Nursing question. ASN vs. BSN?

Can someone clarify the differences between the two the pros and cons etc and can you become a practitioner with a BSN?

Alright, ASN is an associate's degree and BSN is a bachelor's degree. You can take the NCLEX (board exam) to become a registered nurse (RN) with either degree. Once you pass that, you are a RN and can practice as such. The only problem with an ASN degree is that to move up in the job world, you need at least a BSN. No hospital that I know of will let a RN become a nurse manager (or more) without a BSN. ASN degrees typically take 2 years (maybe 3 if you don't always go full time) and are offered at a lot of community and junior colleges. So you save time and a lot of money. But if you want to advance in your career, you need higher degrees. There are tons of great jobs out there for nurses, but more and more of them are requiring higher degrees. If you want to teach, you need at least a master's (MSN). So unless you don't plan on furthering your education, don't want management or higher jobs, or really need to finish school as quickly as possible, you are better off getting a BSN degree. BSN is a bachelor's degree, so it is a degree program offered by a university and typically take 4 years to complete. So it takes a little longer and costs a little more, but you get a better education (as evidenced by the higher degree) and more career opportunities are available to you.

Now there are some ways around the higher costs of a BSN degree. For instance you could take the "lower division" or prerequisite courses (anatomy and physiology, microbiology, psychology, english, etc.) at a community/junior college and then transfer to a major university for the nursing courses. Or a lot of people I know did the ASN degree, became RNs, began practicing as such, and then went back a year or two later (or right away, or longer) to school for a RN-to-BSN program, which typically takes a year to complete. And then you have a BSN degree, and can then move on to MSN if you wish. The big difference between the two is that with an ASN degree you don't get very little of the nursing theory stuff, and practically no nursing research. Which isn't that important to a new RN, but if you plan on moving on to a master's degree you need it (so much of any master's program involves theory and research). So it's included in the BSN degree and it's what you take in the RN-to-BSN programs.

Ok I hope that clarified a few things for you, or mabye it made things worse (I hope not). But if you have any more questions, or need me to explain it a little more (or differently) just send me a message.