Advice please. LPN or RN. Halfway through and not sure what to do.

[vc01ca]

I'm driving myself crazy on what to do and would love if someone could give me some input/advice. This is long, but I would appreciate any comments.

Here is the deal. I'm a CNA. Worked 2 years in LTC and 1 1/2 years in med surg at a hospital. I'm am currently in a tough RN program and halfway done. By tough I mean less than 10 out of 60 students pass each semester. Its really rough. Our school's NCLEX pass rates are 99% and they intend to keep it that way.

I am debating on dropping down to the LPN program at the same school. I would only have to go one semester since I have made it this far and I would have my LPN. The only bad thing is I can't quit my job. I'd have to pay back my tuition reimbursement. Plus I love working at a hospital and i learn soooo much there. Some of my former class mates dropped to the LPN program and they are actually getting to do more skills in clinical than we did in the RN program. Some of the students who were bombing their RN tests are now getting A's in the LPN program. I've been passing in the RN program but barely. Anything under an 82% is failing and I've been getting around 84-86% on my tests.

My concern is if I fail the RN program I will be put back on a wait list which could be 3-5 years to get back in and i would have nothing to fall back on. I've looked into other schools but I would have to start at the beginning of their program if I switched.

Plus I feel like we are just flying through our RN material. We have soooo much info crammed into our program that I feel like my head is going to explode. I don't even feel remotely prepared to be an RN. Lets just put it this way, I started clinical in January and after 6 months we were hold we should be at an LPN level.

I am at such a loss at what to do. If I go LPN I'd have to work two jobs since I have to keep my hospital job. They rarely hire LPNs there. I know as an LPN I'd be working at LTC most likely. I know LTC is rough and understaffed. If I stay in the RN program and don't make it I may not get back in for years, so I will not have that LPN to fall back on. Even if I do complete my RN, our hospital has said they will only hire me if I am working on my BSN (which I did plan to do).

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!