DD graduated college in 2023 with a communications degree. Got a job right out of school and has worked since then at a medical non profit. She now is thinking she wants to go back to school and get her nursing degree. Because I’m a firm believer in doing a job you love and that she is in a position to go back to school I support her doing this. She seems pretty set and already something up to shadow someone next week.
Anyone have any advice or pro/cons? Being that she is 23- soon to be 24, wondering if she would have a chance of getting $ for school as an independent.
Will she be applying for a second bachelors degree? Or what?
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My daughter’s friend is going to Case Western for an accelerated nursing program after earning a B.S. in Biology (just graduated). I don’t know a lot of details but check that program–from our conversation it sounded like they have some special track for students who already have a Bachelor’s.
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Will she be applying to ABSN programs? Do you have any instate options that she can commute to?
Note: there are also accelerated programs for non-nurses at the masters level- those are “helpful” if your daughter needs to take out grad school loans in order to fund the degree. Be sure to check the requirements, costs, details etc. Many of these MSN programs for non-nurses are very, very costly (ie private schools).
Most nursing schools offer ABSN degrees, a nursing degree for non-nursing undergrads.
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I am actually not sure
So right now she actually just registered at the local community college to take a few gen. ed classes. I believe anatomy and another science. After that u think she said she has to take some type of test - not the SAT but something like that
This is the ABSN program at Northeastern. Again, most nursing programs have similar offerings.
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So is there any benefit from already having a degree or will she pretty much be starting over
She will only be taking nursing classes for the actual degree. The degrees are generally anywhere from 12-18 months.
Keep in mind she may need prerequisites and programs may differ.
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I am just a parent who has done some research on nursing pathways, so by no means an expert. But I definitely don’t think she will have to “start over” totally. The ABSN program itself would typically be around 1.5 years (not 4). However, she will probably have a handful of pre-requisite classes to finish first. Hopefully some of the classes she took for her communications BA will count (college writing, stats, psych?) but I would imagine she is missing a bunch of the required science classes. So maybe 2.5 years total? I guess it depends on how many and how quickly she can complete those pre-reqs. The test she mentioned is probably the TEAS – and, as far as I can tell, some schools require it for admission and some do not?? Anyway, it sounds like she’s on top of it.
Yes definitely sounds like sciences for sure!
She has to compare the different programs as some of the prerequisites may vary (hopefully not by much).
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I did this as well. Went back to school for a nursing degree after getting a bachelor’s in something else. What a lot of people don’t realize is that there are many community colleges (which is what I did) that offer an associate’s degree in nursing. It’s still an RN program and you still take the NCLEX at the end and are a registered nurse after passing the NCLEX. It’s a much faster way to become an RN. I have found that there is absolutely ZERO difference in job opportunities or pay for RNs with an ASN vs RNs with a BSN. The nursing field is so desperate for people right now that having that Bachelor’s degree makes no difference on what you can do .
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Oh wow really? I was going to as about this.
But note that community college ADN RN programs are often oversubscribed and therefore competitive admission (unlike other programs at community colleges).
Those with ADN RN do have the option to do an RN->BSN program if they find that they have any need for a BSN over an ADN.
Yes they are competitive to get into. But i would imagine someone with a bachelor’s degree already would be a strong applicant
This depends on location. I also went back to school for a nursing degree after my BA. But I got a BSN, and at both of the hospitals where I’ve worked, that BSN bumped me up to Staff Nurse III, as opposed to Staff Nurse I (even as a new grad). In fact my current hospital is a Magnet hospital and no longer hires ADNs (many were grandfathered in though). I’m in the Bay Area.
The pros to getting an ADN is that it’s usually faster, and definitely cheaper.
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Check out local.public 4 yr colleges fpr 18 mo bachelors to bsn degree programs.
I see. I think CA has some laws around nursing that the rest of the country doesn’t. As far as I can tell when looking into doing some travel nursing. So it may be different in some areas, true. I am in the southeast.