Do I have to become a LPN to become a RN?

Should i become a LPN first and then RN? Or just go for my RN?

• I still live at home with the parents. My goal is to become a RN, i would like to take the quicker way to become one,,, i also heard that it can take only 2 year to become a RN.. That does not sound true though, would that be the associates degree and the rn that takes 4 years is the bachelers degree,, and if i would do the two years i would be a RN then do another two years then get paid more?? I also heard that to become a RN the school is hard.. so what would be the Quickest way without it being too hard??

• Answer:

  Quickest really depends on what the school situation is like where you live. Many RN programs are really impacted and students are waiting for a long time to get in. Yes, an Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN) is a two year program, but there are always prerequisite courses you must complete before you can apply to the program. Then the nursing courses are sequenced and it will take two years from that point. Most people spend about a year working on prerequisites. If you do an LPN first, those programs sometimes also have a couple of prerequisites that you might need complete ahead of time, and would take probably just one semester. Then the LPN program is a year in length. After that, you can do the LPN to RN bridge program, where essentially your LPN program counts as the first half of the RN program, and you complete the second half of the traditional ADN program and can be done in about a year. So you're still talking 2-3 years. The benefit of doing it this way is that schools in your area might not have as big of an impaction situation in the LPN to RN programs so you might get admitted sooner. You'll really have to do some investigating of all the RN and LPN to RN programs to see what the situation is at these schools. Call and talk to their admissions representatives and ask them how many students apply vs. how many get admitted, what the average GPA for admitted students is, do they have a wait list process, etc. Make your decision based off that. One thing I disagree with that the first answer suggested was to get your CNA and work as a CNA first. If I had worked as a CNA I never would have become an RN, because I would hate my job if I was a CNA and if I thought being an RN was anything like that. Sure, RNs do some of the tasks that CNAs do, and you will never be "above" doing those tasks when they are necessary. But an RNs job is so much more complex and holds so much more responsibility, so you aren't going to get a good idea of what an RN does if you're a CNA. Even CNAs who have worked alongside RNs for years think they know what RNs do, but without having been through the education process to understand the complexity, they really have no clue. Also, a limited experience as a CNA is not going to help you understand the diversity of job opportunities that will be available to you as an RN. So there you have it. Becoming an RN takes dedication and persistence and a lot of hard work. There is really no easy way about it, and if you want to be a nurse bad enough you will do whatever it takes, apply however many times it takes, and wait it out. A few years of your life might seem like a long time now, but you're young. You have your whole life ahead of you, and nursing is a profession that will provide you with a stable career to last your entire lifetime.