When to go to Grad School after BSN

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 11, 2008

There are advantages and disadvantages to going to grad school right away. So, there is no one right answer for everyone. You'll have to weigh the factors and decide what is best for YOU in your particular situation. Perhaps most important, you need to be aware of those factors and how they apply to your particular situation so that you can deal with those disadvantages in a positive way.

1. A lot depends on the particular MSN program. Would you be the only person in your class without significant work experience? If that is true, the classes may not meet your needs very well because they would be geared towards a different type of student. You might feel "behind" your classmates and out of place. Would that be a problem for you? However, in some graduate programs, you might find lots of classmates with minimal work experience -- making that factor less of an issue.

2. How sure are you of your long-term career goals -- and the type of MSN program that you will need to achieve them? A lot of undergraduate students THINK they know the type of nursing they will enjoy and the types of jobs that will suit them well. However, once they are out in practice, they discover that they either don't enjoy key aspects of those specialties and/or their natural talents and preferences don't match with the type of career they envisioned. In other words, when they get a little experience, they change their minds about the type of nursing career path that they want to pursue. A lot of growth happens in those first few years in practice and many students benefit by waiting a couple of years to experience that growth before investing in a graduate education that will take them down a specific advanced role career path.

3. A lot of new nurses need a year or two of practice to "get their feet under them" as practicing nurses. (Just read some of the posts on this bulletin board related to the first year of nursing practice.) When they take on too much responsibilities (e.g. grad school) before they become competent nurses, they get overwhelmed and end up not doing a good job in either arena (school and work).

My best recommendation is this: Practice for at LEAST 6 months before going back to school so that you can focus on becoming a competent nurse first. It's even better to practice for a year or two. As you do that, pay attention to your skills, your natural talents and preferences, etc. so that you can choose a career path and a program that will suit you well. Talk to people. Try a few advanced practice projects such as precepting, charge nurse, data gathering, etc. to see which type of roles appeal to you -- teaching, administration, research, etc. Use that year or two to do your homework so that you can make a good, informed decision about your long-term goals -- a decision based on knowledge of yourself as a professional nurse practicing in a real job in the real world.

If you decide to go back to school relative early in your career (1 - 3 years after graduating), I'd recommend starting school on a part time basis. Take the "core courses" like theory, research, etc. first because these are the courses that are needed for all career paths. That will buy you more time to decide on a specific focus area.

Good luck!

P.S. I applied for MSN programs after working for 1 year. Started back to school full time after 2 years of practice. (BSN at 22 years old. MSN at age 26. PhD at age 41.)

yellow finch, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2008

llg makes some valid points. While I had 1 year of nursing when my FNP courses began, I was further behind other experienced nurses in Pharmacology and didn't do as well as I could probably do now simply because the drugs were almost entirely foreign to me. Even now I understand classifications and pharmacology far better just 2 years out. So maybe I could have earned an 'A' instead of a 'B'? Big difference, not really. Just interpretation.

When I entered nursing school I thought I wanted to become a CRNA. Now... no way! No interest in it beyond an inkling of curiosity. I'm really looking forward to interacting with conscious people.

As for being under-experienced... one girl I encouraged to enter my program never worked as a RN. As far as I know, she graduated in December, but remember how many times she looked kinda silly asking questions about basic nursing skills such as labs, assessment, the like... yikes. Not only should she know what they were but she needed to know why we order certain things, rationale, and how to interpret. Oh well.

You can always apply to grad school and defer your courses until you feel ready to attack them. Or go part-time like llg suggested. I actually took a full load of the core curriculum for the first year then dropped back to clinical courses with the required labs after that. It turned my 2 years into 3. However, I feel like I'm in control of my studies and not simply rushing through things simply to get it over with. Even now I'm tired and overwhelmed. Still, working while in school exposes me to more than if I went at it solo.

Keep grad school in the back of your head, have a look at your prospective choices, but also hold your heads below the clouds. Remember that you still have to graduate and pass your boards first. You can always apply the day after you get your license in the mail. :lol2: