Children's vs. Mayo

I am a new grad and trying to decide between a job at Mayo on a medical unit or Children's Hospital in the level IIIc NICU. Working in the NICU has been my dream job and to be able to start there as a new grad would be amazing but I don't know if it would be dumb of me to pass up an offer from Mayo. The only major downfall for Mayo is the fact that I'll be commuting over an hour (and that I will be passing up the chance to work in an area I really like) :/ Does anyone have advice about going directly into a specialty like the NICU right away??

Thank you!!!

Have you made your decision ? I would go for the NICU job. It is your dream position, and you do not have to travel as far. Getting into specialty areas as a new grad is a really great experience. (priceless) Who knows... maybe one day you will get the oportunity to work in the NICU at Mayo :) Good Luck!

Did you actually receive job offers for said jobs? Generally, in order to work in a level III NICU, you're going to need some expereince. I say this only because I had my clinical externship at St. Paul Kids in the NICU- it was an amazing experience, but most of those RN's had been there for many years and had experience in other fields prior to that. I work in postpartum, and even at our hospital which is only level I, you need to have a background in OB or peds ICU- even adult ICU. It's really intense there, I have to tell you.

As far as Mayo goes- weigh carefully the benefits of working there versus traveling there and consider the commute in weather like we've had over the last 48 hours and the price of fuel.