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Advice please? career crisis (nurses/heathcare professionals come in)
I know that you ladies are usually spot on with any advice that you give so I need to run something by you all since I am struggling with this issue. I am a long time lurker and feel like I know everyone on this board but nobody knows me! Hopefully that will change. My situation is this:
I am 31. Married with 1 DD who is 2 years old. DH and I both work full time. We own a house, live 1k miles from any friends or family so its pretty much just us on our own. We are struggling to pay down cc debt and student loans from my undergrad, struggling to build an E fund and just get on our feet financially. To be honest, we basically live paycheck to paycheck at this point. DH is very fulfilled in his career and has tremendous promotion potential and will eventually make more money. I on the other hand, have a B.S. in Marketing (which was a mistake) and have been struggling with my career path for years. I currently work in a call center which will be the death of me. I long to be RN. I want to go back to school to follow my passion to become a nurse, but am afraid of the student loans. The local colleges that have an RN program have long waiting lists and have a very daunting application process but the tuition is reasonable. Then there are a few private career colleges that offer an RN program that is accelerated so I'd be finished in 15 months versus 24, but the tuition is double what the community college tuition is (43K). There are no waiting lists and since I have most of the pre reqs already the application process would be smoother.
I am in a situation where I NEED to pursue this quickly. I want my degree to be worth its salt and am leery of "for profit" career institutions, but I feel like this is probably my only option since they do not have long waiting lists, have evening/weekend classes (remember I have to work full time to support us), and I will graduate in 15 months allowing me to start my career quickly and have the potential to bring in more money since we are struggling. The only downside is that the tuition is expensive and I am not sure how employers would view my education. The school is accredited and has a good reputation in the local area and I'd imagine that the education has to be quality because we are required to take state boards and go through all of the requirements any other nursing student would have to go through to get licensed, but I just dont know.
How do I find out how employers would view my RN degree from a career college versus a community college or state school? Are there situations where you all would be "for" a career college? I know MM frowns upon them, thats why I am seeking your input since my situation isnt the "norm".
HELP PLEASE?? Does anyone have any thoughts????
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Advice please? career crisis (nurses/heathcare professionals come in)
Take a deep breath. Investing 2 years in a fiscally responsible degree is not a whole lot, although it might seem so right now. And the 9 months difference between the two degrees is not really worth the very considerable price difference.
I'm not a regular on this board at all but my sister went through what you're going through now (kind of). She always wanted to be an RN but she had my nephew when she was 18 and that derailed her plan. She instead went for her CNA and was hired by a medical clinic that has been paying for her to go to school for her RN.
My advice would be to look into local hospitals and find out what kind of training (if any) you need to become a nurses assistant, patient care tech, medical assistant, that type of thing. For 2 reasons. Number 1, many hospitals have a tuition reimbursement program for healthcare related degrees. Number 2, you really might want to consider immersing yourself in patient care before you decide if you REALLY want to be an RN. You may completely already know this, but there is some pretty gross stuff that comes with routine med/surg nursing. We're talking all sorts of body fluids (blood,feces,urine, vomit) , nasty wounds, various ports and drainage tubes, and exposure to alot of diseases like HIV, MRSA, Hepatitis, etc. As an assistant, you could see firsthand what nursing is really like before you spend the money on your education.
If you're already decided to just go for the degree, I would highly reccomend going to the community or state college over a career school. I would also plan to eventually get your bachelors, as alot of hospitals are leaning towards requiring their RN's to have 4 year degrees. At least my hospital is.
I work in HR for a hospital. It probably varies depending on what part of the country you are in but my advice would be to skip the accelerated program. I would also recommend pursuing a BSN rather than and Associates. Many hospitals in my are (Boston) not longer hire nurses who are not Bachelors prepared.
I agree with the advice to try to get your self a job as a Patient Care tech or something similar. Find out if hospitals in your area do any training programs. We hire people with no experienc and put them through a training program to learn the skills they need. We've definitley had people go through this and then work in this capacity while they pursue nursing school. And that would allow you to take advantage of possible tuition reimbursment benefits that might be available.
Good luck
Not much to say that others haven't but to agree to 1)get a BSN not an ADN/ASN/Diploma if you really want to be a nurse b/c it will help you down the road & may be a necessity depending on your hospitals; 2) make sure you really want to be a nurse and aren't just doing it b/c you hear there is a shortage & they make decent $; 3) find out the job market in your area. it is not great where I live & new grads often have trouble finding jobs.
Just to throw it out there if there any near you, another option is an accelerated MSN, it is 3 years but you end up becoming an RN part way through & finish with a master's. Since you already have a degree, just a thought.
GL!