A Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree is becoming the industry standard for registered nurses (RNs), especially those working with critically ill patients. Like RNs with an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), BSN RNs assess, treat, and educate patients and their families. However, nurses with BSNs are eligible to advance into leadership positions, such as charge nurse, nurse educator, and nurse manager positions. RNs interested in pursuing additional education and certification will be expected – and in some cases required – to have their BSNs.
BSN Requirements
To earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, you must first earn a high school diploma or GED. Colleges and universities will consider your GPA, as well as SAT or ACT score, letters of recommendation, and resume. Applicants with volunteering and shadowing experience in healthcare may be more competitive. Some institutions may require applicants to interview before making admission decisions.
Admittance to a four-year college or university does not necessarily equal admittance into their nursing program. In some locations, students are not eligible to begin the nursing program until the third year of college. The first two years of college are used to complete nursing school prerequisites. Prerequisites may include the following:
Anatomy and physiology with lab
Human development across the lifespan
Statistics
Biology
Microbiology
Chemistry
Nutrition
Psychology
Prerequisites may be completed at a community college or other institution before applying to transfer to nursing school. At some universities, BSN programs can be very competitive and not all applicants are admitted. If you are attending a four-year college or university, it is wise to consider alternative paths if you are not admitted into the nursing program the first time you apply. Not only are you competing with your classmates, but you are also competing with students who completed their prerequisites at another institution and are attempting to transfer.
An alternative path to earning a BSN is to complete a bachelor’s degree in something other than nursing and then apply to an accelerated BSN program. The prerequisites for nursing school often align with other bachelor’s degree programs, such as those in health and human sciences.
While in nursing school, students are expected to maintain a certain grade level in each class. At some schools this is as high as a 3.0 (or a B average), and failure to maintain this grade means that a student is no longer eligible to proceed through the program. Some schools may offer a second chance for students to repeat one class if their grade was not high enough.
BSN Program Length and Cost
A BSN program including prerequisites generally lasts four years. The cost of BSN programs can range from $40,000 to more than $200,000. This large range reflects the variety of colleges and universities that offer BSN degrees. Factors that can affect cost include institution location, whether the institution is public or private, and whether the student is paying for housing or not.
During a BSN program, nursing students must balance a demanding schedule that includes attending lectures, completing essays and assignments, and studying for exams while also accommodating lab hours and practice, clinical hours, clinical prep and homework, and NCLEX-RN prep. Nursing students are often discouraged from working while completing semesters with both lecture and clinical components. Most BSN students complete the following courses and more:
Anatomy and physiology
Pharmacology
Nursing assessment
Medical-surgical nursing
Pediatric nursing
Maternal-newborn nursing
Public health nursing
Nursing ethics
Nursing research
In nursing skills labs, nursing instructors demonstrate a skill on medical devices or mannequins. Students are then able to practice and successfully perform that skill in the lab before working with patients. Examples of skills learned during nursing school include:
Drawing blood
Starting PIVs (peripheral intravenous catheters)
Inserting urinary catheters and collecting samples
Maintaining a sterile field while assisting physicians
Caring for artificial airways such as tracheostomies
Responding to emergent events, such as cardiac arrest
BSN programs generally include a nursing externship in the final semester. Student nurses are able to spend dozens of hours shadowing and then working with an RN in an inpatient care unit. Spending this amount of one-on-one time with a professional enables a nursing student to further develop their hands-on and patient communication skills.
The final semester of nursing school also often includes intense NCLEX-RN preparation. The NCLEX is the national certification exam for both ADN and BSN graduates. It is important to note that graduating with a BSN does not allow a person to work as a nurse. Graduate nurses must pass the NCLEX to become RNs. Then, RNs apply for licensure in the state where they wish to practice. State licensure application often includes a federal background check and a fee.
Upon being hired, a new RN will have additional orientation hours (paid) when compared to experienced nurses who are hired by the same employer. These additional requirements can include lectures, skills lab demonstrations, and computerized testing. Many hospitals and institutions now have a separate hiring and training process for new RNs known as nurse residency. These programs, which can last for six months or more, ensure that new nurses are equipped with the skills and knowledge to practice safely.
BSN Earnings and Careers
The median pay for RNs was $81,200 or just over $39 an hour. The median pay represents the middle: half of RNs earned more than that amount and half earned less. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not report data comparing ADN RN pay to BSN RN pay. For all degree levels, pay will vary by location, employer, experience, and in some cases, by specialization. RNs are most commonly employed by hospitals, where the median pay is $82,250.
Annual salaries for RNs can vary greatly by location. RNs can expect a higher rate of pay at metro area institutions than those in less-populated rural areas. But metro areas also have a large range of pay. Nurses in the Chicago metro area reported an average salary of $87,971, while San Francisco area nurses reported an average salary of nearly $150,000, the highest in the country.
A BSN is becoming the preferred degree option for professional nursing. Earning a BSN places graduates in an excellent position to pursue a variety of careers in bedside nursing, and the opportunity to proceed with further training in advanced practice nursing, teaching, or management. Applying to a BSN program is a great first step for those whose ultimate goal is one of the following degrees or careers:
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