Mueslix

B.S. And good for you for going into Nursing. You only have to do the dorms for the first year.

And you can be the fixie scene. Be a leader, not a follower!

paule

+1. Hang on for the BS, because once you finish you will be able to pick whatever city you desire due to the demand for nurses. Maximum job security/availability.

Blackberry

Option one gives you some short term gain

Option two gives real longterm gain including more money, more career oportunity more interesting work, younger women and better whiskey.

Matthew A Brown

Umm, just kinda skimmed this but:

There really isn't a whole lot of difference between an ASN and a BSN. To be an RN (which is a job, not a degree) you need a Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN). If you get a BSN, guess what? You're still "just" a Registered Nurse. To get to Nurse Practitioner you need a Masters. ASN takes about three years to do. BSN takes about four. A lot of places will have bridge programs to get you from RN to BSN, and quite a few will incorporate this bridge program into their associated hospitals' nurse retention programs ("We'll pick up your school if you promise to stick around for a bit"). Not all community colleges are equal, but please do not jump for the BSN right off the bat just because its a bigger degree from a capital "U" University. If its easier to get the RN, do it. I work at UF, but will be attending the community college for nursing this fall.

There's an even greater projected shortage of nursing faculty(PhD's), so don't ever think your options will be limited for higher education. They'll be after you, if they suspect you've got any of the sac for it.


Also:

NA = Nursing Assistant = 6-week certification
LPN = Licensed Practical Nurse = 1 year program


Someone please correct me if I'm wrong in any of this.

Revit

option 1.
rough it for a couple more years.
it should be way better than option 2.
-kev

jamey

hahaha did nobody else find this funny? good god people!

p.s. option one. i think a few years of sacrifice is worth a lifetime of security.

explody pup

Talk to more nurses. Base your decision on where you want to be 5, 10 years from now. Will there be much of a difference in pay/position if you started your career with a BS vs an Associates? Do you want to go to grad school later on?

Also, just curious, but does it help having a Bachelor's vs an Associate's make any difference if you decide to specialize?

Good choice, by the way. If I had the chance to do my education over again, I would have gone into nursing in a heartbeat.

DiegoFrogs

All that I can add is this: The only thing in the entire universe that nobody can ever take away from you is your Education. The REPO man can take your car, the bank can take your house, but all that can ever be done about your education is to mail another notice about your overdue bills. Take this as far as you can in life!

I may be speaking from the blissfull safety of the ivory tower, but someone's got to represent!

As far as textbooks are concerned: Are you trying to be cheap or are you trying to learn something? any realistic education costs well over $100,000. spend the extra $2,000 for books. Ask early about your books and purchase books from places like www.half.com . and I mean early. don't sacrifice your grades and education to save a few (and I REALLY mean only a few) bucks on books.

explody pup

Yeah, to echo DiegoFrogs, if you decide on the BS option, you'll should be able to make all your money back in short order.

DiegoFrogs

I also must add that I'm the only fixed rider (that I'm aware of) in the area that I live and attend school. My testicles remain attached, my eyes remain in my head, I continue to ride often and enjoy cycling in all its forms...

You may be surprised that I suggest you focus on yourself and ignore the hubbub about culture and such. You'll have plenty of time to have a real and meaningful affect on people and culture, once you have learned something about the physical nature of the world. And take this at face value, from a guy who has had WAY too much education, and only recently recognized that he has no idea what he wants to do in this Earthly world... (and I get my second PhD in May! Time for a real job!)

TrevorInSoCal

What about choice #3: Get your BS in nursing in Spokane?

I have a friend who lives in Spokane and is (Was? Not sure what the current status of that decision is.) thinking of a career change to nursing. Apparently one of the schools in Spokane has a pretty prestigious nursing program (Don't remember if it was WSU or Gonzaga.).

Couldn't you go to school in Spokane and still get a BS?

-Trevor

Rancid

All of them end up going to the same nursing program- there is a center for it in spokane for all the local schools. However to do my freshman and sophomore years in spokane would cost about triple what it would at EWU in Cheney. The only two U's in Spokane are Whitworth and Gonzaga. WAAAAAAy too expensive

Nachoman

Always go for the higher education. Employers often look to see what degrees potential employees have not to determine if they are smarter than the other job applicants, but rather to see if the person has the ability to stick to a long term plan and then complete a difficult goal.

Matthew A Brown

OK, did nobody read my post?

If your specializing, ok. Make a point to focus on the higher education. If not? Different ballgame completely.

