Career switch to nursing? ADN / RN QUESTION?

ADN and BSN are both RN. Same exam, job etc. ADN is just two years and BSN is 4 unless you already have a bachelors in another field then you can do an accelerated BSN which is 12-16 month. There are tons of schools in Arizona. I went out of state for mine as I’m from California and didn’t want to sit on the waitlists then I moved back after graduation. Private schools cost more but easy to get into. State schools and community colleges are super cheap but much harder to get into and tend to have waitlists. It’s all about how much you want to spend honestly.

I’m an RN (BSN), are you saying you are intending to just get an associates degree in nursing? The issue with associates only (and this may have to do with where you live) is that big hospitals with better pay will not hire a ADN nurse. So often ADN nurses are stuck staying outside of higher paying/better jobs. This is just what I’ve heard and seen from people I know.

Yes. I intend to get my ADN and then take NCLEX to get RN, I have a friend at a hospital and she has colleagues who only have the ADN, I know the pay will be better with BSN. My intent is to get my BSN after I'm working in the field as I don't want to be in my current job for four more years before I can transition and would prefer to get my feet wet sooner rather than later. I'm well paid in my current profession and carry half my household bills, so I can't have a big lag period of lower pay. It's hard to explain, but the hospital system I'm interested in working at does hire adns, and they have tuition assistance for adns employed ft who are going to get their BSN. I'm more asking for recommendations for schools here.

@Nicole gotcha, okay that sounds good!! Good luck to you. I don’t know schools where you live, but I personally went with the school with the best reputation and that was within a hospital system.

@Michelle thank you! I appreciate the feed back. ☺️

I'm doing a mid-life career change, and currently in an ADN program in St Louis. I have 2 BS degrees already so wanted to just do an accelerated BSN but since the majority of my prior coursework was more than 5 (and some more than 10 lol) years ago, I did have to take a handful of the pre-reqs over again, including ones like anatomy 1 and 2, microbiology, etc. It was cheaper and actually will end up having been quicker for me to do the ADN program at my local community college than going through one of the accelerated BSN programs, so that's what I'm doing now. And then like you said, after getting a job I'll find a hospital that way pay/help pay for the BSN later.

@Lauren glad I'm not alone. Lol Im nervous, I have been to school in 14 years. My husband has vowed to help me. He's been in college much more recently than I have, but still, working full time and going to school and then figuring out clinicals. It's going to be interesting.