What Degree Do You Need to Become a Nurse?

While it may seem obvious that you'll need a nursing education to become a nurse, there are a few things to know about how to proceed. Nursing is a field with many pathways. The required degree level and other qualifications you'll need to break into and advance in the profession depend on your career aspirations.

Fortunately, there is a range of options: from the bedside to the boardroom, hospitals to hospices, schools to specialty niches, and opportunities in between.

Whether you want to work with a specific patient population or already know you plan to become a nurse practitioner, the key to achieving your goals is to consider your interests and start building credentials and experiences that align with them.

How to Become a Nurse

Most nurses enter the field with a bachelor's degree, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Some will then earn an advanced degree, further specializing their practice and gaining greater industry expertise.

What Education is Required To Be a Nurse?

Regardless of which educational pathway is right for you, you'll need to pass the National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX-RN, to become a licensed registered nurse (RN).

To sit for the exam, you'll need to meet the eligibility requirements of your nursing regulatory body, according to the NCLEX site. That may include an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or a nursing diploma. While exploring your options, pay close attention to program requirements. For instance, the BSN program at Southern New Hampshire University are for applicants who already hold an unencumbered RN license, either from a nursing diploma or an ADN earned at a different school.

The ideal path to achieving a nursing degree should align with your professional goals while also building on your experience in the healthcare field. With that in mind, let’s look at the different nursing degree options available should you want to become a nurse or grow your nursing career.

What are the Different Types of Nursing Degrees?

There are several levels of nursing degrees to consider as you map out your career path, from undergraduate options that can help you establish your career to advanced degrees that can get you where you want to go.

Associate Degree in Nursing or Nursing Diploma

One educational pathway, and perhaps the first step to becoming a registered nurse, is earning an ADN from a two-year program at a community college or vocational school or a diploma from an approved nursing program.

“While a BSN is the optimal way to go, some second-degree or non-traditional students might choose one of these options,” said Dr. Peggy Moriarty-Litz, chief nursing administrator at SNHU, which offers nursing programs at the bachelor's and master's levels.

An ADN or diploma is also an educational stepping stone for licensed practical nurses (LPNs), the health services professionals who provide basic nursing care under the direction of RNs. If an LPN aspires to become an RN, this incremental approach “is a great way to earn some money while going to school," Moriarty-Litz said. "It also lets LPNs build upon their foundational educational knowledge.”

While the nursing profession embraces nurses from all backgrounds and levels, “we encourage them to continue on their education to earn a baccalaureate (bachelor's) degree, a master’s degree and even beyond,” said Moriarty-Litz.

To this end, many colleges and universities offer degree programs that build on a student’s existing credentials, such as the following:

• RN to BSN
• RN to MSN

These bridging degree programs let you develop your professional identity as an RN. At the same time, you progress in your career by opening doors to nursing positions in an array of settings, from hospitals and doctor’s offices to schools and long-term care facilities.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

A bachelor's degree in nursing can take about four years, and you'll want to look for a program offered at an accredited college or university.

SNHU's nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), a national accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. The programs are also aligned with competencies outlined by the AACN.

“A nurse prepared at the baccalaureate level is required to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to deal with the increasing complexity of patient care, which is the result of increased life expectancy, a more diverse patient population and rapid patient turnover in hospital admission,” Moriarty-Litz said.

In addition to the necessary science education, BSN-prepared nurses learn soft skills that are, in fact, vital skills in the profession. According to Moriarty-Litz, these skills include:

• Collaboration: Working as part of interprofessional teams, including doctors, pharmacists, medical technicians and caseworkers, has become the standard of nursing and all health professions education, according to the National League for Nursing (NLN PDF source).
• Communication: This means being able to converse clearly and effectively with people (patients and colleagues) from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Critical thinking: Problem-solving through interpreting, analyzing and evaluating is deemed an essential skill for nurses by an "Acta Informatica Medica" journal article.
• Organization: “It’s important for nurses to be organized and methodical in how they approach their responsibilities, especially since many aspects of nursing care are time-sensitive,” Moriarty-Litz said.

Finally, hospitals employing larger numbers of BSN-educated nurses are associated with decreased patient mortality rates, according to research by Dr. Linda H. Aiken and her co-authors.

For these reasons, a 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report recommended that 80% of nurses have a bachelor's degree by 2020. As of 2022, the nursing workforce continued to fall short of the recommendation: 70% of RNs in the U.S. had a bachelor's degree or higher, according to a survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers.

Regardless, nurses holding a bachelor’s degree have become the norm in the workforce. As a result, many employers of nurses require or prefer new hires to have a BSN, according to a 2023 AACN survey. Sometimes employers will provide registered nurses with a specific timeframe to earn the degree.

