BSN Career Options

In-Depth Look at Career Options with a BS in Nursing

If you’re a registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree, your career opportunities just expanded exponentially! Not only that, but you can look forward to higher salaries and you’re now in a great position to follow your passions and focus your career in a direction that suits your unique interests and skills.

For new graduates, it might be overwhelming trying to decide what you want to do next, so here are some career options you can explore with your BS in Nursing.

Career Paths You Can Take

Nursing Informatics Specialist

You’ll love this job if:
You’re a problem solver with a talent for technology and analytics and are interested in a role that takes you beyond bedside care.
What you’ll do:
A nursing informatics specialist is not your typical nursing job, but it’s a critical role in patient care. While this role is still relatively new, nursing informatics is a fast-growing field that oversees the integration of data, technology, and medical knowledge to deliver the best and most efficient services to patients and their health care providers.
How much you can earn:
According to Payscale, you can earn $86,069.
Learn more about nursing informatics specialists

Nurse Educator

You’ll love this job if:
You have a passion for paying it forward and shaping the next generation of nurses with teaching, training, and research.
What you’ll do:
A nurse educator combines teaching and clinical skills to educate and train new and current nurses. Nurse educators play a pivotal role in providing patient care by helping to create a skilled and diverse nursing workforce. Nurse educators work in classrooms, on college campuses, and in health care services, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices, and public health agencies.
How much you can earn:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can earn $84,180.
Learn more about nurse educators

Nurse Manager

You’ll love this job if:
You have a knack for strategy, organization, and leadership but still want to be involved with daily patient interaction.
What you’ll do:
Often called nurse administrators, nurse managers are responsible for many administrative duties, including staffing, supervising, and organizing other nurses in a health care unit. They make important personnel-related decisions, communicate interdepartmentally with upper-management, and organize daily patient care.
How much you can earn:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can earn $101,340 .
Learn more about nurse managers

Nurse Researcher

You’ll love this job if:
You’re focused on the future of care and enjoy answering tough questions with science.
What you’ll do:
Nurse researchers are scientists who study various aspects of health care for ways to improve health outcomes and solve certain medical questions. These professionals research, design, and conduct scientific studies as well as collect and analyze their findings. They may also work with pharmacists, physicians, and health care providers
How much you can earn:
According to Salary.com, you can earn $90,516.
Learn more about nurse researchers

Health Program Administrator

You’ll love this job if:
You have excellent communication skills and want to use your health care knowledge to benefit entire communities.
What you’ll do:
Health program administrators focus on community-wide illness prevention and health promotion. They manage and develop education programs and policies to promote healthy practices. Working for governments, research centers, and various health care facilities, health program administrators use both their health care skills and organization acumen to bridge the gap between policy, the medical community, and the public.
How much you can earn:
According to OpenPayrolls, you can earn $95,568.
Learn more about health program administrators

These jobs are just some of the top career options available to you with a BS in Nursing and hopefully a few of them have sparked your interest. The health care industry is always looking for dedicated, skilled professionals, and Bachelor of Science graduates have the freedom to seek out that special job that will make the most of their talents.

Haven’t earned your degree yet? Read more about Excelsior’s nursing degree programs on our nursing degree page.