Uncles/Aunts just don't understand...

You'll have the last laugh when you graduate and are making great $$, and they are either unemployed, stuck in a lame job, or up to their eyeballs in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt.

You're the smart one. They will just have to eat crow later.

first clinical tmw? me too.

tailor your response to put the critic off balance...
it's loads of fun.

if that doesn't work, help them think even worse of you with...
"cat lady never leaves her estate to her doctor, he's too busy"

As a nursing student myself, I go through the same thing with my family, but my story's a little different. I'm half white/half filipino. On my Filipino side, everyone thinks it's great that I'm going into nursing. On the other hand, all of my white family(MDs/engineers/lawyers) were a little weirded out at first. Then I explained to them that you can make really good money here in California, and if I ever get bored I can always switch specialties and/or further my education. My cousin who is an orthopedic surgeon even said CRNA is a pretty sweet deal for the amount of school. At the end of the day, do what makes YOU happy. AND stand up for us men in nursing, because we're coming UP.

sounds like your family was disapproving more on a socio-economic (status & $$$) stand rather than gender (the usual), so your family sounds like a bunch of snobs rather than the usual ignoramuses (gender).