Undergrad nursing student interested in enlisting into NAVY

Specialties Government

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Hey guys,

I'm looking into joining the military. I'm waiting for a recruiter to contact me. But in the meantime, I wanted to take the time to ask questions on here to sort of get an idea of how it works. I'm a junior undergrad in the school of nursing at a private university. NROTC is not an option bc it is now too late to join. My scholarship money is running out and need to find a way to make it through. This is only ONE of the reasons why I'm looking into joining a military branch in order to get through college. No, private loans aren't an option and I was recently denied the parent plus loan bc I just turned 24 just to give you some background info. My question now is, what are my options as an undergrad in the middle of a college degree as far as enlisting goes? Any information helps!

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You can always enlist, but to be a registered nurse you must gain a commission as an officer and that won't happen until you have a BSN, generally. You need to speak to the health careers recruiter to get the details.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

You will be putting college on hold, but you may qualify for the GI Bill when you are discharged from the service in a few years.

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I assume you're looking at the Nurse Candidate Program? That is what I am in. You have to have at least 2 years left of undergrad to qualify. I submitted my kit to the board in September 2015 and was accepted in December where I signed papers and received money until I graduated this past May. It took me two months to complete my kit to submit.

You will have to speak with a recruiter, but it might be too late to apply - I think you just missed the cutoff. You need a lot of paperwork and such to apply. There's letters of recommendation and medical that must be completed in order for the kit to go to the board to be reviewed.

Once you complete school in the NCP program, pass your NCLEX, you get commissioned and go to ODS in Rhode Island for 5 weeks (I am leaving this weekend) and then you move to your duty station. From there you start a program with that command to orient you as a MedSurg RN and from there you can specialize depending on what you are interested, and the needs of the Navy.

The needs of the Navy always come first, but they will take into account your interests. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any more questions!

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Heading to ODS this weekend too!

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