Agree that job prospects for Associates Degree RNs are dependent upon the local market. In some locales, it gets you the least desired jobs. In other places, you’ll find them working in ICU, OR, ER, and Cath Lab right next to the RNs who got their BSN from the top 4 year universities.
@HRSMom , thanks for the explanation, but it has not changed my opinion on the comment being a distasteful generalization.
We don’t need to beat this into the dirt, I am sure you are a well-intentioned person. I’m going to leave it be from here on.
Moving on…
Thanks all - for the comments on the Associates Degree
The salary range from the the report provided by @Much2learn is rather wide.
There appear to be a number of placements in specialty units in top hospitals, but I have no idea how that impacts compensation, working conditions or job satisfaction.
There were also some interesting entries…
I would guess that some of those students with unusual jobs had dual majors. It is possible that one of the dual majors is the high end of the range. On the low end of the range, the range may seem wide because Penn career services does not screen out surveys at the low end of the range, like some schools do.
Dual majors seem difficult with the major requirements laid out in that earlier post…one elective and 10 gen eds and the nursing stuff?
@OhMomof2
Dual majors are difficult, but some students have a high number of APs, and some stay an extra semester or year to do it.
From the student handbook:
There is also the option of taking any of a number of minors which are 6-7 courses. Note that there is usually some overlap between major/minor requirements and the gen ed requirements so sometimes the combination of AP credit and double counting can make a minor possible.
bearcatfan - There is an active “Nursing” forum under majors on CC. You can also search the word nursing and the name of a college and find posts people have written about various programs over the years. Many people have posted about what they liked and did not like about various programs.
Some commuter schools and community colleges have high RN exam pass rates partially because they have many older students. Many of those students have years of experience in health care before they take the RN exam, and some were practical (vocational) nurses. In comparison, many younger students only have experience from clinicals and maybe one summer job in a hospital.
“Miami- someone has graduated from an IVY with over 300K in loans?” - it is not what I said. I said that because some students attended college at Ivy’s, later on they had to have student loans and ended up with around $300, more or less. That what happened to students in my D’s medical school class. Most graduate with huge loans from medical schools, about 84%. However, good number of them having this debt because they spent family resources on college tuition. Given the fact that we are talking about the highest caliber students, I am sure that ALL in D’s medical school class had an option of attending a college of full tuition and higher Merit awards. But for a 17 y o, the eyes are hungrier than their stomach could handle, so to speak, and parents are soo proud that they simply do not want to disappoint the precious child. I am saying that NOBODY is pointing out to the consequences of such unwise decision and who is going to be paying for it - kid herself. Yes, many in D’s class regretted attending Ivy’s after they realized what they gotten themselves into, which was completely avoidable in their specific situation.