A Mother Seeking Healthcare Career Advice for High School Junior

Nurses Career Support

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My Daughter who is a Junior in High School is not sure what she wants to do, except that it should be in the Healthcare field. Initially she wanted to be a Nurse, but lately seems to be wavering a bit.

She is currently enrolled in a Dual Enrollment (DE) Program at her High School and so far is doing 3 courses (9 credits) at a Local Community college. For the Winter Term she will be doing 11 credits and for her senior year, she plans to spend the entire year taking classes at the Community College full time (They call it Early Admission). If all goes well, she will probably have close to 60 credits and receive her Associate Degree through the DE. Her current Educational Plan is setup to complete all her prerequisites for a BSN program, which will have her enter directly into a BSN program at one of the State University and complete her BSN in two years. There is still time to change this to a more generic program that would be applicable to other fields. I'm just trying to avoid her going to College and doing a degree that is not marketable and have her spending more funds to finally get a career that is meaningful/rewarding.

My question is: What other career options are available in the Healthcare field for her apart from Nursing, coming out of high school? What are some of the hidden gems that a lot of students are not aware of (Healthcare wise)? If you could do it over, would you pursue nursing as a career or something else within the health sector and what would that be? Thanks in advance for your thoughts/suggestion.

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I'm a fan of the gap year, myself. Sounds like after all this school, she needs some time off before jumping back in! :) So that's *my* recommendation. That, and just let her take classes that fancy her that first year. She doesn't need to graduate with a bachelor's in anything at 19 or 20. When she's 40, nobody's going to care that she graduated 2 years earlier than everyone else.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

I hated nursing school (or just school in general. Ha ha!) but I LOVE being a nurse!!

It really gets to me some days when everyone is venting about how much it stinks to be a nurse. If she doesn't want to do it, then get out now. If she is going to say "I'm an RN but I don't want to do any patient care" then get out now.

There is some really good advice here. Radiology, Laboratory, Pharmacy etc. There are loads of options where she can use the classes she already has. Since she's doing pre-reqs, then she can apply them to anything that involves math and science without becoming a nurse.

If she doesn't want to be a nurse, I'd stay away from EMT, Paramedic, LPN, Nurse Practitioner, Physician's Assistant, MD, etc too. They all have to deal with a lot of the same problems.

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Specializes in Peds Homecare.

I think it is your daughter who should be researching this.

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Specializes in ICU.

I see nothing wrong with a parent helping their child with career choices; that is part of being a parent.

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I see nothing wrong with a parent helping their child with career choices; that is part of being a parent.

Yes I completely agree! My parents(or any other adult) were never involved in my academic life and it would've been helpful to have someone help me research and find other options out there. I'm finishing up my nursing pre-requisites now but I've decided to go to university for a degree in Speech Pathology. I looked into it/researched it and decided I prefer to give myself another option. No one ever told me there were other things besides nursing so do your research!

I may end up sticking to nursing but I'm going to give myself the chance to try for my bachelors in speech pathology. When I'm finished if I somehow decide I want to pursue nursing I will have all my pre-reqs completed and can apply to some nursing schools anyway.

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Also forgot to add, some good resources for highschoolers that are looking into different majors would be the collegeboard site. They have majors seperated into categories and there is a "health and medicine" category.

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Your daughter can find career testing online or get tests from her school's academic advisor. These plus Myers Briggs personality tests can help determine the type of career your daughter is best suited for.

That's great that your daughter will finish high school with so many credit hours completed. Help steer her in a directions where she'll likely do well.

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I see nothing wrong with a parent helping their child with career choices; that is part of being a parent.

AGREE!! I see a number of my friends whose children have completed their Bachelors degree and now back home unemployed with degrees that pretty much useless as far as the job market is concern. These days, it is very critical that students pursue the "right" degrees or risk be unemployed or having to pursue advanced degrees before landing a decent job.

I firmly believe it is important that parents offer career advice, since a lot of our teenagers do not have any sense of what the real world is about when it comes to career choices. The Guidance Counselors at these high schools are stretched to the limit and have very little time to devote to their students. The market-place is changing rapidly and career options available 10-years ago are no longer relevant. There are "new" fields evolving every day that our high schoolers are not aware of and this topic touch on a number of them. I see individuals on this site who have completed both a Bachelors and Masters degrees and are now pursuing a nursing degree after exhausting their financial aid. More than ever, students have to be very selective in the choice of their first degree, given the cost of tertiary education today and the competitive nature of the job market.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

I see nothing wrong with her mother giving her career advice and wanting her daughter to be financially and life-skills self sufficient at graduation. That is, in part, the point of going to college in the first place-getting specific training so one can start a career, or at least be able to survive on one's own.

Many Millennials go to college these days and major in areas they are unlikely to get a job in, or need further graduate degrees to succeed (art history and communications come to mind), and move back in with their parents. Now the parents are out college tuition, the student may have crushing loan debt, the launch into adulthood is stalled, and the parents have another mouth to feed.

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Specializes in assisted living.

job shadow, job shadow, job shadow!! I very much wish that I would have done this....and then maybe I would have chosen nursing the first time around :-) I am just graduating, and the job market has gotten better here (WI), but sometimes I wish I would have gone the PA route. It really all depends on the person...like someone on here said, pharmacy would be a great job for a lot of reasons...although I don't think it would be for me. I also start nodding off when in a room with a patient while PT is working with them. But sometimes just watching someone at their job can be boring no matter what it is because you aren't actually doing the job. Those in PT/OT do seem very happy. So my advice is don't rush!! Take time to check out everything, weight the pros and cons, ask a lot of people in those professions to get their advice. what is most stressful about their job? Does your daughter do well under pressure? How does she feel about bodily fluids and performing basic cares? Ask them what advice they would have for the person going to school for their job in terms of what jobs/volunteer positions etc. they should try to have during school to help them land a job upon graduation. And this site is awesome for learning about all kinds of nursing. Just keep in mind that it is kind of difficult right now to start in any area besides med/surg etc. Most specialties want a year or 2 of hospital experience. Maybe she would enjoy reading through some of the threads. And remember that many naturally come on here to vent, so she may see a lot of "this is what I hate about nursing." but just search "love nursing" etc. to see the other side of things :-) Good luck to her!!!

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Specializes in ICU.

When I was her age, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be, and I find that most people don't. I am forever grateful that my parents let me find my own way in life. It depends on what kind of kid she is. I know how stubborn I was, and still am. I would have never listened to a word my parents told me. I am one of those people that needs to figure it out on my own. My brother and sister though were completely different. My sister went straight out of school to college and got her doctorate in physical therapy and loves it. My brother got 2 bachelors degrees and has an awesome job in D.C. Everyone is different and I would let my child decide.

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I think it is your daughter who should be researching this.

Not really. It is actually very commendable of the Mom taking time to do a prior research for her daughter. Otherwise how can she have effective discussions with her daughter on a subject she knows nothing about?

I say: go Mom!:up:

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