A bachelor’s degree can position you for higher-paying, more fulfilling roles in healthcare. Taking on new academic coursework and juggling work or family commitments may seem daunting. Fortunately, completing your BSN does not have to be difficult. RN-to-BSN programs allow working nurses to balance their lives and pursue their education online.
No Waitlist
The best online RN-to-BSN programs are highly competitive and are often offered by universities with reputations for nursing excellence. Many of these programs have waitlists for 18 months and may require non-refundable enrollment deposits. Nursing school takes significant time and effort in the classroom and clinical rotations.
Students who take courses online must be self-starters and have strong internal motivation to succeed. Students who need more structure or prefer the community of fellow students and live instruction with a traditional on-campus experience might need help. The easiest RN to BSN online program offers a completely online curriculum with flexible scheduling and seven-week courses.
If you are an RN, this option allows you to work toward your degree while continuing to earn income and fulfill family obligations. The program also offers specialized nursing courses and discounted tuition. Its accelerated format helps working nurses completing your BSN in less than three semesters.
Timely Completion
For those who need to juggle work, home life, and school, an online program allows you to take courses independently. This will enable you to get a bachelor’s degree more quickly than possible in a traditional format requiring regular class meetings.
In addition, many online programs offer quick support when students need it. Online students can connect with faculty members via email, video conferences, and other virtual tools to get help. This can speed up receiving support with assignments, reviewing tests, or other issues during a nursing degree program.
Flexibility
Whether you are a nurse or a non-nursing professional seeking a career change, an RN-to-BSN program will equip you with the nursing education and clinical skills you need to advance your career. Online RN-to-BSN programs offer students the flexibility to learn independently and fit their studies around existing work, family, and other commitments.
In addition, the convenience of studying from home means students avoid paying campus fees such as those for student unions, sports facilities, student services, and student organizations. This also saves on expenses like gas and parking. A recent study to analyze patterns of students’ use of flexibility in four asynchronous online academic courses found that different services of flexibility in learning time, access to course content, and learning place are related to course achievement and completing your BSN.
For example, students who tended to span their activity evenly across semester quarters and those who re-accessed course content frequently achieved higher grades on average.
Personalized Support
Many online RN-to-BSN programs offer individual academic advisement to help students stay on track and complete their BSN degrees. These programs also have the same rigorous academic standards as classic nursing degree programs and offer hands-on experiential learning to prepare learners for the workplace.
However, an online education is only right for some. Aspiring nurses who need structure, accountability and the mentorship of a live instructor may need help with an online program. Similarly, students who prefer a community of peers to discuss course materials and bounce ideas off of each other might find an online environment needing improvement for completing your BSN.
Additionally, BSN students must remain highly focused and devoted to their studies to succeed. Students already working full time, raising a family or managing other responsibilities may need help to fit their RN-to-BSN program into their current schedule and must be extra careful to stay caught up in their coursework. Luckily, most healthcare systems support their employees pursuing BSN degrees and will reimburse or pay for some portion of tuition expenses.