Are you looking into bachelor degree programs from a vocational school? While not all trade schools or community colleges offer bachelor degrees, a vocational training program or online school may be your stepping stone to a bachelor degree from a four-year college or university.

Bachelor degree programs usually require a minimum of 120 to 150 semester credit hours and are often divided into two main types - Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S. or B.Sc.), among others. Generally, the difference between associate degrees and bachelor degree programs is the time involved and course of study.

A few degree programs found at trade schools are geared toward credit transfer, and may include numerous fields of study, such as Accounting & Finance, Advertising, Art & Design, Business Administration, Business Management, Computer Information Systems, Criminal Justice, Information Technology (IT), Marketing & Sales, Paralegal, and many others.

Since most community colleges or 2-year institutions merely lay the foundation for students to achieve a bachelor's degree, current efforts are underway to prompt vocational training schools to offer bachelor degree programs (in addition to associate degrees, certificates and diplomas). However, there are a few vocational training schools that do currently provide bachelor degree programs in select courses of study, including Education, Information Technology (IT), and Nursing.

Do you think a bachelor degree is in your future? If so, feel free to visit our onsite glossary and browse all the exciting career opportunities waiting for you now! You will find numerous Bachelor Degree Programs as well as opportunities to earn Online Bachelor Degrees.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERAL OVERVIEW and may or may not reflect specific practices, courses and/or services associated with ANY ONE particular school(s) that is or is not advertised on SchoolsGalore.com.

Copyright 2007 - All rights reserved by SchoolsGalore.com, in association with Media Positive Communications, Inc.

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About the author:
Michael Bustamante is a staff writer for Media Positive Communications, Inc. in association with SchoolsGalore.com. Visit our Vocational School Directory and find Colleges, Universities, Vocational Schools, and Online Schools at SchoolsGalore.com.

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Bachelor of Science
BSN

There is a general feeling that nursing as a profession needs more of hands-on experience than pure academic knowledge. There is a reason or two there. We are known to laud the role of nurses who have excellent practical abilities and management or supervision skills.
But apart from the too-obvious hospital care jobs, nurses have definitive roles to play in many other healthcare functions, and even in stellar roles in the healthcare industry. It needs no telling that higher education in nursing is imperative for nurses to work in senior positions, many of which are suitable for none else than nurses themselves.

In practice however, there is lukewarm response among nursing students to pursue higher degrees, perhaps for reasons of convenience and cost. For example, though numbers of nurses having a BSN degree has increased during the last four decades, yet only about 44% of 2.7 million nurses currently hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Given the advent of advanced medical treatment and progressively longer lifespan of people, there is no denying that the nursing practice is set to undergo many changes in sync with technology and need.

Keeping this in perspective, in October 2004, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) agreed in a resolution to support the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) as a terminal practice degree. The DNP will be different from the PhD in that while the PhD has wider acceptance as being research-focused to supplant the master’s degree, the DNP is proposed to be for those nurses who want an advanced practice role, such as nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist. However, perhaps very few schools like University of Kentucky have embarked on this new educational path to offer the DNP degree.

A brief round-up of various advanced nursing degrees is provided below:

1. RN to BSN
   If you commenced your career in nursing with an associate degree or a diploma, you may consider attaining your bachelor’s degree. Many advanced nursing positions today are increasingly looking for a minimum of bachelor’s degree. The good news is that a number of distance learning courses has made this a viable option for quite a few of you who are working professionals. Besides, there are flexible programs in addition to distance learning that can be suitably timed around your work schedule. In some cases, universities are known to consider your work experience toward academic credit, which means your cost and time to complete your degree reduce substantially.
2. RN to MSN and beyond
   Positions in higher management, clinical positions and educational institutes require a master’s degree. When you pursue a master’s degree, you typically learn to focus on management and / or clinical specialties and if you so choose, you may prepare to teach nursing courses upon completion. Nursing educators are much sought-after in US, so teaching can very well enhance your career to help shape the future of nursing.
3. Nurses as “doctors”
   As discussed above, the top echelon in advanced nursing degrees belongs to PhD and now the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP). In recent years, more nurses are proceeding to go for a doctorate degree in nursing, and accordingly, many institutions too are expanding their basket of course offerings to appeal to more students and also to meet this growing demand. In fact, about a dozen institutes have added a DNP program in their curriculum, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and more plan to start in near future.  

   A doctorate degree in nursing is helpful to teach at university level, conduct research, and even work in clinical settings or hospital management.

4. Other optionsAmong other careers pursuable for advanced nursing degree holders while remaining in a nursing discipline, nurse practitioner and nurse anesthetist must come first. In case of nurse practitioner, it is usually an offering of master’s degree, whereupon you will qualify to take the national nurse practitioner certification exam. A qualified nurse practitioner is able to diagnose and treat many common illnesses as well as to prescribe medications. 

   On the other hand, after attaining a master’s degree, if you are interested in becoming a nurse anesthetist, you need to pass a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) certification program. A qualified CRNA can be expected to work independently or in association with other anesthesiologists to provide anesthesia services in case of both surgical and obstetrical patients. A CRNA’s work may be patient-intensive during preoperative, intra-operative and postoperative periods.

As can be seen from above discussions, there is no dearth of career opportunities for advanced nursing degree holders. In fact, as experts opine, the advancement of medical technology will continue to enrich and enhance the requirement of nursing personnel who are equipped with one or more advanced nursing degrees.

Linda Raye - Staff Editor

As a Registered Nurse, you know how important it is to keep pace with advances in healthcare. You also understand the need for knowledgeable and effective leaders in providing the best possible care to patients. 

Designed exclusively for Registered Nurses, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program prepares you to think critically, appreciate diverse human experience and use personal and professional values in everyday life.

The four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) program has been intentionally designed to provide a generalist focus so that program graduates may be able to function in a wide variety of health care settings. Graduates may be employed by hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, home care agencies, psychiatric units, schools, businesses, law firms, book publishers, drug companies, and insurance companies. Clinical experiences combined with the learning's gained from course instruction develop compassionate, competent graduates well-prepared for the demands of nursing.

The Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program is designed for someone who has his/her Bachelor's degree in a non-nursing field. It is an intensive academic program and will be completed in 12 months