wife now a student at new mexico junior college

[dmjacobsen]

Pretty close, but lacking the UL, so we will see. I am sort of pushing for a psych concentration at COSC using the GRE. She would be essentially done with the one exam plus her existing credits.

She works (volunteers) as a nurse counselor at a pro life clinic. I'm very proud of her efforts and her commitment to improve her self worth to a cause we feel so strongly about. Having the RN with a psych/counseling Bachelors might make the most sense.

First off, congrats to you and your wife. I always push for LPN's to go ahead and knock out that RN. I started out as an LPN and, years later, realized how much money I missed out on -- doing pretty much the same job as an RN for half the pay. I also highly support the Excelsior route, as that's the route I went. I would have rather gone to a local CC, but as a working nurse, I had a lot of scheduling issues.

One thing I would caution against is getting that Psych degree. It will be of limited value without the BSN. While I do not necessarily believe that a BSN has any inherent value, disregarding the handful of laughably biased research reports on the subject, many healthcare system HR departments disagree. She would be better served by getting the BSN and perhaps doing a post-Bacc certificate in Psych.

Even then, I question the usefulness, unless one were looking to get into a Psych Master's program that required it. One would only do that if they were interested in becoming a psych counselor. Which then begs the question, why not be a PMHNP instead?

If she's interested in being a Psych NP down the road, it may be of some very limited value in the admissions process, but not without the BSN.

[rebel100]

One thing I would caution against is getting that Psych degree. It will be of limited value without the BSN. While I do not necessarily believe that a BSN has any inherent value, disregarding the handful of laughably biased research reports on the subject, many healthcare system HR departments disagree. She would be better served by getting the BSN and perhaps doing a post-Bacc certificate in Psych.

Even then, I question the usefulness, unless one were looking to get into a Psych Master's program that required it. One would only do that if they were interested in becoming a psych counselor. Which then begs the question, why not be a PMHNP instead?

If she's interested in being a Psych NP down the road, it may be of some very limited value in the admissions process, but not without the BSN.

I totally get what your saying, its not a desire to go into Psychology that drives it, rather using relatively easy to acquire Psych credits to complete a degree related to her expected future interests. I never say never, but a hospital job is highly unlikely for her, just doesn't jive with her personality. She is finding that teaching/counseling is engaging and even fun. The BSN might work, we will see, just not a priority despite it becoming the "go to " degree for hospital standards. Of course it makes sense to consider since she will be at EC knocking out the RN Bridge anyways.

Chick is absolutely stressing me out since yesterday! Finally started to calm down once we found some cute pink notebooks, pens, and a calendar!

[dmjacobsen]

I never say never, but a hospital job is highly unlikely for her, just doesn't jive with her personality.

This is why I said "healthcare system HR departments" instead of "hospital system" . As the face of healthcare evolves, we're seeing more and more hospital systems turn into healthcare systems by buying up all kinds of independent practices, clinics, etc. Part of this is due to changes associated with the ACA and part of it is a market response. It may happen next month, or it may never happen, but sometime down the road your wife's practice may get bought up by a healthcare system and will have to conform to the new corporate standards. Again, I don't believe that BSN's are better than ASN's, but HR does.

And, who knows? Your wife may do a 180 down the road and decide to change specialties or may have a desire to get into management. Even if she doesn't have that desire, I'd still recommend the BSN over the Psych degree. Even more so now that you've mentioned she doesn't have a desire to transition into the Psych field.