Hello from a new wannabe-nurse!

Nurses Career Support

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Hello everyone :)

I am so excited about finally joining this forum, as I've been reading posts on and off for about 2 years. I'm going to be honest--I can sometimes be an indecisive person and so was undecided for a long while. I started out wanting to be a nurse, then flirted with the prospect of being a doctor (which I falsely seemed to think was my calling), and now I feel very strongly and excited about pursuing my original dream of nursing, which is why I finally made the decision to hit Register. I initially became curious about nursing after interacting with several nurses when my grandmother was very ill in the hospital. They made all the difference!

A little about my educational background and goals: I am currently an undergraduate student, and will most likely end up pursuing some sort of Master's Entry Program as I am studying in a liberal arts curriculum. Unfortunately for me, I did not discover nursing until after I started college so wasn't able to pursue the BSN right out of high-school. I am interested in becoming a CNM or FNP, something that will put me in contact with a lot of women and children. Of course, I am more than welcome to whatever change this journey has in store for me, too.

I am just starting out so I would really appreciate any sort of advice you can give me, whether it's general pre-nursing advice or specific to becoming a CNM or family nurse practitioner. Or, feel free to just say hello too. Thanks for reading!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Hello! welcome to An! The largest online nursing community!

Browse our forums! There is a ton of information here!! Glad you decided to join!

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Hello and welcome!

You will love all the awesome info you come across this site ;)

Sent via my iPhone using allnurses.com ❤️

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

thread moved for best response

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Welcome to allnurses! Best wishes to you as you pursue your nursing career goals!

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Congrats on having made a decision! Here's my advice, for what it is worth:

1. Study hard and make excellent grades. Getting into a good nursing school is very competitive and you will need to cultivate good study habits in order to get OUT of nursing school once you get in. The school website may say anyone with a 3.0 or higher can apply. Recognize that if most of the people applying are making As and Bs, a 3.0 (or whatever the number is) will not cut it.

2. Start building a network from the minute you start school. Finding the first RN job is difficult and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. Every contact you have with someone in the medical community should be viewed as building your reputation. The medical community is a lot smaller than people realize and highly political.

3. Don't expect this feeling of decision to stick around. The pre-requisites are hard and nursing courses/clinicals/skills labs even harder. Almost everyone questions this decision many times over as they suffer through the earning of it. It isn't easy. It is worth it.

Best of luck in your future endeavors!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Welcome.

If you are really committed to nursing, I strongly advise you to stop moving toward that liberal arts degree and switch to pre-nursing immediately rather than wasting more time, money and energy on an education you aren't going to need. You will be much better off with a BSN than an entry-level Masters (ELM). ELMs are competing with BSNs for the same scarce jobs... and BSNs have the advantage. Your access to subsidized funding will also dramatically decrease when you reach that magic BA... and unless you have funds available, you will then have to rely 100% on loans for your ELM.

Pay heed to Not.Done.Yet's wise words ^^^^^.

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Thanks everyone!

@HouTx: Unfortunately, my school does not have a nursing program, so it does not offer a BSN.

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