I am an Medical Assistant looking to go back to school to be an nurse what would be the best steps to take.?

I already have an AA degree and going to a community college would only give me another AA would that be dumb. I don't have the time to commit to an university. I'm basically lookin for an fast way to complete education to become an nurse.

If you want to be an RN, there are three possibilities.

1. ADN - associates degree can be completed in 2 years, most people take at least 3. Virtually nothing from most AA as a medical assistant programs will apply to the RN program except possibly as electives.

2. Diploma - A hospital based program, takes three years, often paid by the hospital while attending, but have a contract to work for a set period to reimburse the expense of the program. This provides neither an associates or BSN and usually no credits are transferred to other programs.

3. BSN - this is a 4 year program at a college or university (often takes 5 years if working while in school).

Your alternative would be to attend an LVN/LPN program at a community college, some of these are associates degree others are certificate programs.

There are online nursing programs, but without the appropriate clinical basis, you probably will not perform as well on the NCLEX-RN or be as competitive when there is a specific position you desire.

I don't see anything wrong with having two Associate degrees. My husband has a degree in biology and nursing. At least you will have some of the prerequisites out of the way when working on your nursing degree. It is a whole lot cheaper going to a community college.