From Advertising to Nursing!

[missemilyjane]

Hello everyone,

There is something I should have done fresh out of high school but I took the wrong path - nursing school. I graduated back in 2009 from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh for Advertising but it's a horrible field here in Pittsburgh (at least I think so) and I have lost all interest in it (really, I think I was caught up in a "glamour" of working at an agency when I was in college).

I've decided to pursue CCAC for their nursing program next fall. I can pay out of pocket this way. I'm pretty sure I've maxed out student loans from the expensive Art Institute and Point Park University, which I attended for two years then transferred.

I'm so excited about this. I've heard stories of people changing careers all the time online from whatever to nursing. I'm a firm believer of second chances and this is mine.

I guess the scariest thing is working full time AND going to nursing school. Currently I'm an Administrative/HR Assistant at a small company. I'm ready to take on the challenge though!

I'm here for pointers - please give as many as possible. :)

[EmilysMama]

I'm going from truck driver to nurse. I am so the non-traditional student it's not funny. I still have pre reqs to get through before I can actually get in to my nursing program but I'm extra motivated! So go for it!!

[jadams46]

I went from being a truck driver to a nurse, then on to a BSN then MSN and now I am teaching. So if its your passion, you'll make it happen.

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I went from business development manager to nurse - kind of. I completed the ADN program at my local CC some years back while working 60+ hours a week, with a bit of business travel thrown in just to make things really interesting (the program had a strict limit regarding missing classes and you would be dismissed, regardless of GPA if you exceeded it). The nursing job market collapsed just about the time I graduated and I was unable to find a nursing job. That was several years ago and I simply kept my business development position. I'm just now finishing an RN-BSN program and will test the nursing job market again, which is why I say I only kind of made the transition to nursing. I keep my hand in health care by volunteering as an EMT with my local fire company and would love to get an RN position in one of the dozen or so ED's we take the ambulance to but that's unlikely for an inexperienced (but older) nurse like me.

Good luck to you. A word of caution about student loans: Try to keep your borrowing to an absolute minimum. Student loans are one of the only types of credit that can't be discharged during bankruptcy (technically they can but the changes to the laws passed during the Bush administration make it very difficult and so few are). Many folks are now finding that they can't get mortgages or in some cases even car loans because of student debt. Most student loans are for relatively long terms (decades for many), which would mean an equally long time to have that credit monkey on your back. There are a lot of folks heading into retirement and still paying student loans back.