Need advice about leaving nursing and finishing grad program

Nurses Career Support

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After over two years of misery in nursing, I've recently made my decision. I am leaving the profession and going back to school for something different. The only thing holding me up is that I am halfway through a MS program and I don't know if I should finish or not.

To give some background, I started out in an FNP program, but transferred into a health policy/administration program after a semester because I came to the realization that I don't like clinical care. Now, I've spent $24,000 in student loans and would spend another $24,000 to finish this program. The student loans are not a huge issue for me, although it is a lot of money. But if I quit now, I won't have anything to show for it and I would still owe the $24,000. I will admit that I'm not certain if I would ever directly use the degree, although it would be helpful to have a master's to gain admittance to the PhD program (physiology/biomedical science) that I want to apply to. Also, the job market is tight in the area of biomedical science and it may be useful to have that master's in the future.

I guess I just want some perspective on if I am crazy to finish this degree. It was very difficult to gain admittance to this program and part of me just wants to be able to say that I finished it. Any thoughts?

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Personally I wouldn't spend another dime on a Master's when you know you hate the field. A 24,000 learning experience is better than a 48,000 one. Figure out what you really want to do before spending any more time and money.

Good luck.

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I'm with kd on this one. What is it that you really want to do? Do you want to stay in the health and medical industry? The beauty about nursing is that you don't have to limit yourself. Nurses like me are in other areas such as legal, teaching, research, sales, business administration, case management, entrepreneurship, and the list goes on. Maybe you can consider taking a career assessment and determine what you want to do. Best wishes.

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I'm glad you caught onto your feelings about nursing before you completed the program. I don't think that completing your MS is as important as switching your career choice. Try to look into PhD programs now, they will look at the fact that you got into a graduate program and it can be an advantage. It's not like you got kicked out of the graduate program and decide to do something else. Why not apply to the physiology/biomedical programs while you are still in the MS program? This way you still have the MS under your belt and you will find out what it takes to get into the PhD programs. If the PhD programs don't like you, then you can complete your MS.

Although I do not know how hard the MS program is for you, so this option can be overwhelming. I'm certain that you have a good head on your shoulder in academics therefore tackling the MS program while you apply for the PhD wouldn't be so bad.

Hope I helped in some way or another...:o

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I'm with kd on this one. What is it that you really want to do? Do you want to stay in the health and medical industry? The beauty about nursing is that you don't have to limit yourself. Nurses like me are in other areas such as legal, teaching, research, sales, business administration, case management, entrepreneurship, and the list goes on. Maybe you can consider taking a career assessment and determine what you want to do. Best wishes.

I have done a career assessment and I do realize the options that are out there in nursing. Believe me, I have explored some of those options, but at this point in my life it isn't what I really want to do. I want to conduct biomedical research and teach as a professor. Since my degree would be in physiology, it would still be in a health-related field, but it would be a basic science, instead of applied science like nursing is.

However, I am a realist and that is why I am still contemplating finishing this grad program. The biomedical science field is very tight right now and there is a good possibility that I may have a difficult time finding a position after graduating. Having an MS may give me a leg up on a position, or if all else fails, I am certain that I could get a position teaching physiology in a nursing school.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It is a difficult decision.

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It kind of sounds like you are looking for reassurance that it's okay to stick with the MS program even though you are hoping to move in another direction. It also sounds like you've done some good thinking of the pros and cons. So from my perspective (which is quite limited!), it sounds like a reasonable choice for you to stick out the MS program. You've considered whether you can afford it, and it sounds like you can. Do you want to afford it? It sounds like you do. It sounds like it's an insurance policy in case it takes some time to get established in your new field. A kind of expensive insurance policy? Yes. But not totally unreasonable either. People spend that much on fancy cars that in no way offer any leg up in terms of job opportunities.

It does sound like you are happier with this MS program than you were with clinical nursing... is that true? Cuz if you REALLY don't like the MS program emphasis, then I'd have a hard time seeing the point in continuing. I could see the argument in that case to cut your losses and to put that time and money into getting moving in the direction you want to go. Still, it sounds like you think you WOULD be more interested and motivated to use this MS degree than take a clinical nursing position. That while it's still not your dream career, it may be a better fit for you than clinical nursing and worth finishing out the degree so you can work in that area while eventually working towards biomed.

No one likes expensive experiments, but, hey, you DID learn something about yourself and where you'd like to go from here. If you hadn't made the investments you have, you might not have gotten there and still now be wondering where you wanted to go. Experiences like that (education you don't "use", jobs you quit, etc) are NOT a waste!!! I have to believe that or else I'll go insane second guessing myself and my decisions! Most advice we get from others is based on their hindsight of their own life experiences... which only has limited applicability to our own situation.

Here's a piece of possibly useless advice... have you looked into applying for biomed related jobs? They tend to be very hit or miss and having to be in the right place at the right time... but with your nursing education and future ambitions, you might be a good candidate for some random position that comes up in a university, hospital, research organization. Maybe continue with your coursework but apply to interesting jobs as they come up and if something irresistable comes up that will move you in the right direction, drop the school. If nothing comes up, then you get the degree. Win-win?

And I'd love to hear how you do!!! I've moved away from clinical nursing myself and am always interested to hear others' experiences. : )

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Jjjoy: Thank you for your perspective. You always have such great insight. I was looking for reassurance because my husband has been really giving me a hard time about this lately. He thinks that it is a waste of money. I believe that I may be able to use it in the future. Also, I have been shadowing in the field that I want to enter and it is worrying me what others are saying about the future. This is a very difficult time to be doing biomedical research because the job market is so tight and the lack of funding is huge. People in the field are advising me not to do it or at the very least to stay and finish my MS program so that I will have a backup. This is most likely what I will do. Thanks for your support.

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hi healthyRN

am at the same stage of stress thinking how good ist to change my job now or later,as am working with low rate like 350 dollar as a senior ,,however,what do u think about studying mba,phrama d or bio-medical sience dual with mba ? please help to figure it out :)thank you

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