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I think getting a nursing degree would be great. There are so many openings for nurses out there!
Yep I did. I just graduated in December! So I've been working for almost 2 months. My advice is to def. do the accelerated program. I did, ours was 17 mos. I think it was the best decision I ever made. It was tough, but worth it now that I have a paycheck coming in. I liked that I graduated in the off season....right now (in Denver) many new grads are having a hard time finding a job even though there is a nursing shortage. I don't even know what is in store for the May graduates. I know the place I currently work is not hiring ANY new grads from the May class which totally sucks. I heard in other parts of the country it isn't as bad. The problem is finding the first job and then after you have 1 year of experience a lot more opportunities open up for you. Good LUck!!!
I'm in nursing school. And will be graduating in August!
I was actually in an acelerated program and loved the pace. It's been crazy these last couple of weeks finishing up my 2nd to last semester, but I know it'll be so worth it in the end. Since it is an acelerated program, there is alot of information to get in, but if your instructors are anything like mine- they are always there if you need help and are more than happy to spend time going over things you do not understand.
If you have any other questions feel free to message me.
I didn't go to Nursing School, but I work for one. I'm in Admissions. All of my students love it, and they're very excited, because at least in our area, there is a big nurse shortage. A lot of the hospitals are paying CNAs and LPNs to go back to school and become RNs so they can start to meet the need. If they can make it through the program, they have no trouble getting employed. It really does vary regionally, so if I were you, I would start talking to HR departments at hospitals in your area to get a sense of what the market is like. I would also become BFF with the Admissions people at your potential school, and find out exactly what the criteria are that they consider. Getting into Nursing School is very competitive, which I know seems counter-intuitive since we need so many nurses, but for example at our school, we get about 200-250 applications for 84 spots, and we're not the most competitive program in the area. So it's a really good idea to sit down with an Admissions person to find out exactly what they're looking for (GPA? Score on the entrance exam? Grades in science courses?) so that you make sure you're as competitive as you can possibly be. You sound like you're in great shape! Good luck!!
I just noticed you are in CO springs! My friend went to nursing school at Bethel and loved it!
@lewedd...i just graduated from UCCS (Where BethEl is) and that is where I would be going. I already talked to an admissions advisor and she told me what I would need to have for prereques and that there is not a waiting list and that I am fully qualified other than the prereques i would need to get at the community college.
I just want a career where I know I will never be laid off and there is a dier need for! Sociology is so broad and it was between getting my masters and getting an LCSW or going to nursing school and in this economy I dont know that a masters is the way to go if i dont already have an employer urging me to go...so that is why i am leaning toward nursing school. I am very nervous that I wont be able to do it though, I know it will be a challange, but FH told me I could take time off working to concentrate on school and he could support both of us, so I am very lucky in that sense, but I cant see being able to fit a job with the accelerated program...those ladies that were in the accelerated program--did you have a job also?
Nursing is a secure career, but as a daughter of a nurse, it's a very, very hard job. You are dealing with very sick or injured people every day -- seeing things that most people will never see. So definitely consider whether you're the type of person that can handle that. I was tempted to go back for an accerelated degree, but realized I just wanted security and I'm not cut out for the emotional challenges.
I'm not saying you're not, but don't look at it from purely a job security perspective :)
I am just finishing up nursing school here in British Columbia, Canada. I did a 3.5 year program, and will be graduating in May. It's important to be aware (as others have said) that nursing is not a guaranteed job right out of school. Many new grads in both the US and Canada are having trouble finding work. There is a hiring freeze right now in BC, and I don't have a job yet.
The "nursing shortage" refers to a shortage of experienced nurses. Many nurses are retiring and leaving the profession, but you cannot replace a nurse with 30 years experience with a new grad. There needs to be a mix of staff who can support new graduates until they are able to practice on their own. This is one of nursing's current biggest challenges
This is in no way meant to discourage you, but just to let you know the current state of affairs. Things will likely be different when you graduate (the nursing job market is changing all the time!). But I know I would appreciate being told about nursing from a realistic perspective.
That said, nursing is an EXCELLENT career choice and I haven't regretted my decision to go back to school to get my RN. I have worked with some amazing staff and patients, and I can't wait to start my career, even if it takes me a while to find a job. I would suggest talking to other nurses you may know personally to get a feel for the profession before you make a decision. There is also an excellent nursing forum online where you can read a lot about nursing and ask questions:
Good luck!
Oh, and like Ribbons said, it is sometimes a very tough job. The hours are long (12 hour shifts, days and nights) and you deal with many emotionally challenging situations. But I can promise you this - I am never bored as a nurse, and you often get 4-5 days off in between sets of shifts, which is really nice. There are also lots of nursing jobs where you can work eight hour shifts, just days, or a regular M-F job. You just have to look for them, and will likely need some experience first.