Learn more about what a BSN is and why it pays to advance with one.

Advanced Degrees in Nursing

According to the IOM report, nurses with graduate degrees are needed to “assume roles in advanced practice, leadership, teaching and research.” 

Advanced degrees in nursing include:

• Master of Science in Nursing (MSN): An MSN degree can position you closer to your goals of joining advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) in primary and specialty roles alike. You may elect to narrow your focus within an MSN program — perhaps with a focused MSN in Healthcare Quality and Safety, Population Health or Nurse Executive Leadership.
  
  
• Master's in Nursing Education: For nurses with an aptitude for teaching or mentoring, a master's in nursing education lets you train and teach current and future nurses. While the demand for nursing programs is great, many institutions lack prepared nurse educators, according to Moriarty-Litz. According to the AACN, 78,191 qualified applications for nursing school were turned down in 2022 due in part to a faculty shortage. An advanced degree in nursing education can prepare you to work in educational settings, such as schools of nursing or universities, while clinical educator tracks train you to work as a staff educator in long-term care or acute care settings. “Nursing education is a wide-open field with needs for instructors in face-to-face as well as online educational programs," Moriarty-Litz said.
  
  
• Dual Degree Programs: These programs let you specialize by combining an MSN with a second advanced degree, such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Public Health (MPH) and other related master’s degrees.
  
  
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP): Neither the PhD or DNP are currently available at SNHU, but the former trains scientists and researchers, while the latter targets practitioners. Yet both advance nursing practice, wrote Shaké Ketefian and Richard W. Redman in their journal article examining the programs.

If you want to explore the role a graduate nursing program can play in your nursing career, learn more about what an MSN degree is.

Is Nursing School Difficult?

Succeeding in a nursing program takes effort and a great deal of determination. If you're already practicing in the field as an RN or working in another career, you may consider attending an online nursing school that can offer you greater flexibility than you might get on a traditional college campus. Some colleges, such as SNHU, have offered online nursing programs for more than a decade.

Taking term-based online courses with consistent weekly requirements can allow you to advance your nursing career on your schedule, and there are many time management strategies you can practice to keep yourself on track. 

If you’ve ever considered the field of nursing, the current nursing shortage indicates that now is the time to change that consideration into a solid to-do. A lot of factors, from increased demand to aging Baby Boomers and many registered nurses nearing retirement, are contributing to a nursing shortage in the U.S., according to the American Nursing Association (ANA). 

The shortage means RNs are projected to see employment growth of 6% by 2032, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports.*

How Long is Nursing School?

The length of nursing school depends on the degree you choose. For example, an ADN is typically considered a two-year degree, while a BSN usually takes four years. If you already have your RN license and are interested in a bridge program, such as an RN-to-BSN, your bachelor's degree may take less time than that.

If you have any transfer credits from an unencumbered RN license or previous college experiences, you may be able to finish faster if you attend a transfer-friendly school. The number of terms your school offers each year, coupled with the number of courses you can take, can also adjust your timeline.

How Long Does it Take to Become a Registered Nurse?

If you pursue an associate degree in nursing, which is not currently offered at SNHU, that's typically a two-year program that prepares you to sit for the NCLEX exam. The timeline depends on your pacing and the institution where you begin your nursing education.

Some nurses obtain their RN license before moving on to a bachelor's degree. If you choose to become an RN first, you can start practicing in the field while working toward your next credential — pairing your experience with your education.

Learn more about how long it takes to become a nurse.

How Many Credit Hours Does it Take to Become a Nurse?

The program you are pursuing determines the number of credit hours it takes to earn a nursing degree. If you're wondering what a credit hour is, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) defines it as one hour of class time and two hours of student preparation time per week over the course of a semester or quarter.

A BSN at SNHU, for example, is 120 credits, but your unencumbered RN license counts toward 45 of those, and you can transfer in up to 45 more. So, you could already have up to 75% of your program done by the time you start at SNHU.

Should you wish to earn an MSN, you'll find that many tracks are 36 credits in length — or about 12 courses. Some colleges also offer RN to MSN programs for those who want to accelerate their educational timeline. SNHU's RN to MSN, for instance, allows BSN students who have been accepted into the accelerated pathway to take graduate courses that can reduce the time it takes to earn an MSN.

Whichever nursing path you choose, you’re positioning yourself to make a difference in healthcare and the lives of others while creating a career with incredible opportunities.

*Cited job growth projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth. Actual salaries and/or earning potential may be the result of a combination of factors including, but not limited to: years of experience, industry of employment, geographic location, and worker skill. 

Sofia Tokar is a freelance copywriter and editor in higher education. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter @stokar or connect on LinkedIn.