Bachelor's to BSN Programs: Are They Worth it?

Earning the credentials you need to work in a certain field can take a lot of time, particularly when you're talking about a field like nursing where you are responsible for other people's health and safety. Not everyone is willing or able to take carve that time out of their life, no matter how much they want to do so.

Don't write off your dreams of becoming a nurse just yet, though. If you choose a Bachelor to BSN program, you could get this done in a fraction of the time you would expect it to take; it'll be stressful, but committed students rarely regret the decision to do things this way.

Making School Fit Into Your Life, Not the Other Way Around

Whether it's due to family obligations, financial commitments, or personal goals, time constraints are common in the modern world. More than 21 million Americans are already choosing to work part-time instead of full-time in order to accommodate other desires or obligations in their lives, indicating a great need for flexibility when it comes to making professional or educational commitments.

While a Bachelor to BSN program is in some ways the opposite of this type of arrangement. Instead of devoting fewer hours per day to your new endeavor, you devote more. It allows you to take a relatively small chunk of your time (usually around 1-2 years instead of 4) and devote it entirely to completing your BSN, minimizing the length of your time commitment.

It requires intense focus to keep up your academic momentum when you're going at such a fast pace, but it can be a better solution than part-time schooling in many cases. Each applicant should consider what type of flexibility best suits their needs.

Kick Start a New Nursing Career

Many people consider potentially switching careers at some point in their life, and nursing is a great option. The only trouble is that it's never as simple as just choosing to change jobs. When you've probably already poured plenty of time, money and effort into pursuing your original line of work, the prospect of starting all over can be a daunting one.

With a Bachelor's to BSN program, you can skip over some of the initial hurdles. These programs take the fact that you already hold a bachelor's degree into account and assume that you are a responsible, motivated individual who understands what it takes to succeed in a learning environment.

In other words, that you're exactly the type of student who is likely to excel if you went to school a second time. That's why these programs feel confident in trusting that you can handle going through the usual BSN course load at a much more brisk pace. Opting for a Bachelor's to BSN program could cut out more than half of the time it would normally take to finish a traditional BSN degree program, allowing you to make your transition into nursing much more quickly.

Upgrade Your Nursing Credentials

Another situation in which you might choose to enter a Bachelor to BSN program is when you are already working as a nurse and want to take your career to the next level. You can work in nursing with as little as an associate's degree in the field, but that doesn't mean there isn't room to grow from there.

The Institute of Medicine released a report in 2010 calling for 80% of nurses to hold at least a BSN by the year 2020. The nursing community is expected to fall well short of this goal, but the number of nurses with a BSN has still never been higher than it is today, and these professionals are generally considered more valuable and capable than their less educated counterparts are.

The more a nurse knows, the more useful they can be to their patients and the more valuable they can be to their organization (a status that often comes with greater bargaining power when it comes to negotiating for things like raises, vacations and other perks).

As valuable as this new degree would be, though, many nurses either cannot afford an extended break from their work or feel compelled to give as much of their time to their patients as possible. This may make them feel as though a BSN is out of reach for them. A Bachelor's to BSN degree program can be a great way for a nurse to accomplish their continuing educational goals while also accommodating these other stipulations.

Are You Ready to Turn Your Bachelor's Into a BSN?

If you already hold a bachelor degree and want to become a nurse, you might be a candidate for the Bachelor to BSN Degree Program. For more information about this exciting opportunity, connect with a knowledgeable admissions professional today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.

Gainful Employment Information – Bachelor’s to BSN

For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.