Have you done any shadowing? Try to shadow a 40 hour work week and see how you like it for the entire week. Or at least a couple of full days. I have a few friends who just LOVE it. But a friend of mine's mom is pretty jaded by now and only works part time and complains about it a lot. So make sure you hear the good AND the bad, like ribbons is talking about.
I shadowed a full day in radiation therapy (cancer patients) and was really surprised at how a patient or two really tugged at my heart strings--specifically a woman with brain cancer. It changes you. At least for me, in a good way.
@valhalla...actually im most excited about the 3 12's! i love those shifts!
Another concern of mine is wanting to have a child in the next 2-3 years, with going back to school I just dont know how I would do it...that is the only thing really holding me back right now. I have wanted to do nursing since HS but honestly just never thought I could do it so my other love was Sociology and so I got my bachelors degree in that instead and did well...
I have also already been in a very emotinally challenging profession working with juvenile sex offenders a couple years ago and in a group home for DD children with delinquency problems...
I am finishing up my prerequisites this semester and waiting for replies from two accelerated programs in the city to start this year!
I graduated with BA in English and BS in Economics so I had to take all sciences-A&P I&II, Chem and Organic Chem, 2 Psych classes, Microbiology and Nutrition. I sped through these in three semester (one was even a summer session). Very doable and loving it. I think you could still have kids 2-3 years out, 3 years more likely than two, but depending on what kind of job you are doing, you could be pregnant for it. Are you looking to become a nurse practitioner as well?
Goodluck
No, just an RN, i want to be home with my child for the first three years though, i am a firm belever in staying home with the kid and not sending them to daycare at such an early age. So, my concern is graduating then getting pregnant and waiting a few years to work and not being "fresh" and a "new grad" and having a harder time finding a job, or maybe getting pregnant while i am in school, but thats still kinda early...it looks like i might have to put my career first and wait more like 5 years for a child if i want to start a career first...
most everyone I know who got pregnant in college switched to nursing school. I have the (maybe wrong) impression it's one of those most flexible educations and careers to persue while being pregnant and/or having young children around.
Plus, if you start say, next fall...school's less than 2 years.....you could start working and be having your third by the time you hit 3-ish years. But i know quite a few people who got knocked up IN college and are finishing up school. But most of them have a mom around to help babysit all day. But it's totally doable.
@ejs...thats nice! i cant decide what is best for us though :( if i start in May of 2011, i would be done by december 2012...and id really want to go to work right after, so either id have to be preggo and going to school (Which i dont think would be the best idea) or wait like 5 years til i have a couple years in the field under my belt...which reasonably, would probably be the better option....blah, trying to figure out your life sucks :(
Oh....I can't say I get the point of going back to school NOW if you're just going to stay home with your kids (I don't mean that to sound snotty by the way). You'll have all the debt from nursing school just acruing, slowly. If you can't ebb away at it, it could really harm your credit score. Plus, if you want 2+ kids, you'll really be home for at least 5 full years if you want to stay home when they're up to age 3. Plus, if you take some time off, it may be harder to jump right back in. Would you consider part time school? Or working some nights or weekends? Then you can still be home with your kids, but not necessarily be home 24/7.
Or you can just sit tight for now, then when your kids are younger, go back to school then. Make sure you STILL want to pursue nursing after having a few kids and being home with them for a few years.
Otherwise, I think it would be really tough to go into a new career, start it right away, then within a year or two just take a few years off. A lot of nurses do part-time though and have little kids at home.
PS took me awhile to figure out you have a new avatar. Me likey!
I think there is a lot of flexibility in terms of shifts and schedules where you could still spend most of the time with your children. Or you graduate pass the NCLEX have a kid shortly after and maybe just work part time- 1 night or 2 a week.
It is hard to try and plan a life change while thinking of future children, but if it is something you want to do in life, my best advice is to get it done now because it is only going to be harder once the babies do arrive.
@ejs...i guess waiting til AFTER kids would be an option, but i also want to be young and fresh i guess? I know I want two kids, its just so frustrating because I want a career, i dont want to be a home maker, but i want to be home at least for the first 3-4 years of my childrens lives. I just kinda feel trapped.
Thanks! its one of our epics!
But, if you wait until AFTER kids, your education will be young and fresh! If you let your education get stagnant and sit for 5 years....you may forget a lot =\. AND, of course, technically will advance. Plus, to keep your license, do you have to retest every year? Plus, i don't think anyone cares if you're "young", just that you're capable. There are lots of people that go back for new careers in their mid-20's and 30's after having kids. Shoot, I'll be 25 or 26 when I go back to school. Chillin' with the 21 year olds, what what.
