Nursing School

[rachelh]

I have seen a few posts here recently regarding nursing as a second career. Has anyone had any good experiences with getting into nursing school for the Fall semester?

I am really starting to think a career in nursing is just not in the cards for me. I started all my pre-requisites 5+years ago and then stopped because I fell into a job in mortgage and was doing very well but throughout my time in mortgages, I would still insist I was going back to school for nursing. Sure enough, after 5 years I lost my job and started school again while working a new job full time. Now I am at the point where I can't even apply to a nursing program - every program I have info about has another reason why I can't apply (ie. one has a waiting list 4 semesters long - they literally pick names out of hat, another does clinicals on Saturday which I cant do for religious regions, for another one my sciences are too old so I would need to repeat.) And the worst part about all this is that I basically finished all my pre and core-requisites so I really start the nursing program already. I must have called 10 nursing program over the past few weeks and I am just starting to get very upset about the whole thing and am ready to throw in the towel.

Anyone with any good advice?

Rachel

PS-I feel like this should be a *itching post but I am really looking for some good advice.

[hellokitty]

I'm a nurse, the problem is that there is a high burn out rate. If I were you, I'd look into other allied med professions. You might need more pre-reqs, but you might also have less risk of burn out in the long run and better pay. OT and PT are two things off the top of my head that I wish I would have pursued over nursing, and both professions are in dire need of workers, so the job prospect is good. I have found that as a nurse, I am treated like I am disposable and they really don't try that hard to keep nurses happy to retain them. Thus the reason there is a nursing shortage... it's not b/c there are not enough nurses. There are plenty of them! It's just that a lot of nurses have decided to leave the field of nursing all together to pursue other careers, b/c they aren't treated like they are valuable workers.

[dogmom]

I've got to respectively disagree with Hello Kitty, go for nursing. I went into Nursing as a second career, and I have LOVED it. I cannot, really, cannot imagine my life without it. Several points.

1) Part of your problem is you are on real world time and you need to get adjusted to academic time. The programs I know have deadlines in NOVEMBER for the following September, so that is a 10 month lead time. So forget about next fall right now.

2) Yes, things are tight for getting into schools, because you can make more as a clinical program than teaching nursing. (I used to teach nursing full time, left because with kids I needed more $ and different hours.) To make yourself more attractive find and nurse and see if you can follow her around work. In your essay of application make sure you explain why you WANT to be a nurse, not just some allied health person or Jr MD. Admission committees feel much better when they think there are giving a slot to a person who knows what the profession and will stay with it.

3) There is no excuse for burn out in nursing. Nursing is one of the few jobs where you can radically change WHAT you do for a job with very little re-education. You can be a nurse in management, information technology, telephone triage, telephone support, psych, long term care, acute care, OR, sales, public relations, public health nursing, research, clinical trials, government. One of the advantages of going to nursing as a second career is that you have done other things and realize no career choice is perfect. And my pay, at least, is nothing to sneeze about. Certainly better than any of the other Allied Health Professions. As far as respect, I don't work for employers that don't respect me and I have never had a problem getting a job.

4) You don't mention what kind of program you are applying to (BSN, Associate, etc.) or what part of the country you are from, so that limits the advice I can give. If they are old enough you may have to redo the pre-req, but you can find many of those courses online which make them easier to take.

Feel free to email me if you want.

[hellokitty]

Dogmom, I see you are in Boston and that may be one reason why we disagree. You have a lot more opportunities than I do. I am in the midwest, in a rural area, the pay is not that great (there is ONE hospital), b/c there is no competition unless you want to drive a distance to work in a larger city. If I lived in a larger city, I would have more opportunities in nursing, but where we live now, I can work at the hospital, home health, a nursing home, or doctor's office, that's about it. I thought about teaching at the nursing school, but like you mentioned, you get more working in clinicals than in a teaching environment. I tried occupational nursing at a steel mill and it was too mundane. RNs in my region get paid $20/hr. I don't think that is very good compared to what PTs and OTs I know are getting paid in my area...

[elephantmeg]

-I know that in my area votech schools will do LPN programs-they might be easier to get into and then transfer to an RN program when you are done (and you can work as an LPN while getting your RN).
-just to put a plug in for nursing-I LOVE my job(s). I work in a small community hospital-250 beds or so and in the 7 years I have been working there I have been able to do a ton of different things. I've been primarily a peds nurse, but have done some cross training to med surg, worked with computer programs as they have been changed/implemented and just got a job as a nursing coordinator(!!!!)-my second day of orientation is tomorrow. I agree that there is a lot of different things you can do-at least where I work there is. I also love being able to take care of people. Trust me, there are moments that I hate but overall I wouldn't trade it for the world!

[zag95]

Here's another thought- you could get a CNA license and be working toward a RN degree while you are in a hospital that helps its employees move up into nursing...

We are in the NW- I know at some hospitals (Such as Providence health System) they have a partnership with some of the schools, such as UP where they are encouraging people to transition into nursing.... Maybe that might help you get your foot in the door??

I know it is pretty competitive... maybe as someone else suggested... see if there are similar fiels, such as diagnostic imagining, etc that might be of interest?

Good luck!

[ellies mom]

I just finished my first quarter of nursing school. So here are my thoughts.

1. As you've noticed every school has different requirements and different applicant processes. So definitely look around. And if you can at all swing it financially, don't forget about the 4 year BSN degrees. I know people who did not get accepted to the local two year degree programs but got into one of the BSN programs. Focus on the schools that best meet your strengths. The one I got into puts a huge emphasis on the science GPA. I knew I could do well in the science pre-reqs so I was pretty certain I could get in pretty easily. And I did. Having your CNA can sometimes help you get in as well. I know my school offers extra points for current CNA experience.

2. The better paying Allied Health fields such as radiology and ultrasound are also difficult to get into.

3. Dogmom is right. The lead time is pretty long. My application period was spring 2008 and I didn't start until Jan 2009. Some of the fall applicants do not start for a full year and I'm going to one of the few schools in the area that start more than 1-2 classes a year (most start one, mine starts three).

I don't think you should give up on it. Just realize that it will take longer than you wanted.