Post # 1
Member
1199 posts
Bumble bee
Hi bees,
I’m at an unexpected crossroads in my career. the lab I was doing my PhD work in has run out of money, so I will most likely have to leave my current project. I’ve been intrigued by the idea of going back to school to get my bachelor’s in nursing. I already have two BS degrees, and I’d have an MS if I leave my program now. nursing seems like a very family-friendly career, and I’d love to advance to get my NP eventually. the one thing holding me back is the cost – it would be about $30k to do an intensive two-year BSN program.
has anyone gone back to school to get a BSN? what was your experience? if you had to take out loans to cover it, and you don’t mind sharing this – how long did it take you to pay it all back?
Post # 3
Member
1320 posts
Bumble bee
@baileyjosephine: I have a BSN in nursing and plan on going back this year to start in a NP program. I did an ADN program so I could get my license and work FT while completing the BSN online through Chamberlain. The program was really good, although a bit pricy. No regrets here! 🙂
Post # 4
Member
2781 posts
Sugar bee
@baileyjosephine: I haven’t gone back for a BSN but the university that we live next to has a msn program for people who already have bachelors degrees in another field, you should look into something like that.
Post # 5
Member
1199 posts
Bumble bee
@Ninteenthchance: that’s perfect, thank you!! I’ve only seen BSN programs here so far, but I’ll definitely look into that.
Post # 6
Member
2781 posts
Sugar bee
@baileyjosephine: when you graduate from those programs you’re not an NP but a “nurse leader” so you can qualify for managerial positions after a few years under your belt and you’re supposed to get paid more…definitely worth it if you already have a BS!! Good luck
Post # 7
Member
1042 posts
Bumble bee
I’m finishing up my BSN now. I would look into the programs that a PP mentioned if I were you. There are some great programs for those who already have their undergraduate degree in something other than nursing, but want their RN or MSN. Like they mentioned there are even programs that will let you go straight to a MSN or DNP. It will probably be more work at first to catch up, but it would be worth it!
Post # 8
Member
103 posts
Blushing bee
@baileyjosephine: I JUST finished my second degree BSN in December. My previous BS was in biology and I was working as a research assistant in a larger Boston hospital before deciding to go back to school. My program was 18 months, and I did have to take out a private loan to cover cost of tuition as well as cost of living. I have no idea how long to will take to pay back — hopefully I will get hired after the NCLEX in mid-January and can start paying it back! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!
Post # 9
Member
475 posts
Helper bee
I received my ADN and then progressed by taking courses online through western governors university for my BSN and graduated in 10 months I am 9 credits away from my MSN in education. Best of luck! There are a variety of programs that can offer online, brick and mortar, or a combination.
Post # 10
Member
9256 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
- Wedding: August 2013 - Rocky Mountains USA
@baileyjosephine: hey there! My husband went back to school several years after getting his first BS in Biology to do a nursing school. A few things:
– I assume you can’t get federal financial aid because of your existing degrees – that was his scenario too.
– He thought about doing an accelerated BSN program, but the cost was also something like 30k/yr.
– That’s a buttload of money.
– He ended up doing an Associate’s Degree at our local community college for something like 5k/yr. It took him 2 years.
– He’s now employed – having an associate’s versus a bachelor’s didn’t seem to affect him at all.
– He’s concurrently taking online nursing classes at the state university to upgrade to a BSN. It’s very inexpensive (a few thousand a semester) and will take him ~2 years depending on how many classes he takes per semester.
– He’s also thinking about doing an NP PhD, but that will be down the line if so.
We are both pretty psyched to not have 60k+ in loans. I think the route he took was really financially smart, and it didn’t seem to affect his career at all. He will be in school for longer, but for much much less money. So that’s my two cents!
(Sidenote – can you apply for NIH or NSA or EPA, etc, grants for your current PhD? Seems like a waste to stop, but as an MS myself, I understand the unstable and critical nature of funding…)
Post # 11
Member
1199 posts
Bumble bee
@lolot: oh that’s awesome!! great way to do it, I hadn’t thought of that. thank you so much for the idea!
reseach funding is pretty bad right now, with the way the government is. most everyone has trouble getting grants. my research, while interesting to me, I doubt will be interesting enough to the NIH to give me money. and even when I graduate with my PhD, I won’t be making that much (not really enough after a 6ish year graduate degree IMO). I agree that it’d be a waste to stop. the one thing that’s holding me there now is my stipend.
Post # 12
Member
9256 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
- Wedding: August 2013 - Rocky Mountains USA
@baileyjosephine: sure, no problem! And I hear ya about the PhD job market thing. I’m not sure what field you’re in, but in mine (wildlife biology / ecology), it’s damn near impossible to find a job and they don’t really pay much more anyway. I called it good with my master’s 🙂
Good luck!
Post # 13
Member
1199 posts
Bumble bee
@lolot: I’m in pharmacology, but I’m essentially doing basic science. yup, my FI got out with a masters too, and is much happier now!
Post # 14
Member
1199 posts
Bumble bee
@sunflwr816: thank you, I definitely will! best of luck with the exam and the job search!
Post # 15
Member
1199 posts
Bumble bee
@dgplmr86: thank you so much! I might do that too, considering an associates will be cheaper to get.
Post # 16
Member
1573 posts
Bumble bee
@baileyjosephine: I don’t have my BSN, but my partner does and is in grad school for his MSN to be a family nurse practitioner. He had his BA in communications and worked in corporate sales for a radio station for several years, and then decided to go for his BSN. He chose an accelerated program (this is before I knew him), and it should have taken 2 years. However, he was doing MMA at teh time and broke his hand and maybe wrist (I don’t remember and he’s asleep) so he couldn’t do a semeseter worth of clinicals, so he took 2.5 years to do his. The bummer is that it’s school year round (or at least, his program was) and rather intense. Since he didn’t come from a science background, he had some pre-reqs, but he did those at a community college to save money.
This all said, he loves what he does… most of the time. He has some awful patients sometimes, and some lousy days. For almost a year he has asked hisi manager to please change his schedule – by moving him to days he would need less days off of work (or he is awake for over 24 hours – do you really want him to be your nurse?? Go to class or clinical from 8am-5pm, rush to work and work 7pm-7:30am. YIKES). So for almost a year they’ve ignored that request and let people with less seniority and no outstanding reason switch to days (of course, they may have a “good” reason but he doesn’t know it – 3 people in thepast two months switched and they just wanted days. He’s friends with one of them, so I believe no outstanding reason to switch). He works at a hospital that pays its nurses less than any in the area (they also provide the most assistance to patients). So keep that in mind. Our health care plan is much pricier and not as good as the one I had prior to this (well, we pay less for 2 people than I did for 1, but my co-pays were much less. I pay $60 to see my specialists – not easy to stomach when you have chronic health issues requiring several specialists you see multiple times a year. OUCH) But anyway.
Is it family friendly? Yes and no. It depends on how you view it. My partner works every other weekend adn every other holiday. Since he is on nights, he often chooses between a holiday meal with family and nap/work. They sometimes ignore requests off, especially if seniority plays in – but this can happen at any job (my job is so damn amazing about this though!).
My partner got into this b/c he wanted to help people, and he often does help people. He makes about what he made at his last job, if that helps. The loans are still being paid off, but while he’s been in grad school he has not paid them. He paid less for school than the $30k program you are looking at. All told, I think he paid less than $20k, but I could be wrong.
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