Thank you for clicking on my question. I am a recent college grad who has decided to return to school for nursing.
But... I don't know which program makes the most sense. Eventually, I want to become a nurse practitioner focusing on maternal child health in low-resource areas (either in the US or Africa). Which "specialty area" should I go into? Pediatrics? Primary Care/Family? Neonatal? I have some experience working in a rural hospital in Kenya, and I found myself volunteering in the NICU during all of my free-time. I loved it. Although I am considering midwifery, I want to be qualified to work with sick babies AND healthy mothers/babies.
Before determining that I want to be a nurse, I started the application process for the Peace Corps. This year they announced a Global Health Corps. Since I know what I want to do now, should I go back to school first, get some experience and then apply for the Global Health Corps? I just want to contribute in the most effective way.
Other factors...
Costs: Do I stay in-state in NY for school, or go to Johns Hopkins/UPenn/one of the best and take out 100,000 in loans (hoping that I will be able to pay them back by working in low-income communities and receiving loan reductions?) Doing the PC first would give me a better chance of getting scholarships. But, if I take out loans and do school first, I can then do the Global Health Corps PC and receive something like 30,000 a year in loan reduction).
Timing: I am 24. I want to be a mom and breast-feed for two years to each child, and have my first child around age 29... (preferably 3-4 children between 29-36). Am I crazy for trying to plan around this?
Sigh, I am sorry this is so long. I just don't know what to do... and I don't know anyone to talk to about this. If this is more appropriate in another forum, please let me know and I will delete and re-post. I want to hear from current NP's and PCV people who have experience figuring all this out. This is my first-time posting, and I am going to try to "Add Poll" so that if you don't have time to write out a response, you can just vote (although I will read every word of every response very carefully!)
