Advice to a High School Senior?

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Hi guys! I'm Amber and a senior in high school. I've wanted to be a nurse since my grandfather was in the hospital with Alzheimer's Disease. Seeing the way they treated him and my family was amazing and since that time (about 2 years) nursing has always been very high on my possible careers list.

I have a 26 ACT score (taking it again this month, shooting for a 28!) and 3.7 GPA. I also take college classes in the afternoon through an agreement with the local university and my high school. I'm trying to get some of my general education done. I work at a pharmacy on Saturdays and I love being able to help people, especially explaining medications to elderly folks. They seem to appreciate it so much.

I know I've rambled A LOT in this post, but I'd like to know what else I can do to improve my chances of getting into nursing school and just making for certain nursing is for me. I plan on shadowing/volunteering after Christmas at a local hospital. Any advice from nurses or nursing students would be very, very, very much appreciated. Thanks! :)

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Shadowing a nurse is a good idea so you can see what they do "behind the scenes" that you may have not realized when they were taking care of your grandpa. Have you applied to nursing schools yet?

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Thanks ChristineN. I'm definitely going to shadow. My college application is going in the mail later this week. I'm almost done with it!

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I think it's wonderful that you know what you want to do at such a young age. I would also reccommend shadowing.. I did this all my life as my mom is a nurse and I went to work with her a lot as a kid. Other than that, just work hard and keep positive!! Good luck!!

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Maybe at the college you're taking courses at now you can take some of the prerequisites for nursing to get them out the way

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Thanks 3rdgenRN2B and able2009! That's great advice. :D

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You sound like you're on the right track! Do some research about schools in your area and what the requirements are to get into the nursing program. A lot of times you can go and talk to an advisor or someone similar at the school and they can give you a realistic idea of what it takes. Also make sure you start getting your prereqs out of the way and try to get the best grades possible in them, it will save you a lot of trouble down the road! Good luck to you!

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Specializes in LTC.

Take any pre-reqs you can. A lady I work with did that in high school (the same thing you are doing). Also I don't know where you are looking into but here if you had keyboarding, certain sciences in high school they counted as pre-reqs. So if you are taking high school classes as well you might look into that.

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Specializes in 6 yrs LTC, 1 yr MedSurg, Wound Care.

Hi Amber!

I was wondering if you had considered becoming a CNA (nurse's assistant). This would give you an excellent opportunity to get some hands on experience and help you to decide if you really want to get into nursing. From what I have read, some places require you to become a CNA first anyway. Plus a regular paycheck is nice as well!!

A lot of the schools here where I live only take about 2 weeks and cost around $500. There are also nursing homes that train for free and prepare you to test. This is the route I will be going just to be sure that nursing is the career I want before I spend loads on college.

Good luck in whatever you decide and good girl for doing so well in school! I'm sure your parents are very proud!

Dondie

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