All CO nursing school applicants and prenursing READ THIS!

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

This thread is written mostly by CO new grads or current students. Everyone thinking about going into nursing school in CO should read it:

New grad? Here's what you can expect.. - Nursing for Nurses

It is not fair for people to work so hard to get into and through NS without knowing the true reality that your school won't tell you until after you are in if they even mention it... and certainly not the 1-3 new nursing programs that are opening each year adding to the mess: THERE IS A SEVERE SURPLUS of new nurses, particularly in CO.

Here is a small part of my post from that thread:

In the state of Colorado, there are LITERALLY 24 BSN and 28 ADN classes graduating each year. This overproduction of NG RNs in Colorado created a glut YEARS BEFORE the economy crashed. Now the NG job market is even worse, as bad as it gets in the USA. How bad?

1. I worked my butt off to get into a program that is usually regarded in the top 3 in the state, I have a 4.0 in the honors program, I'll have 9 years of medical experience when I graduate, and I have our career center director telling me that I should probably look for employment in other states after I graduate!

2.I know several people people who went to nursing school in Nebraska because they couldn't get into one of the top 50% of the BSN program in CO. They all plan to try and move back to CO. Some went to OK, KS, and WY. Even more went the online route. They are all coming back to compete for jobs.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

The number I heard, according to some regional nursing education professional organization, is that there are over 500 unemployed new grad RNs in the Denver area at the end of Q3 '10. This suggests that ~50% of new grads do not have jobs.

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Jobs in ALL PROFESSIONS are extremely difficult to get these days. If you took a survey at any college you would find very few students obtaining jobs in their chosen field.... not just nursing.

The economic state of affairs is a disaster in the U.S. I don't mean to be a "downer" but this is the truth.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

Certainly so, but if you talk to most nursing an prenursing students, they still think there is a nurse shortage that will guarantee them a job on graduation. Many left jobs to go into nursing. It is only fair for people to have a realistic expectation before they commit so much of their life.

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I agree with you completely. When I tell people there is NOT a nursing shortage they think I'm crazy; is this due to the media? Seems like there are always ads about healthcare jobs being in need. This may be where the problem is. I come from a teaching background and everyone knows there aren't any teacher positions available ...though students still go to school to get their certification/ license thinking things will change. Guess people just need to research the job market more; but who can you believe???

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

Since this CO forum seems to be predominantly prenursing students - they can't say they weren't warned.

And things won't change for several years. There is already a glut + way to many in the pipeline. it may get worse before better.

Great job on the OP summit.

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