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Time to Completion: Accelerated Nursing vs. Traditional

Key Takeaways

  • Accelerated Learning: Accelerated MSN programs allow you to complete your nursing education much faster than traditional programs.
  • Prior Education Required: These programs typically require a previous bachelor’s degree in a non-nursing field.
  • Intensive Coursework: The curriculum is rigorous and condensed, making the programs very challenging.
  • Career Start: Accelerated programs enable quicker entry into the nursing profession, potentially leading to earlier career advancements.

If you are getting ready to initiate a career switch from another field to nursing, you have likely been looking at the nursing programs that might be a good fit for your needs. Many people who have thought about switching to nursing have been put off by spending too long in a traditional program before they can finally make the career switch and begin to accumulate experience as a nurse. The accelerated nursing program duration, therefore, looks awfully appealing – but there are some other factors to consider before you move forward.

On this page, we’ll look at the traditional nursing degree timeline, how much it can be sped up by using an accelerated program, and what elements you’ll want to consider along the way. We hope by the end of the article, you will have a much better idea of which approach is going to be the ideal fit for your situation. Let’s get started.

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Introducing Traditional and Accelerated Nursing Programs

First, we need to be clear as to the differences between traditional nursing programs and accelerated options. With a traditional program, the student often comes in with no higher education background or perhaps only a bit of experience with education beyond high school. Typically, the student will enroll straight out of high school and begin working toward becoming qualified as a nurse. There are a couple of educational pathways to take here, including pursuing an Associate’s Degree in Nursing or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Things look a little different when examining the accelerated nursing track. In this case, the student will typically need to hold a bachelor’s degree from previous studies in a different field. That means that most new students in an accelerated program are older than traditional college students and are often making the switch from another career. Because of their experience obtaining an undergraduate degree previously, students in these programs are trusted to be able to keep up with the rigorous schedule and difficult study demands that are required to finish the educational process on a shortened timeline.

Estimated Time to Completion for Both Options

Now, let’s compare nursing program lengths to gain a better understanding of how much time you may be able to save by going with an accelerated program. The accelerated vs. traditional nursing completion time can be quite different, although there are some variables that need to be taken into account.

First, the standard time to graduate nursing school when pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from a traditional program is four years. This lines up with almost all undergraduate study programs that end in a Bachelor’s degree – most of them are charted to take roughly four years to complete. Going through a traditional program but instead targeting an Associate’s Degree in Nursing will take around two to three years to complete.

Let’s compare those timelines to the speed of a fast-track nursing program. With an accelerated nursing program, it’s possible to get through the coursework and finish the program in around 18 months—and sometimes in as few as 12. That’s obviously significantly faster than either of the paths outlined above, so with the nursing education timelines compared, we see clearly that students who pick an accelerated track can save considerable time versus those who go with a traditional program.

A Few Factors Can Change the Outlook

An accelerated program is undoubtedly the quickest path to a nursing degree. However, a few factors can impact exactly how quickly that path turns out, which is worth keeping in mind.

The first, and likely the most important, is the student’s ability to keep up with the coursework and retain the information successfully. An accelerated program is challenging, and there is a reason that a traditional program is charted out over a four-year period—packing this much learning into a shortened timeframe is a major challenge. Only students who are able to handle the workload and properly manage their time and studies will be able to see it through to the end.

Also, the availability of clinical hours is going to impact how fast a program can be completed. There is a requirement in any type of nursing program to complete clinical hours, and it might be difficult to find enough such hours during the short duration of an accelerated program to finish as fast as you would like.

One other piece of the accelerated nursing degree timeframe to consider is the specific course timing offered by various schools. Each program works a little differently, so while the general timelines are roughly the same across the board, there will be some variance based on things like whether or not summer sessions are offered and what times during the year students are allowed to enroll.

The Pros and Cons of Each Side

It’s easy to spot the obvious advantages of going with the accelerated program and the obvious disadvantages of a traditional program. With the accelerated option, you will be done with school faster and will be able to start your nursing career sooner. If that is your primary objective when picking a program, the choice is an easy one.

But there are other points that need to play into this discussion, as well. For one thing, accelerated programs tend to be a more affordable way to get your nursing education since their shorter timeline means lower tuition costs in most cases. When you add the tuition savings to the fact that you’ll be starting in the workforce sooner, the case for accelerated learning only gets stronger.

So, with so much to like about accelerated nursing programs, why do traditional paths remain so popular? There are a few benefits here that aren’t seen in the faster model. First, many nursing students don’t already hold a Bachelor’s degree, so they don’t have the option of the accelerated program. Additionally, with more time to dive into the work and deeply study the topics, it’s possible that a traditional nursing school graduate will come out of their program with a better understanding of the material and feel more prepared on the job from the start.

Thinking About Your Future Career

Ultimately, all of this is about getting you into a position where you can be the best possible nurse for the rest of your career. Whether you want to settle into a standard nursing role in a hospital or clinic, or you want to go after more education later to rise higher in the ranks and improve your salary along the way, it all starts with a foundational knowledge of how nursing works.

For the most part, there isn’t going to be a dramatic difference in your future prospects based on which educational path you pick to get started. Either way can lead you where you want to go, so it’s more about personal preference, timing in life, financial limitations, etc. As long as you commit yourself to the work required to become a nurse, you’ll be headed in the right direction.

We can’t tell you which nursing track is the right way to go, as both have been proven to be successful for plenty of previous students. With that said, the length of traditional nursing programs just might not be practical for some individuals, so if you find yourself in that situation, taking on the challenge of an accelerated program could be worth it in the end. We wish you the best of luck with whichever path you select!