With an ASN you can be making cheerfully into six figures within 5-6 years as a travelling nurse. With a BSN you can go to work at a rural family physician for 31K. It doesn't really matter. Either degree can go just about anywhere. Only the BSN can get you towards management. It's not even all that much of a deal for further education; most anyplace that has a BSN->MSN program in place will also have an ASN->MSN.

Nachoman's comment makes sense generally, but not for nursing, not anytime soon. Hospitals need warm RNs and they need them now. They don't care about long-term plans you have. They might care where you went to school. Mostly, they care that you are an RN and that they need RNs. The demand is that high, which is where the flexibility and $$$ happen.

I mean, what do you want? It won't matter all that much in the long run, you'll bank, but still. Both ASN & BSN = RN. BSN means a year where you lost 12K when you could've been making 44.

skingry

Rancid, if I may inquire, what did you do in the Navy?

kurremkarm

GI bill is 1100 dollars a month now, go someplace you can live on that and get a part-time job, goto college until u get the degree. Use it or u lose it.

Rancid

avaition electrician 3rd class, attached to MALS-24 at Kaneohe bay usmc base in hawaii

skingry

This may come off wrong, but why on earth do you want to become a nurse? I hope it isn't because nursing is the hot new field where the money is to be made (same way IT was in the late 90's). People can do, and be trained to do, a lot of things, but not everyone does what they love doing.

I was an electrician for about 4 years out of high school (and then some), did it because it paid well, certainly not because I loved doing it. One day while I was stuck in out of state during a **** extended job, I came to the realization that I would never be happy if I was busting my ass day in day out, unless I was doing something I was passionate about. If I did something I really loved doing, I wasn't going to mind the 12 hour days, six days a week.

You should only go into nursing if that is where you REALLY want to be, you have to realize that if this job grows tiresome and boring, you are dealing with people's health and well being. Sure nurses get paid a lot, but they have to put up with more than their share of bull****, long hours, and poor working conditions. The ones that stick with it do it because they care about their patients.

You are at a point now where you can choose to do anything, absolutely anything, you want to do... think it over.

With that, I second what everyone here has been saying about the BS over the AS. Go for as much schooling as you possibly can. When I finally did go to school, I got a nice BS (in Physics) and I am 100% positive that it opened far more doors for me than an AS would have.

Placid Casual

I know, man. BFSSFG is a tough room.

Mueslix

As for books, what you can't find at local/college libraries (and one assumes there's only so many science books up for grabs), you should check out online places that sell used books. Half.com, amazon, bigwords, there's a lot of them. No one ever makes back the money they put into buying books for class, so a lot of people cut out the middle man and just sell them online. Or find upperclassmen who may have already taken whatever course you're taking, and kept the books since they weren't making any money. Of course, it's better too look aroudn the beginning and end of semesters.

Well, damn, DiegoFrogs already said all that.

Matthew A Brown

Rancid, are *you* at least reading my posts? I'm not going to claim to be infallible on anything, but I'm going into nursing myself and my current day job is admissions work for the medical college here at UF.

Most of the pros and cons of AS vs BS (fewer oppurtunities, much less pay, etc) simply do not exist for nursing. 90% of the time both degrees will get you the same job, but the BSN will be another 3-4K a year, a difference that is negligible given the range of incomes one can make as an RN.

poopncow

Definitely not AA all the way.
Your goal should be to eventually get the BS in Nursing
However, you might want to gear back to civie life by taking it easy and enjoying yourself, so 2 with a transferr to 1 would be a good idea.

Have a fine NAVY day!

from your NAVAIR brothers

rvabiker

In case moving is an option my mom (an RN) sent me info the other day. The University of the District of Columbia is offering a program with tution and books fully paid, a monthly $250 stipend and a guaranteed job making 40k a year straight from nursing school...not a bad deal. If anyone is interested they should PM and I'll send them the info.

Rancid

Believe me, I've been watching this thread intently and reading everyone's post. I take everything you people say- opinions, advice, personal experiences, very seriously and very much to heart. I'm going with the BS at EWU, now I just have to finish my application.


I appreciate you guys and I think it goes to show that even though I have never met you guys, you are all a huge impact and force in my life. Thanks for all the advice people.

ufgood

hey, good call on the BS. AA degrees are more of a stepping stone than a destination, and I say this having taught at that level. One thing that I would STRONGLY suggest is that you make a real and realistic plan for your life while you're in school.
People in pre-professional programs tend to be less flaky than liberal-artsy folks, but it is still important to bear in mind that, while you can just phone it in for a few years, you'll be way better situated if you talk to your instructors, talk to the career placement folks, do the internships (or nursing equivalent), plan a directed course sequence, all of that.
You sound as if you are already good at thinking through plans, so this is probably not news to you. Best of luck.