CNA while in nursing school?

[klarajox]

hi! i'm currently a high school senior. in the fall, i will be attending college, where i am planning to receive my bsn in three years as opposed to the standard four years. i currently work prn (approximately 40 hours biweekly) as a cna for a local nursing home. the nursing home is part of a chain corporation. i had been planning to transfer throughout my company so i could continue work as an aide while in college. however, i have begun to worry that my courseload and my job as a cna may be too heavy. opinions on whether i should work as a cna or get an on-campus job that may be more flexible? (not having a job isn't necessarily an option for me)

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Welcome to AN! Working while in school is a topic that comes up fairly often here. If you head over to the student forums (nursing student and pre-nursing student), you can search just within those forums by using the search bar at the bottom of the page to read previous advice given.

Personally, I worked pretty much full time and went to school full time up until my final semester of nursing school. My preceptorship schedule didn't allow for working. It really depends on your personality, your study needs, and your support system.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Like Rose_Queen above, I also had to work full time and go to school full time. In my particular case, I was able to make things work during my final semester preceptorship. Depending upon how flexible your work is, you may be able to do the same thing. However, as a CNA, you won't likely be able to study while at work. That can make a difference as well. I (and many others) normally suggest that people work as little as possible during nursing school. As you're a CNA, you will be able to breeze through much of the fundamental stuff but once you get past that, you'll be like everyone else.

Nursing School is often a very programmed thing. Once you're in the school "pipeline" you can't alter it to fit your schedule/life. I certainly applaud your willingness to get through your BSN in 3 vs 4 years. If you're able to blast through all your LDGE and prerequisites in your first year, then it's doable but you'll have to maintain a very high GPA in spite of the very heavy load to do it or you won't be competitive for entry to any BSN program.

Could I have done it when I started nursing school? Yes. I could have done a BSN program in just 2 years... because it would have been a 2nd Bachelors for me. Nursing school really is very hard, but most of it comes from the workload, not the academics itself. While the NCLEX was (hands-down) the hardest exam I've ever taken, nursing school itself wasn't the hardest thing I've done academically.

[BBboy]

Keep the job, I worked as a CNA through pre-reqs and continue to work as a CNA during Nursing School. The experience will look great on a resume if you try to get into a hospital at some point and I'm not sure about you but a typical CNA job in my state pays much more than a normal on campus or retail job...