2 year nursing program?

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The college that I'm interested in, (and frankly the only one I can afford) has a nursing program but it's only two years. Is this something I should be worried about, or is it really not that big of a deal?

Has anyone graduated from a 2 year program and is a sucsessful nurse?

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

Is it an ADN? If so, there are many ADN nurses out there, gainfully employed.

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I think two years is very normal. All adn in my area are 2 years, and many bsn too!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Whether it's an ADN or BSN, the "program" portion is typically 2 years. There have certainly been successful nurses who are ADN prepared. Depending on your regional market and where you would like to work obtaining a BSN certainly might be to your advantage, although it's not the only way to get a job.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I took the stair-step route into nursing and earned a '2-year' degree along the way. I started out as an LPN/LVN with a one-year diploma, then earned an associate of science in nursing (ASN), then earned a BSN degree last year.

My one-year certificate and '2-year' associate degree always resulted in gainful employment. However, I was never interested in working at an acute care hospital. Many hospital systems across the US are only hiring new grads with BSN degrees.

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Specializes in ICU.

The program itself is 2 years at any school. Whether ASN or BSN. The difference is the amount of prereqs you do as a bachelors requires more of the liberal arts credits. But the core nursing programs are all 2 years. At a CC, you may do 1 year of prereqs, compared to the two you do at a 4 year university.

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I want to clarify that regardless if you get an ADN or BSN, both programs require 2 years worth of prereq classes and then 2 years of nursing school. The exceptions typically being that the BSN may require an extra chemistry and statistics.

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Specializes in Emergency, LTC.

Best way to see which program is better is to go to your state's BON website and check the first time NCLEX pass rates for all programs in the state. I did and found that the ADN program I chose had the top pass rate the year I was accepted (96% at the time) compare to the universities in the area (92-94% avg).

NCLEX first time pass rates tend to give an idea of how well the program 'prepares' their students.

That being said, with an ADN in today's world you'll have to bridge to BSN within 5yrs of hire at most hospitals. Many places offer tuition reimbursement after 6mo from hire date.

But yes, irregardless, a CC or Uni program is only 2yrs..sometimes 15-18mo if accelerated.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

In answer to the question "Has anyone graduated from a two year program and been a successful nurse?" The answer is Yes, millions of us. Literally millions.

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This is a real post?????????[emoji19]

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Specializes in Rehabilitation.

Hmmm... Not true. I took 2 years of prereqs and then 5 semesters of just nursing to get my ADN. Now I've got one prereq and another 5 semesters to get my BSN. That's 4 years of nursing classes ALONE to get my 4 year degree, not counting prereqs.

But to answer the original post - yes, I've been an ADN for almost 2 years and I don't regret for one minute the path I took to get here.

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