Could I have some help planning out my future?

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I'm currently a junior in high school and for about the past four years I've had my heart set on becoming a nurse anesthetist. However, I'm also fairly paranoid and am only interested in direct entry 4 year nursing programs. All the colleges at my state follow the 2 years general / 2 years nursing pattern. I'm also not capable if attending any private or out of state schools since my family wouldn't qualify for any sort if financial aid.

Last year I discovered the University of Alberta. It's ranked the fourth best nursing school in the world and the international tuition is equal to in-state tuition where I live. I visited the campus over the summer and it seems like a great place. I'm worried about how an out of state BSN would affect my career. Canada and the US currently take the same NCLEX, so I feel like getting US certification would be very easy and having a more "prestigious" degree would increase my chances of getting into a critical care environment pretty soon after graduation and make it easier to get accepted into DNAP program. On the other hand, I'm worried that although it is an amazing nursing school it isn't well known in the US and therefore wouldn't carry any prestige. I'm also worried that I would be unable to enter a DNAP program with a foreign degree.

Any help/clarification you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Specializes in NICU.

It is highly advisable to get your education in the country that you intend to work in. The topic of the value of a "pretiguous" nursing school has been covered on another thread. The lofty titles of prestigous or top 10 nursing school usually don't matter to most hospitals. You need to look at schools that have clinicals at a hospital that hires new grads in ICU frequently. Being rememberable during clinicals in the ICU will help when it comes time for your job search. A school that has a preceptorship/ Capstone in your final semester will help you get an ICU job as a new grad. It is essentially a semester long job interview. You are 1:1 with a nurse in a specialty that interests you. If you impress them, you are more likely to get a new grad position since most of your orientation is covered in your preceptorship.

Why are you only interested in the 4 yr direct entry instead of 2 yrs pre-reqs and 2 yrs nursing classes?

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Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.

Moved to pre-nursing forum.

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