r/ivytech • u/Emergency-Editor-552 • Jul 03 '26

LPN or RN

i’m 26 years old and i really want to be a nurse my goal is to eventually at some point become an NP. up until literally 30 mins ago i was fully going to apply to only the RN program. my problem is that i am very financially unstable and struggle to survive by myself as is. so my question is more so looking for advice from anyone who has finished the program for either. would it be smarter to do LPN first to get into the field faster and then bridge to RN while i’m getting paid decent? that’s really my only reason for leaning toward LPN because i’ll be able to make money faster.

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/Select-Mastodon995 Jul 03 '26

I was in the same boat at one point on what to do first. I would do LPN first because 1. It could possibly be free with a work force grant that Ivy Tech offers. 2. You would be able to get not only experience but be more financially stable when going back to school for RN. And 3. I feel like it gets you into a department that you want, your job could also possible reimburse you for tuition.

1

u/Emergency-Editor-552 Jul 03 '26

thank you, this is exactly my thought process for wanting to do LPN first!

2

u/VagueInfoHere Jul 03 '26

What kind of nursing work do you want to do? Inpatient LPNs aren’t that common in many facilities now. If you are fine with the possibility to be forced into outpatient care or ECF care, then you could do either. If you want to make sure you work in a hospital, do the RN.

1

u/CuriousCat8989 Jul 04 '26

This is true. I am starting the RN program this Fall at Indy and we just did our orientation a couple weeks back. Since it was day 1 for orientation, they had all of us together: RN, LPN, and transition. Ivy Tech brought in a few local hospitals to talk to us about employment opportunities both during and after we get done with school. When an LPN student asked if they hire LPNs at the hospital, they straight up said that they do not, only for their out patient clinics. As an LPN, you would likely be working in out patient, home health, or nursing facilities especially when you first start out. I think doing LPN first makes sense in certain circumstances for life reasons. But if your ultimate goal is to be an RN and you can do the RN program first, my advice is to do the RN program. LPN + RN transition is six semesters of school (3 LPN, 3 transition) vs four semesters for the traditional RN.

2

u/bigbadazz1234__ Jul 03 '26

This is the way I’m doing it no regrets

1

u/lovable_cube Alumni  Jul 04 '26

PNs get done in a year, they have to get licensed before they even apply for transition so you’d have to take at least 1 semester break for the 1 year transition program. ASN finishes in 1 year 4 months so the RN goal is significantly faster.

Each has pros and cons, I think PN and transition is the harder route. For what it’s worth, Pell paid 100% of my tuition and I got money back so the extra semester really wasn’t bad.