Career changer needs advice.....

[Hodge]

well this being my first post, here is a little background:

i am currently employed in a fairly stable position in mid-level management. my problem is that i am not personally satisfied at work. call it an early mid-life crisis i guess (i am 31 year old male)! anyhow, i almost pursued nursing as a degree 10 years ago but was persuaded against it by my girlfriend (now ex-wife). as i find myself restless and without any baggage (i.e. kids, wife etc), i feel the time is right for me to pursue the career that i wanted to 10 years ago.

i do not have a college degree (about 1 year shy) but have completed a number of math (through multi-variable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra etc), science (1 year of chemistry and calc based physics), and economics/business classes. unfortunately, i never took any biology. all of the nursing programs are very competitive to get into and base admissions on prerequisite grades. i am confident that i can compete well in these classes, but i am still looking at 2 years before i can be admitted. here is where i need advice. my plans until then are to complete my prereqs. (basically 4 biology and 2 psych. courses), take spanish up, and work on auxiliary classes for my bsn. i will also be finishing the couple of classes i need for my ba in business administration. should i take an entry level position in the health care industry (i.e. nurses aid)? i would really like to get my feet wet (i did some volunteer work in high school at a nursing home), or would volunteering give me the experience i need? by keeping my current position, i would be able to save enough up to not have to work during the 2-year nursing program. from what i have read on this board, that would really be a plus!

thanks in advance for any advice/comments. i have spent a number of hours, since finding the board, reading over the many posts. it has been a great source of information.

[orrnlori, RN]

I was also mid level management in banking when I went to school to become a nurse. I started by hording money for when I would be quitting my job. :chuckle I took 2 classes per semester for a year while still working to get some of the junk classes out of the way. Then I quit my job (I had a working husband and an 8 year old son at the time, but cutting our income by more than half was a sobering experience). I went full time including summers for the next two years. I worked only a few months part time as a CNA between my first and second year of nursing school. I know that many here feel working as a CNA or PCT let's you know what nursing is about. Maybe. I didn't think taking vital signs and cleaning up patients was all that much of a learning experience, except that it simply made me see this whole career is no bed of roses so it was probably a good thing. Still, I don't necessarily think it's necessary IF you understand what a nurse really does. Since you are older and this is not an idea that struck you out of the blue, I think your best best would be to work a job that pays something and complete what you can in classes while socking money away for when you really won't be working. If during your unemployed-going to school phase you think you need to work as a CNA then feel free. If you are only a little shy of the business BS then get that out of the way first. As far as the psych classes you may be able to clep out of those and not have to even tie up your time sitting in classes. Good luck!

[gij1]

Cool that you are allowing yourself to follow your dream of becoming a nurse. Good that you have few of the pre-req courses out of the way. Make sure you are taking the correct courses here on out. See the nursing advisor of the college you want to get into. The advisor may have good advice about the type of candidate they are looking for. Volunteer experience in healthcare would of course look good on your application. You sound like you are on your way!

[MotivatedOne]

Hi, well I'm somewhat on the same boat as you...only difference is I'm unemployed and I have already have a degree. I'm not sure where you're from but you may want to consider applying to an accelerated BSN program which may take only a year to 14 months to complete once you've gotten your pre-reqs out of the way. As far as being a CNA that would probably help your chances of being accepted into a nursing program. I know here in NC at most nursing schools being a CNA 1 is now a requirement.

Good luck

Tiff