I really think you could swing part time though...that is, if you're comfortable with maybe ONE day of daycare a week (or grandma?) or being gone on weekends. I do agree that there is a LOT of flexibility in nursing so there's probably a way to swing it. Night shifts 3 days a weeK? That's not too shabby at all! Or even if you worked days Friday-Sunday, that's your full "week". You're home with the babies Mon-Thursday and then maybe Friday is just something you figure out.
It's a tough balance...could you talk to some nurses (or go visit some boards?) and see how they balance having young kids and being in the profession? There are probably more options out there and if you learn about them, it could help solidify whether you go back now or go back later.
We're on the 2-3 year plan also..i'm hoping to get accepted for this coming August 2010. Those loans need to be paid off before a baby comes!
@ejs...i know you have a pretty stable engineering job, but just wondering what your plans on for kids? do you plan on being in school and being pregnant or having kids after or before? what are you going back to school for? how old are you now? I just turned 23 in January. What you are saying makes great sense about going back after I have kids...its not like we are struggling financially right now, i just feel like I could be doing more with my life. I work for a great local credit union, i just feel like theres more to me.
I'm in a doctor of pharmacy program, so not really the same at all, but if you know that you want to take a significant amount of time off (stay-at-home mom) right after you graduate, make sure you consider how it will affect your career. I have worked with many many pharmacists over the last few years, including one who graduated, immediately had kids, and then decided to start work 16 years later. Although she had kept her credentials as required by law (continuing education, etc), she had no experience and really struggled initially. Even 3-5 years of not working right out of school can be very challenging. In the medical field, changes occur really quickly and all the time.
That said, my mom is a nurse and loves that there are so many opportunities. I would highly recommend that you shadow a wide variety of medical professions though - nursing, physician assistant, genetic counseling, etc. Some of these fields require a master's degree, but you already have a bachelor's degree, so you're partially there already! You just have to figure out what's right for you!
I am an RN and have been for about 5 years. Being an RN is the most stressful and amazing thing I have ever done, nothing comes close. That being said I would be nothing else. I am really lucky I work as a RN unit educator so I have the perfect job to become a mom . We have also discussed me working 2 nights a week when we have a baby because my FI (then will be my husband) will be home so we will never see a daycare. Nursing is very flexible especially entry level nursing. Good luck!!
Well, basically I am going back to school for either radiation therapy or physician assistant. It all kinda hinges on what I get accepted to. So I have two plans. This will be long, lol. I just turned 24, and while I’m still quite young, I have endometriosis so my fertility is definitely a concern.
Plan A: I get accepted into RT school. I start August 2010. I graduate 2011. I’m going to give myself, say, 6 months to find a job. Probably won’t take longer but I don’t want to assume I’ll just graduate with one in hand. I’d like to be working for a full year before I get pregnant. I can likely pay off the 35K in student loans within 15 months and I’ve calculated it out that I can pay out 2500K a month towards the loans and have it paid off in reasonable time. I’m basically making a lateral salary move, so my estimation of what I can pay per month towards student loans isn’t unfeasible. DH will have a job, we’ll live off his salary, and I’ll bank $500 of my salary every month. Then I’ll have the kid, take my 3 months, then go back to work. RT is a 4-10 shift around here, so I need 4 days of daycare a week. Actually, I want a nanny for the first year. Which I know will be spendy. But then we’ll switch to daycare. I’ll be 25 when I graduate and 27 when I have my first kid. Which fits in with our “plan” haha. If I get rejected, I’ll get waitlisted back a year, so I’d start August 2011. I don’t have a stay-at-home-with-kids plan because I don’t want to do it .Otherwise, if I DID, I’d probably stick it out with my job now and start TTC in a year or when DH has a job. He’s 27 right now.
Plan B: I get rejected to RT school. I quit my job and start working in health care as a Patient Care Tech. Yeah it’s crap and makes $9/hour but it’s also HCE which is a requirement for PA school. I’ve already met with the admissions board and they feel like I’m a very strong candidate as it is without the HCE experience and encouraged me to apply with the minimum number of hours (500, or 4 months) under my belt. I can apply by December. Program starts August 2011, ends December 2013. Start working Jan 2012 (hopefully) and work a year, TTC, I’ll be 29-ish when I have my first kid. It’s later than I prefer, but it’s not exactly a “bad” plan either. It means I’ll be making minimum payments on the loans (which will be upwards of 85K for PA school—it ain’t cheap) but if I have to go Plan B, it’s more of a “wing it” sort of deal. I
Anyways, I’m sure that was more than you were wanting to know, but those are my plans. Either way I”ll be in a program by August 2011. I'm a SERIOUS planner (type A obsessive all the way) so I like to have a flowchart in mind basically or else I panic =]
When I was in HS, I became an EMT, worked in a hospital for a year, and then went into Nursing School. I had wanted to enter the medical field as long as I could remember. It was always, I want to be a nurse, I want to be an orthopedist, I want to be a surgeon... the specialties changed, but never medicine.
