2 yrs nurse VS. 4yrs college nurse

SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2014

This has been discussed on this forum quite a bit recently. The search icon at the top right of this page will pull that info. Search "ADN vs BSN" and enjoy the countless hours of debate.

SeekingNewCareer · Apr 29, 2014

Thank you soldier nurse :-)

SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2014

No problem!

j0yegan · Apr 29, 2014

Most places are only hiring BSNs now. So I highly suggest you go for a BSN, unless you want to work at a nursing home.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 29, 2014

Most places are only hiring BSNs now. So I highly suggest you go for a BSN, unless you want to work at a nursing home.

That pretty much sums up the main difference between the 4 year (BSN) and 2 year (ADN) nurse. Otherwise you take the same NCLEX at the end of the day to get your license.

Palliative Care, DNP · Apr 30, 2014

The local hospital here recently laid off RNs. They used that as an opportunity to lay off ADNs saying that they had to go with keeping more educated nurses. Most of the ADNs laid off also happened to have more experience which equated to being paid more.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2014

Most places are only hiring BSNs now. So I highly suggest you go for a BSN, unless you want to work at a nursing home.

I think you meant to say, "Most hospitals are only hiring BSNs now."

Hospital employment is continuing to decline in raw numbers, so the new grads who have their hearts set on working in critical care, telemetry, the ER, L&D, and other acute areas are going to be competing for a limited number of jobs.

On the other hand, nursing employment in the community setting and extended care facilities is continuing to expand. So nurses without BSN degrees who are willing to do home health, private duty, public health, long term care, group homes, assisted living, developmental disabilities, hospice and palliative care will be just fine.

Despite what people say, the acute care hospital is not the exalted temple that everyone makes it out to be.

MunoRN, RN · Apr 30, 2014

Most places are only hiring BSNs now. So I highly suggest you go for a BSN, unless you want to work at a nursing home.

There is data available on this and it's not anywhere near "most", even if you limit it to just hospitals.

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2014

There are many different factors that should go into picking your school. No one size fits all. Look at your area and see what type of job postings there are. I know many of my classmates are finding jobs now because they went to a good ADN program, but it did take about several months. In fact, most of us work in hospitals in the area. We are flooded with nurses because we have many bachelors and associate degree programs here.

Pay difference is minimal if at all. Many hospitals view it as it's the same scope of practice so why pay more? Different facilities and jobs will pay more or less. One woman I graduated with is making 45 an hour as a nurse at a refinery. She graduated in December with her associates degree. That is an atypical job but still, wow. Most of us are making around 20-25 bucks an hour.

Also, you will probably take the same amount of in school and you'd only save about a year going the ADN route. Many programs will not admit without you completing pre-reqs first such as anatomy, comp, micro, etc. Also, many programs, even ADN programs, will not accept you and instead rank you. So you may be pre-nursing but if you do not have the grades, then you will not get into the nursing program. My school started the ranking program so you would complete micro, anatomy, anatomy II, comp I, comp II, ACT, TEAS test, and they would rank you based on a previous established points based on those results and overall GPA. So a C in micro was worth zero and a B was worth 2 points, and an A was worth 3. They took first round of grades for the sciences so you couldn't repeat the class to increase your points. Then if you weren't in the top numbers (let's say they took the top 50), then you would have to reapply and compete again.

So I recommend finding 3 to 5 universities and colleges you would be willing to go to and figure out the pre-reqs for all of them. Most have similar pre-reqs and apply to all of them if you can afford it. I have heard of people finishing their BSN quicker than getting an ADN. I know a former coworker who had applied to go to my school did not get in till after he had graduated with his BSN back when my school did waiting lists (hence why they eliminated the waiting list).

Also, if you go the ADN route look into partner schools and what would the partner school require you to do to get a BSN. My school is partnered with OU for a cheap rate and all the pre-reqs transferred. I also found out what other general education classes I would need to complete and I finished those along side of my regular nursing classes so now I will have my BSN in Dec. 2014, a year after getting my ADN. I only had 9 classes and the junior comp class to do.

summerskiss88 · Apr 30, 2014

I know the BSN programs around here prepare students for leadership and teaching careers. If you just wanna work, I think the ADN is just fine. You can always continue on for your BSN later.

la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2014

I'm not sure how generally consistent this is everywhere but BSN nurses are highly desired by hospitals who want to be "magnet" hospitals. That's not a bad thing to be. Nursing is a profession that is constantly changing and evolving and, as others pointed out, hospitals will dump their ADNs and many have requested AD holders to go back and get their BSNs. You don't want to go through an ADN program only to be told it's not enough and then have to go bridge to a BSN, right? Besides, once you really get into the nitty gritty of nursing, you'll see it's so much more than just a job and a BSN can help you go much further.