What is an Associates Degree in Nursing?

This is a commonly asked question for those who are interested in the nursing profession.  Essentially, there are several ways to become licensed as a registered nurse (RN).  They are:

--Attend a two-year program at a community college, and receive an Associate's Degree in Nursing (ADN)

--Attend a four-year university, and receive a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing (BSN)

--Attend a hospital diploma program and receive a diploma from that institution

But, many people ask:  why would someone get a BSN (four year) degree when they could get the same RN license with an ADN, which only takes two years?

The answer is:   in order to further your career as a nurse, you will probably need to complete the BSN degree at some point.   And while you will be able to work as a nurse with either a two-year or four-year degree (as long as you pass your NCLEX test and obtain your RN license), many nursing organizations now recommend that you just get the four-year degree, in case you want to do graduate work in nursing (like becoming a nurse practitioner), OR you someday decide you don't want to be a nurse-- then at least you have a college degree.

Bottom line, the fastest way to get into nursing (with no prior experience or degree) is to attend a two-year program.  This is also the cheapest way.

To search for two-year (or four-year) nursing programs, visit DiscoverNursing.com.

For more on paying for nursing school, get the Free Money for Nursing School eBook!