The best thing about earning your RN to BSN degree online is that the flexibility allows you to continue working while you earn your bachelor’s degree. In fact, your work experience as an RN can actually transfer as college credit, putting you one step closer to your goals.
You can also work toward your degree at a slower pace online. While plenty of quality, accelerated RN to BSN degree programs exist online, working RNs often don’t have the luxury of earning their bachelor’s degree that quickly. To take that big step in their education, they must proceed slowly in order to work while earning their BSN.
Because working full-time while going to school slows your progress toward your BSN, you will want to keep your goals in mind both when you get started and throughout your program, mapping out with your advisor how long it will take to complete the program. Many online RN to BSN programs, like that described at Western Governors University, generally accept RNs who either have an associate’s degree or diploma in nursing and who have a current, unencumbered RN license. It generally takes longer for a student with a diploma to finish an online BSN program than it does for a student with an associate’s degree. For instance, the online BSN program at St. Joseph’s College of Maine accepts 30 to 90 credits from diploma nurses and 65 to 90 credits from associate degree nurses, based on transcript analysis.
If you plan on working while earning your BSN, you need to choose a program that charges you per course, rather than per semester. If you only plan on taking about two courses per semester, you will rack up hefty charges in the long run to pay per semester. This is why it pays to look closely at each school’s online programs to see which best suits the needs of working RNs.
Earning your online RN to BSN degree while working is not as easy as it might sound, though. To balance both successfully, you will need to develop some serious time management skills. One good collection of resources for time management has been compiled by Dartmouth .
With the proper expectations going in, and the right amount of self-discipline and motivation, you can successfully earn your RN to BSN degree while working.