By: The Capella University Editorial Team with Lisa Kreeger, PhD, RN, Executive Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences
Reading Time: 9 minutes
You already know how demanding nursing can be. The question is if you’re ready to keep up with it.
A Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) can add to your existing nursing credentials and prepare you to pursue roles that call for stronger leadership and decision-making.
For people who are not currently nurses, a BSN helps prepare them for licensure while also exposing them to leadership and policy experience that could lead to growth opportunities. For licensed RNs, it can build on hands-on experience and open pathways into specialized practice, management or graduate study.
Explore what you can do with a BSN and how it compares with other nursing pathways like the RN-to-BSN. As you consider your next step, research each program’s requirements to make sure it fits with your career goals.
A BSN is an undergraduate degree that focuses on the fundamentals of clinical care and health care systems, along with broader skills that can help you thrive in complex health care environments.
In the BSN (Prelicensure) program at Capella, you learn how to:
A key component of a BSN degree is the clinical practicum, where you apply what you’ve learned in supervised health care settings. Through this hands-on clinical experience, you can build your confidence, strengthen reasoning and explore different specialties.
And you may be eligible for tuition savings through your employer. More than 700 healthcare organizations invest in their employees by partnering with Capella University to offer tuition savings and other education benefits. That support can make it more manageable to complete your BSN while continuing to work.
An online BSN is a great option for you to grow the skills and knowledge to prepare for multiple nursing career paths and opportunities.
If you’re a new nurse, a BSN can also help you prepare for the NCLEX-RN® exam to become a licensed RN. While a bachelor’s degree isn’t required if you want to become an RN, it may help career progression.
A BSN can lead to various career paths, depending on your interests, experience and goals. While many nurses start in direct patient care, a bachelor’s degree can also support growth into specialized or non-clinical roles over time.
Completing a BSN can help you strengthen your clinical skills and explore roles in direct patient care, where you work closely with patients and gain hands-on experience in varied settings.
Bedside care positions are ideal if you enjoy patient interaction, fast-paced environments and want to develop a strong clinical foundation early in your career.
As you gain experience, you can continue your education by earning an MSN or certifications in different nursing specialties.
Examples of clinical and specialty roles include:
The exact roles, titles and responsibilities you can access vary by employer, state regulations and individual qualifications.
BSN nurses can work across a variety of health care, corporate, community-based and remote settings, depending on their role and organization. These include:
While Capella can't guarantee the availability of positions in any of these settings, these options highlight the variation of potential nursing career settings where a BSN could be beneficial.
Let’s explore the different educational pathways that could help you pursue roles like these.
Whether you’re new to health care or already working as a registered nurse, you can find BSN programs designed to meet you where you are and help you move forward with confidence.
The BSN (Prelicensure) pathway is designed for students who are new to nursing and want to become RNs. This BSN program builds the knowledge and hands-on skills needed for professional nursing practice.
As you move through the program, you build your expertise in stages. You start with foundational nursing knowledge, strengthen core clinical skills and then apply advanced concepts in real-world settings.
Once you complete the program, you’re eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN® licensure exam if you meet the registration requirements. You must pass this exam to become a licensed RN.
If you already hold a non-nursing bachelor’s degree and want to switch to a nursing career, you can choose the accelerated BSN pathway for a faster route into nursing. It builds on your prior education and allows you to earn a BSN in a shorter timeframe, while still meeting the same rigorous clinical and academic standards.
Capella’s BSN (Prelicensure) program is offered in the GuidedPath learning format, a structured option with defined deadlines but 24/7 courseroom access. This format is a good fit if you prefer a fixed schedule that still lets you balance education and work.
If you already have an active, unrestricted RN license, an RN-to-BSN program can help you move beyond bedside care and into leadership, technical or other non-clinical roles. You’ll deepen your skills in population health, quality improvement and patient-centered care while preparing to take on greater professional responsibility.
The coursework is designed to connect directly to real-world nursing practice, so you can apply what you learn in your current job. This may help you grow in your role, prepare for higher-level positions or move toward advanced education.
The Capella RN-to-BSN program is offered in the GuidedPath learning format and the FlexPath learning format. FlexPath is a flexible option that allows you to set your own deadlines and complete courses at your speed. This format is ideal if you want to move quickly through material you already know or balance school around work and life without a fixed schedule.
These learning formats give you control over your academic progress, access to comprehensive online resources, such as the Writing Center and strong support from our experienced faculty.
“I valued the faculty support at Capella the most. While completing an online degree program, sometimes you feel alone in the process, but the faculty at Capella never allowed me to feel that way. Every professor was approachable, helpful and quick to respond to messages” said Cassandra Curtis, FlexPath BSN alum.
Capella University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral nursing degree programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)*. These credentials showcase the quality of the curriculum, faculty and learner services at Capella.
*The baccalaureate degree program in nursing, master’s degree program in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice program and post-graduate APRN certificate program at Capella University is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org).
Earning a BSN is an important milestone, but for many nurses, it’s not the final stop. Whether you want to specialize, pursue nursing leadership or explore non-care roles, graduate nursing programs can help you take that next step.
Once you earn your BSN, an MSN can help you gain advanced clinical knowledge and expertise in your chosen nursing specialization, of which there are many.
For example, if you’re a tech-driven nurse, an MSN in Nursing Informatics can help prepare you for a career in which you use technology to manage patient data, solve health care problems and guide decisions.
Or, if you want to teach the next generation of care providers, you can enroll in an MSN in Nursing Education degree and pursue a career as a nurse educator, instructor or faculty member.
At Capella, RNs without a BSN may be able to move directly into certain MSN specializations through RN-to-MSN pathways. While these degrees do not award a BSN upon successful completion of the program, they may streamline the transition to graduate-level nursing education.
Nurse practitioners require additional licensure and certifications after completing their MSN programs. Licensure and certification requirements vary by state and role; you need to understand your state’s regulations before enrolling in an MSN program at Capella.
If you have a BSN or other health care-related bachelor’s degree, you can also enroll in master’s programs outside of nursing to support broader health care careers skills, including:
These programs can support nurses who want to influence health care through administrative, business, policy or technology-focused roles.
The DNP is a doctoral degree that focuses on improving health care, advocating for patients and influencing health care policy.
This is the highest academic qualification in nursing and is ideal for experienced nurses who already have their master’s degree and want to lead change at the uppermost levels of the health care system. During a DNP, you learn how to apply theory, build professional relationships and implement evidence-based interventions in a wider health care context.
A BSN may open doors to pursue a wide range of career paths. It’s also the first step for working nurses aspiring to become leaders, educators and specialists.
Capella offers online nursing programs at different levels, so you can start or grow your career skills from wherever you’re at. These programs offer structured online learning, curricula aligned with the latest nursing standards, hands-on practicums and guidance from expert nursing faculty.
So, whether you’re a new student or a working RN, you can earn a BSN and then pursue advanced degrees to help you thrive in nursing without committing to full-time study.
Explore the online RN-to-BSN and BSN (Prelicensure) degree options from Capella today.
After earning a BSN, you can pursue an RN license and pursue nursing positions. If you’re an experienced RN with a BSN, you can explore non-clinical positions or leadership roles or continue your education with a master’s or doctoral degree.
A BSN is worth it for many nurses because it can expand career options, support long-term growth and provide a strong foundation for senior roles and graduate study in the future.
It depends on the hospital and the role you’re applying for, though those with Magnet designation generally prefer BSNs. Nurses with a BSN typically receive more extensive training in nursing concepts, professional standards and evidence-based practice.
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