Becoming a nurse requires completing an accredited nursing program and passing a national licensing exam. The fastest route takes about one year for a practical nursing certificate, while the most common path to becoming a registered nurse takes two to four years depending on the degree you choose. Here’s how each step works.
Choose Your Level of Nursing
There are two main entry points into nursing, and each comes with different education requirements, responsibilities, and career options.
Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN): LPNs provide basic patient care, monitor health, update records, and assist registered nurses and physicians. You need a high school diploma and a one-year accredited practical nursing certificate program. After graduating, you take the NCLEX-PN exam to earn your license. This is the quickest way to start working in nursing.
Registered Nurse (RN): RNs have a broader scope of practice. They administer treatments, perform diagnostics, coordinate care across teams, and educate patients and families. Becoming an RN requires either a two-year associate degree (ADN) or a four-year bachelor’s degree (BSN), followed by passing the NCLEX-RN exam. Most people searching “how to become a nurse” are looking at the RN path, so the rest of this article focuses there.
ADN vs. BSN: Picking a Degree
Both the ADN and BSN qualify you to sit for the same licensing exam and work as a registered nurse. The difference is depth, time, and where each degree takes you afterward.
An ADN is a two-year program typically offered at community colleges, though some accelerated versions finish in 18 months. The curriculum covers prerequisites like chemistry, anatomy, biology, psychology, and English, then moves into nursing-specific courses: fundamentals, medical-surgical nursing, pediatric nursing, psychiatric nursing, and community health. It’s designed to get you into clinical practice quickly and at lower tuition costs.
A BSN is a four-year program at a college or university. It covers the same clinical skills as the ADN but adds coursework in nursing theory, public health, ethics, and pathophysiology. That broader foundation matters for career advancement. Many hospitals now prefer or require a BSN for hiring, and leadership, research, and specialty roles almost always require one. New York State, for example, enacted a “BSN in 10” law requiring new RNs to earn a bachelor’s degree within 10 years of licensure. If you start with an ADN, RN-to-BSN bridge programs let you complete the bachelor’s degree later, often online and while working.
Prerequisites and Admission Standards
Nursing programs are competitive, and you’ll need to meet academic thresholds before you can apply. The specific numbers vary by school, but a representative example gives you a sense of what to aim for. Kent State University, for instance, requires incoming freshmen to have a minimum 2.7 high school GPA with an ACT composite of 22 (or SAT of 1100), or a 3.0 GPA without test scores. Transfer students need at least a 2.75 college GPA and completion of 12 credit hours.
Regardless of the program, expect to complete prerequisite science courses before entering the nursing-specific curriculum. The standard list includes:
- Anatomy and Physiology (usually two semesters)
- Microbiology
- Chemistry
- Genetics (for BSN programs)
- College-level math
- Psychology
- English composition
Most programs require at least a C in each prerequisite science course, and many set a separate minimum GPA for sciences alone. At Kent State, that threshold is a 2.75 in required science courses specifically. Strong grades in anatomy and microbiology carry extra weight because they’re the foundation for everything you’ll study in clinical coursework.
Clinical Rotations
Classroom learning is only part of nursing school. You’ll also spend significant time in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare settings doing supervised clinical rotations. These rotations let you practice skills like taking vitals, administering medications, and communicating with patients and families under the guidance of experienced nurses.
The exact number of clinical hours varies because each state’s board of nursing sets its own requirements. Programs rotate you through different specialties (pediatrics, labor and delivery, mental health, surgery, emergency care) so you get exposure to a range of patient populations. Clinicals typically begin in the second year of an ADN or the junior year of a BSN, and they intensify as you approach graduation. Many students say clinicals are the hardest and most valuable part of nursing school, because they’re where the textbook knowledge starts making sense in real time.
Passing the NCLEX-RN
After graduating from an accredited nursing program, you need to pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to legally practice as a registered nurse. The process works like this: you apply to your state’s Board of Nursing, pay the application fee, and register for the exam. Your nursing program will send your transcripts and completion verification directly to the board. Once approved, you receive an Authorization to Test that lets you schedule your exam at a testing center.
The NCLEX-RN is a computerized adaptive test, meaning it adjusts the difficulty of questions based on your answers. It tests clinical judgment, patient safety, and your ability to prioritize care. The number of questions you receive varies because the test stops once it has enough data to determine whether you’ve met the passing standard. Most candidates finish in two to three hours. Results typically come back within 48 hours.
If you’ve been disciplined on another healthcare license or have anything in your background that might affect eligibility, you’ll need to disclose it during the application and can submit letters of explanation, recommendation, and rehabilitation documentation.
Multi-State Licensure
Once licensed, your ability to practice in other states depends on whether those states participate in the Nurse Licensure Compact. Currently, 43 jurisdictions are part of the NLC, which allows nurses who live in a compact state to hold a single multistate license and practice in any other compact state without applying for additional licenses. If you move to a new compact state, you have 60 days to apply for licensure in that state as your new home. If you live in one of the few non-compact states, you’ll need to apply for a separate license in each state where you want to work.
Accelerated Programs for Career Changers
If you already hold a bachelor’s degree in another field, you don’t need to start over with a four-year program. Accelerated BSN programs (sometimes called ABSN or second-degree programs) compress the nursing curriculum into 11 to 18 months, including prerequisites. These programs are intense, often running year-round with full-time schedules, but they’re the fastest route to a BSN for someone who already has a college education.
Admission standards are high. Most accelerated programs require a minimum 3.0 GPA from your previous degree and run a thorough prescreening process. You’ll still need to complete the same science prerequisites (anatomy, microbiology, chemistry) if you didn’t take them during your first degree. Some programs bundle those into the accelerated timeline, while others expect them done before you start.
There are also fast-track entry-level master’s programs for non-nursing graduates that take 15 to 36 months and lead directly to a graduate degree in nursing, positioning you for advanced practice roles sooner.
Moving Into Advanced Practice
After working as an RN, you can pursue advanced practice roles like nurse practitioner (NP), nurse anesthetist, nurse midwife, or clinical nurse specialist. Becoming an NP, the most common advanced role, requires a BSN, an active RN license, and completion of a graduate program (master’s or doctoral) focused on a specific patient population.
You choose your population focus when you enter the NP program. Options include family practice, adult-gerontology, pediatrics, psychiatric-mental health, and women’s health, among others. All NP programs include core coursework in pathology, pharmacology, and physical assessment, but the rest of your clinical and academic training is concentrated on the population you’ve selected. After graduating, you take a national board certification exam specific to your population focus. That certification is required for state licensure as an NP and for credentialing with insurance companies.
The entire journey from starting nursing school to practicing as an NP takes a minimum of six years: four for the BSN, then two or more for the graduate degree. Many NPs work as RNs for several years before returning to school, which adds clinical experience that strengthens both their applications and their practice.