Considering a career change to nursing? ABSN programs can help you make a quick transition to nursing by helping you graduate with a BSN in about 16 months on average. We can help you find an ABSN program that suits your needs.
Whether you’re an accountant who’s tired of crunching numbers or a teacher who’s looking for something new, changing careers doesn’t have to be a long process if your next profession is nursing. You can leverage your undergraduate degree toward a career change to nursing through an accelerated BSN program. These programs exist across the country to help you make a quick transition to nursing. Plus, there’s never been a better time to pursue this highly rewarding profession.
Not only is our nation in the middle of a nursing shortage, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates registered nurse employment to grow by 9% by 2030. This will put you in a good position to secure employment upon your passing the NCLEX and becoming an RN after graduating from an ABSN program.
This means that the only thing standing between you and a high level of job security and satisfaction is approximately 16 months of rigorous professional nursing study. However, it can be tricky finding an ABSN program with enough enrollment capacity to make your quick transition to nursing possible.
Find an Accessible ABSN Program
Now that you’re considering a career change to nursing, you’ll likely begin researching ABSN programs. When looking more closely into your nursing education options, you’ll soon find that there are hundreds of different ABSN programs available at nursing schools nationwide. So where do you even begin with your selection process?
In doing some research of our own, we’ve discovered that the schools that offer online hybrid ABSN programs with multiple start dates a year tend to have the highest enrollment capacities for qualified students. These qualities make these schools the most accessible and, often, these programs won’t even have waitlists.
Keep in mind, however, before you can get started in an online hybrid, accelerated nursing program, schools want to see you successfully complete a series of prerequisite courses, which often include physiology, anatomy, chemistry, microbiology, and statistics.
Every school has different ABSN prerequisite requirements, anywhere from four to 15 courses, so be mindful to the fact that the more prerequisites you must take, the longer it will be before you begin professional nursing study. Many schools will offer their prerequisite requirements online. This can be a convenient option, as you can work them into your schedule in a way that works for you and you can get used to their online learning management systems.
Think Through Your Career Transition
Before getting too far ahead of yourself, it’s important to make sure that a career change to nursing is a good move for you. After all, when applying to an ABSN program, a nursing school will want to know the motivation behind your quick transition to nursing.
You’ll want to show the school that you understand the full extent to which nurses care for patients. Because, more times than not, prospective students don’t understand that patient care involves performing personal care tasks such as feeding and bathing individuals.
Overall, to be successful in the nursing profession, you need to have a compassionate personality and a solid grasp of the sciences to be able to deliver the best possible patient care. You have a good shot at a nursing career if you can:
- Engage in critical thinking and problem-solving.
- Collaborate well with other team members.
- Empathize with all patient populations.
- Remain calm and focused in stressful situations.
- Listen and communicate effectively with others.
Prepare for Your Career Change
The 16 months (give or take a few depending on the school) you’ll spend in an ABSN program will prove demanding, requiring a significant amount of your time and energy to keep pace. Therefore, it’s important to have all your financial and household “ducks in a row” before committing to full-time accelerated nursing study.
Most nursing schools encourage their accelerated nursing students NOT to work while pursuing their BSN degrees, so you should have a financial plan in place before leaving your job to make the quick transition to nursing. Bear in mind that because ABSN programs are second-degree education options, federal, state and university grants and scholarships are limited for students. However, there are still ways to finance this type of education through federal and/or private loans as well as third-party scholarships.
If you have a family at home, you’ll want to make sure you have a reliable support network of friends and extended family who are willing to help take on domestic-related tasks while you study or attend clinical rotations.
Let Us Help You Start Your Transition to Nursing
If you need help making the quick transition to nursing, we can help connect you with the most accessible ABSN program based on your qualifications. All you have to do is complete our online form—don’t worry it’s a free service, and we only share your contact information with accredited non-profit nursing schools that fit your criteria.