Nursing Students - Why A Non-Traditional Degree Is Your Best Bet Right Now

The nationwide nursing shortage has created an army of prospective nursing students ready, eager and willing to get a nursing degree and enter the ranks of registered nurses.



The problem? The dreaded, infamous nursing school waiting lists. Traditional bachelor's degree of science in nursing programs are so in demand right now that just about every school is forced to turn away dozens, if not hundreds, of qualified students at every application cycle.



By qualified, we mean students with good grades, no criminal background, good references.



Students may reapply three or four times before they get in, or they may never get in to their four-year BSN program of choice.



According to the National Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 42,2866 qualified applicants from bachelor's degree programs and graduate schools in 2006.



One solution? If you are eager to go to nursing school, you may want to consider a "career college", also known in some places as vocational schools or technical schools or degree schools. Note: not all vocational or technical schools are private, and the public schools will likely have long waiting lists, because they are cheaper.



Career colleges are private, for-profit schools that offer degrees in areas like registered nursing, practical nursing, computer technology, fire sciences technology, law enforcement, and other specific career-oriented programs. The liberal arts courses that they offer are the ones that are required to complete those degrees.



Career colleges generally cost considerably more than community colleges and state universities, but they have a huge advantage: you will get in much faster, and get your degree much faster, possibly in as little as two years.



Career colleges are businesses; therefore, they want to help you to succeed, because a high passing rate for their students makes them more attractive to prospective students.



They will generally offer an Associate's Degree in nursing rather than a Bachelor's of Science degree in nursing. An associates is technically a two year degree, although there are about a year's worth of prerequisite courses that must be taken before starting an ADN program. Some career colleges, though, offer those classes in a much faster format, which helps you graduate faster. They do this by offering each prerequisite class in a format where, instead of taking each prerequisite class for a couple of hours twice a week for a semester, classes are taken all day, five days a week, for a month.



Once you get an Associate's Degree in Nursing and pass the NCLEX-Rn, you will be a registered nurse. it is easy to take an RN to BSN program; those programs do not have long waiting lists. The trick is getting your RN degree in the first place.



Although a career college will cost you more, it may shorten your wait to get into nursing school so much that it turns out to be worth it.



It is important to check with your State Board of Nursing to make sure that your nursing school program is accredited. It's not a bad idea to make sure the program has already graduated AT LEAST one class of nurses, preferably several. But rest assured, career colleges are a legitimate option for frustrated wannabe nursing students who are waiting to start their dream career and don't want to have to wait any longer.