Advice on military and graduate degree

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I am a male beginning nursing school this summer and will graduate with my BSN in a little over a year. It's a fast program. I have always been interested in the service aspect of the military and I like the idea of team camaraderie and leadership. I am a highly successful and motivated student (always the top of my class) and I am married.

Here's my main issue:

I want to further my studies and obtain a graduate degree (NP, CRNA, administration) as soon as I can in my career. If I were to join the national guard or reserves, how difficult is it to attend graduate school while also serving part time, especially CRNA school? Will the military likely pay for this schooling, and if so, is a longer service commitment required?

I am looking for some advice on this topic. If I could go back in time I would have probably joined ROTC, but now it is a little too late for that.

Thanks,

Mavrick

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Quite honestly, the fastest way to become an advanced-practice nurse is to get a few years of experience and get your advanced degree before commissioning. The military currently would retroactively pay some of your loans depending on the branch and the specialty.

If you can wait, you can work as a military floor nurse and go back to school 3-5 years later.

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Do you know how much experience the military would require to commission as a NP? Or what about a CRNA? I am assuming it varies by branch and need.

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I also think you should go Advanced Practice on your own first (if you are planning on coming in full-time active duty).

Coming in on active duty, you will have to do your time before applying for advanced practice, and you will have to compete for a spot. There are no guarantees. For example, let's say you want CRNA. In order to get into the Navy's CRNA program you usually have to have a couple years of critical care experience. If you are assigned as a floor nurse in MedSurg, PEDS, or OB, your whole time--you see the problem? The friends I have that made it to CRNA school spent 2-3 years on medsurg and a couple years in the ICU. There's no guarantee you'll ever make it to the ICU as a new grad because the military will assign you where they need you at the time.

As a reservist, you will only be required to work as a nurse 1 weekend a month (drill weekend) and a 2-week Annual Training (AT) Period. You can work on whatever specialty you want on your own and then apply to have your subspecialty code changed to you APRN certification.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but NP, CRNA, and admin are vastly different things. I would really keep an open mind until you finish school, or at least until you are far enough into things to figure out what kind of nursing you'd like to do. Nursing is amazingly diverse, but I think it is best to experience the profession before you make long-range plans. Good luck in your program!

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I also think you should go Advanced Practice on your own first (if you are planning on coming in full-time active duty).

Coming in on active duty, you will have to do your time before applying for advanced practice, and you will have to compete for a spot. There are no guarantees. For example, let's say you want CRNA. In order to get into the Navy's CRNA program you usually have to have a couple years of critical care experience. If you are assigned as a floor nurse in MedSurg, PEDS, or OB, your whole time--you see the problem? The friends I have that made it to CRNA school spent 2-3 years on medsurg and a couple years in the ICU. There's no guarantee you'll ever make it to the ICU as a new grad because the military will assign you where they need you at the time.

As a reservist, you will only be required to work as a nurse 1 weekend a month (drill weekend) and a 2-week Annual Training (AT) Period. You can work on whatever specialty you want on your own and then apply to have your subspecialty code changed to you APRN certification.

Thank you for the insight. Sounds like reserve is a good idea or just simply waiting until after my APRN. I know med students cannot be deployed during school, does this protection extend to a student in a NP or CRNA program who is a reservist?

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Please don't take this the wrong way, but NP, CRNA, and admin are vastly different things. I would really keep an open mind until you finish school, or at least until you are far enough into things to figure out what kind of nursing you'd like to do. Nursing is amazingly diverse, but I think it is best to experience the profession before you make long-range plans. Good luck in your program!

I understand how different all those jobs are, but my interests are just as diverse. That's why I was attracted to the nursing profession - all the possibilities and areas for advancement. For instance, physical therapists do not have all these possibilities but nurses do.

If you don't mind, how long did it take you to figure out exactly where you wanted to be/ what you want to do? I wonder if I will ever be able to really decide.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
If you don't mind, how long did it take you to figure out exactly where you wanted to be/ what you want to do? I wonder if I will ever be able to really decide.

Lol. Some days I am still not sure! I was a paramedic first, so working in the ER when I became an RN was a no-brainer. I didn't become a nurse until I was 36, and then I commissioned into the Army at 38. I came within a capstone of completing my MSN in Informatics while on active duty (done on my own time while working in the ER and then while deployed), but now I have transferred my credits into an FNP program. So I am not sure if I am the best role model in terms of charting a course and sticking to it, but I have enjoyed my nursing career so far, almost 7 years into it.

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Pixie,

That is definitely not "traditional" but I still consider your approach a good example. What made you not want to finish informatics?

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Pixie,

That is definitely not "traditional" but I still consider your approach a good example. What made you not want to finish informatics?

It's not that I didn't want to finish, but I hit a roadblock in terms of a lazy person hampering my ability to do my capstone where I work.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Pixie,

That is definitely not "traditional" but I still consider your approach a good example. What made you not want to finish informatics?

It's not that I didn't want to finish, but I hit a roadblock in terms of a lazy person hampering my ability to do my capstone where I work.

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Thank you for the insight. Sounds like reserve is a good idea or just simply waiting until after my APRN. I know med students cannot be deployed during school, does this protection extend to a student in a NP or CRNA program who is a reservist?

If you are a drilling reservists and something bad comes up, and your subspecialty code is needed-- they may grab you. Med school students are different because they aren't licensed yet. I had RN friends who were in the middle of graduate programs when they were mobilized to support the Iraqi Invasion and later in Afghanistan.

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