When I entered nursing school I was bored and burned out. I got frustrated being in classes with everyone else who didn't know as much as I did, lol. Even though I knew in about 1.5-2 years it would start to level out, I felt so bored with it, I didn't want to study... I didn't want to go to class, and I was miserable. I switched to business and now I run my own :-)
I still miss it though. Ever since I graduated I've toyed with going back... But, you do need to consider a few things.
1) Blood and Guts, Vomit and Poop. How are you around these things.... all day long. Can you handle that?
2) What kind of shift do you want? What kind of nursing do you want? i.e. if you want to work in the ER there's levels I-IV - some you'll get just sniffles and others people with half their head shot off. Some units like ICU/CCU, Burn, Peds, NICU, can be really high stress. Some you need to think on a dime and you don't ever know what's a head of you. Your decision in a few short sec could mean grave consequences. Some jobs, could mean working in a Dr's office. Very Routine, set schedules, low stress.... You'll want to look at what will work for your personality and then consider how the job field is for that area.
3) As mentioned above, nursing and medicine changes rapidly. If you are not practicing it regularly, you will have issues going back in 3-5 years, especially if you never really got a lot of practice in to begin with.
4) It is really rewarding. I have heard from a lot of friends and former classmates that the entry field is getting really competitive in many markets. New Grads are having issues finding jobs... If you want to do it, and you feel CALLED to do it, go for it.... But, make no mistake, you do have to have the right kind of mentality and personality for it. So, be truthful with yourself, and consider all possibilities and options, then make the best decision for you.
@alishadhs - if I were you, and kids were a priority, I would have the kids now and delay going back to school. Especially where you plan to stay home with them for the first couple of years. A few women in my nursing class became pregnant during the nursing program, and while its doable, it is certainly not without challenges. All of them had to take a semester off or repeat a semester because it became challenging to do clinical while in their final trimester/they wanted to spend time with their newborn (understandably!!). It sounds like kids are a priorty for you, and while going back to school later with children is not without challenges of its own, LOTS of people have succesfully done it :)
It is possible to do both, and like others have pointed out, it is possible to avoid daycare if you plan your schedule right with your husbands. Being an RN is an amazing a flexible career - I think all you need to do is think on what a lot of us have said, and make the decision that is best for you and your family :)
We need more good nurses!
Thanks for all your advice, i think i am learning toward waiting to go back to school, and just staying put for now...i just wish i was earning more money, the credit union i work for is awesome, but i definately dont want to be a teller forever...i want to contribute more to the household i guess. Fiance says we are just fine, but i got those independent bones in my body that make me hate myself for not contibuting enough.
I haven't read any of the above posts, so I apologize if I repeat prior advice. I have been a registered nurse for 5 years. In those 5 years I have only worked in adult critical care, primarily neurosurgical/trauma ICU. This was not my first choice of a career and I attending nursing school as a "second degree" student. Meaning I only had to complete 5 semesters since my pre-requisites were covered in my first bachelor's degree.
I knew immediately that I was only interested in adult ICU. After obtaining a job as a nurse tech as a local hospital, I was able to get an externship in the ICU the following year. I would highly suggest that anybody interested in ICU to have some experience as either a tech/PCT/or whatever before tackling the ICU. Critical care nursing is not the place to learn your time managment and assessment skills. Those should be fine tuned on the floor or as an extern/intern.
Being a nurse is not glamorous. We wear support hose b/c those lovely spider veins start popping out after being on your feet for 12+hours. Lunch? What's that??? Bathroom break.......maybe once in a 12 hour shift if you are lucky. The patients are not light on their feet and your back definately gets a work out. Even with all the fancy lift equipment, work place injuries are a reality. Patient's and even the families can be combatative. I've been threatened, kicked, punched, pinched, cussed at, etc.
Just be prepared to work weekend, holidays, and nights. Even with the "nursing shortage" you might not get the type of job you want right out of nursing school. However, a degree in nursing is a great career foundation. Once you get some experience you can branch out into many areas. Pharmacovigilence, clinical product representatives, medical device sales/education, staff education, nurse manager, case manager, etc. etc. etc. You don't just have to be a bedside nurse the rest of your career. Plus if you get tired of ICU than switch to L&D or pediatrics or home health care, or whatever. Nurses are versatile.
Good luck.
My fiance did an accelerated 16 month program and he loved it! I got to know all the girls in the program (only 4 guys) and they all got great jobs. Granted the class after his I heard had some trouble finding jobs but I say go for it!
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I finished my BA in Sociology this past December and am looking into going back to school for nursing which would begin May 2011, there are some prereques that i would need to complete that I could do at the local community college between now and december 2010.
I would be eligable for the accelerated program which is 16 months since i already completed one bachelors and have all my electives done.
Just wondering if any of you ladies went to nursing school and if you could tell me about your experience?