN program at any of the private colleges. You'll pay basically over $80k, for what amounts to an ADN. The BSN will be your best bet if you're going to spend some serious money...

i thought about going to arc tog et the basic college out of the way then go to a rn nursing schol to get a bsn and even masters maybe. how long would that all take? and roughly cost?or can i just go right into rn school?

shadowshodan · Mar 10, 2013

Try to go to a direct entry 4-year BSN program, although they are usually very competitive.

are they also very expensive?

Alisonisayoshi, LVN · Mar 10, 2013

There is no go "directly to nursing school". (Unless you want to pay a ton of money to ITT or one of those types of schools). There are pre-nursing (prerequisite course work) then nursing school BSN or ADN, or you can directly take an LVN/LPN course (vocational nurses without college degrees). Schools use the pre req's to weed out poor performing students. You will even hear them referred to as weeder courses. Meaning, if you can't maintain a certain GPA in these courses you probably would do poorly in nursing school.

A friend of mine used the military for her degree, and on the positive she had guaranteed employment which a lot of new grads can't exactly say. On the negative she has to serve in the military, which for some is not ideal. She did Navy nursing.

Alisonisayoshi, LVN · Mar 10, 2013

Even if you do direct entry you STILL do all the prerequisite courses. There is no getting around them.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Mar 10, 2013

i thought about going to arc tog et the basic college out of the way then go to a rn nursing schol to get a bsn and even masters maybe. how long would that all take? and roughly cost?or can i just go right into rn school?

AS others have said, you'll have to take all the prerequisite courses. There really isn't any way of getting around that. The private schools are costly and they'll send you to an outside school to get your RN prerequisites after you're done with LVN, before you're allowed to continue with RN. It's a way of breaking up the cost into about $40k chunks.

Any which way you're going to slice this, it's going to take a while. Figure about 2 years for knocking those prereqs out of the way and then applying to programs (because they only want qualified students to apply). There's where a significant backlog can be. If you're considering Sac State, try to get enrolled there and find a cheap way to stay a continuing student. If you're considering going the JC route first, you can get all of your LDGE and prerequisites out of the way in the Los Rios system. That'll be a LOT cheaper than doing all your stuff at Sac State. Then you might have to get a transfer agreement done to guarantee your enrollment at Sac State, but you'll have to make sure you have very good grades and know where you stand in Sac State's points system, so that you'll have a good chance of being accepted there. If you go ADN - BSN, it's going to take 2 years after getting into a program and about another year or so to get the BSN. Then you're looking at another two years after that to get an MSN.

This won't be an easy road for you to go that far. Cheapest route would be JC->Public University. Whether you get an RN at the JC or 4 year level, Nursing school will be harder, and very different, than anything you've had to do up to that point.

Staragate, ADN, ASN, RN · Mar 10, 2013

You need to do better than a C+ average.

College courses are more difficult and in depth than high school. That means really focusing and getting INTERESTED in it. I recommend the BSN route and try to take as many courses at your community college to transfer in/save money. Take all the prereqs first, apply, then head right into the Co-Reqs while you are waiting entry. You don't want any non-nursing classes to distract you while you are in the program.

I personally went the ADN route. I plan to get my BSN in a couple of years. BSN doesn't make you more money for the most part, but it does give you a lot more opportunities.

Elkay · Mar 10, 2013

Just so you know, C+ will not get you anywhere in medical field. I know a lot of people with 3.8 GPA who still got rejected to some BSN programs because there are only a handful of spots available per year due to not enough money and instructors; and HUNDREDS of applicants. Getting into a program is only half the journey. I remember the first day of school, the head of the nursing program told us that if we can't maintain at least a 3.75 GPA in college, we might as well forget nursing.

Alot of people who have no idea what it takes to have a BSN. They think that nursing is a joke. Something you can slack off on or is easy to achieve with a 3.0 GPA. No, it takes far more effort and hard work to be a nurse than what most average everyday people think. You have no idea how many times I hear people say "well i'm not smart enough/ not high enough GPA for "insert major", guess i'll just go into nursing".

Good luck, work hard in school, every class will matter in college.