What Nursing degree to get?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

Published

Hey! I am new as a memeber but been a visitor of this site for a while. Well, I am thinking about nursing. I have an Associate in General Studyes. A bachelor of business administration in Management and also Information Systems. I am working on my MBA which will be completed next summer.

I work in the IT industry and realize this isnt the career for me. I am a male so I know there is a nursing shortage but also a greater one for males.

Well what degree should I persue. A local tech and community college offers the Associate of Practical Nursing but I wonder if that would be limiting me in the future or should I find a BSN which i guess would take me 2 years to complete. Is there a difference in pay?

Any advice

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Hey! I am new as a memeber but been a visitor of this site for a while. Well, I am thinking about nursing. I have an Associate in General Studyes. A bachelor of business administration in Management and also Information Systems. I am working on my MBA which will be completed next summer.

I work in the IT industry and realize this isnt the career for me. I am a male so I know there is a nursing shortage but also a greater one for males.

Well what degree should I persue. A local tech and community college offers the Associate of Practical Nursing but I wonder if that would be limiting me in the future or should I find a BSN which i guess would take me 2 years to complete. Is there a difference in pay?

Any advice

From what I understand there is not a difference in pay. Those with a BSN or associates degree all take the same nurse exam to become an RN. With a BSN if might be better for you to get your masters. Some masters programs will allow you to have a BS that is non-nursing related. However some specific masters programs require you to have a BSN.

I guess you need to ask yourself how far you plan on taking your education with nursing. Are you willing to go back and get your BSN after becoming an RN.

Im kind of trying to figure the same thing out right now. I already have a bachelor of arts in organizational information technology. I was recently accepted in to a associates degree nursing program. I still plan on applying to a BSN program, im just weighing out the options. Then there is of course the chance I wont get into the BSN program I am applying too.

Good luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in progressive care telemetry.

If you have your bachelor's degree you may want to look for an accelerated program for a BSN in less time to do an ADN. I am going this route, at my school (Univ. of CIncinnati) once I'm done with prereqs the programs itself is only 14 months til BSN.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in new mother/baby nurse.

Whan you mentioned an associates in practical nursing, did you mean Registered Nursing? A practical nurse is an LPN and yes, they do make less than RNs adn those with BSNs. An RN program takes Two years of Nursing classes plus extra time to complete prerequisites. A BSN takes 4 years. Since you already have a degree, you will have already completed some of the prerequs but may not have all of the sciences that you need to get into a nursing program.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Well what degree should I persue. A local tech and community college offers the Associate of Practical Nursing but I wonder if that would be limiting me in the future or should I find a BSN which i guess would take me 2 years to complete. Is there a difference in pay?

Any advice

No difference in pay but you may not have a choice anyway. There are waiting lists at most schools and there are more associate's programs than bachelors so, chances are you'll go with an associates just because, these days, you pretty much go with any program that takes you.

BTW, the previously mentioned point about LPN programs is a good one. Although the LPN job market is not nearly as good as RN.

:coollook:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I would do BSN simply to give you more options. Good luck.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

If you already have a Bachelor's Degree why don't you do an accelerated or fast track program. You more than likely have most of the prereqs except maybe for all the sciences etc....

Look into all your options, because ultimately you are the only person who can and will decide what path to take

Best of Luck to you, :)

Jessica

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi, I want to become an RN, but not right away. So Im thinking about taking a certification program in medical assistant or LVN. So my question is, if I become a certified LVN and then proceed to RN, would my certification be credited for a shorter time for me to be able to finish my degree in RN?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hey, I talked to some schools today in the area bout their programs. Well since i have a 4 year Business Degree, the accerlated nursing program is 1y long and is hard to get into with a high gpa cut off. (That emliminates me right there). However, there is 1 BSN program and 2 RN and 3 LPN programs near me. I've some graduate course work as a MBA and I need to start taking like 2 or 3 pre reqs I am lacking. Do you think the MBA would be helpful or should I scrap that and just concentrate on my pre reqs? I had thought about continung the MBA while I await on my fate of getting into a school.

So with that said..LPN, BSN or ADN (RN)? which one? all are competitve...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Hey! I am new as a memeber but been a visitor of this site for a while. Well, I am thinking about nursing. I have an Associate in General Studyes. A bachelor of business administration in Management and also Information Systems. I am working on my MBA which will be completed next summer.

I work in the IT industry and realize this isnt the career for me. I am a male so I know there is a nursing shortage but also a greater one for males.

Well what degree should I persue. A local tech and community college offers the Associate of Practical Nursing but I wonder if that would be limiting me in the future or should I find a BSN which i guess would take me 2 years to complete. Is there a difference in pay?

Any advice

If you got an MSN with the MBA, you could go far in healthcare management. There are accelerated routes from prior BS/BA to MSN. I would look at graduate school programs -- some of them take less than 2 years.

One link regarding this:

http://www.minoritynurse.com/features/graduate/05-15-00a.html

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Hi, I want to become an RN, but not right away. So Im thinking about taking a certification program in medical assistant or LVN. So my question is, if I become a certified LVN and then proceed to RN, would my certification be credited for a shorter time for me to be able to finish my degree in RN?

The certification as a medical assistnat will not shorten your program, the LVN will if you do a bridge program.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment