Did you have to go the scenic route to complete nursing school?

[szccdw]

Although I'm almost done it seems like I've been in school forever. I took 1 class in the evenings and another either online or on Saturday to complete my gen ed courses. That took almost 2 years to do for an ADN program. Now I'm in and will graduate in December but I am so burnt out December 2004 seems like years away. Did anyone else have to go the long route also due to family, mortgage and other obligations?

[manna, BSN, RN]

I've been working on pre-reqs since the spring after my son was born. He'll be 6 in August, so that's about 5 years. After this semester, I'll officially have 64 hours worth of credits. I'm a wee bit burned out and feel like it's taking forever... but hopefully IF I can pass Chem this semester I'll enroll in the nursing school this fall and graduate in 2006 (when I'm 29, my goal was always to graduate by 30 too!)

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I went straight through, but it still took me four years to complete a two-year degree. I'd been out of high school for almost 20 years, and at that time I couldn't even do long division, so I had to start at the bottom of the math food chain. Then I had to take all the science courses.......chemistry, microbiology, A & P, psych, sociology etc. plus the general ed courses needed for an associates' degree. By the time I was done I'd run up a tab of over $20,000 in student loans which I continue paying to this day. But it was worth it, I'll say that, even though it took what seemed like forever. :)

[Nemhain]

You're all gonna hate me...I'll graduate in May 2005 and I started in January 2003...so that's just 2 and a half years. I was on my schools waiting list for only 2 months. I guess I just got lucky.

[jemride]

My Career Path since I graduated high school has been (23 years of experience in multiple settings):

Navy Hospital Corpsman

Emergency Medical Technician (National Registry Certified)

Surgical Technician (AST Certified)

Surgical Technician - Instructor

Registered Nurse (BSN)

Oncology Clinical Specialist (ONCC Certified)

Master's Prepared Nurse Educator (Advanced Degreed with ANCC certification)

Advanced Trauma Life Support Coordinator (American College of Surgeons Certified)

Hospital Based Computer Based Training Administrator

Hospital Computer Applications Information Systems Administrator (MCSE Certified)

Radiology PACS Administrator (IBM & Agfa Certified)

Hospital Information System's Network Engineer (CCNA Certified)

*Currently working on my PhD in Computer Science with a focus in Biometrics.

How is that for a "scenic route" for ya!

OMG hbscott, you are my role-model! !

[hbscott]

OMG hbscott, you are my role-model! !

Why thank you. All I can say is that my career unfolded the way it did because of a combination of many things. My focus has always remained in health care.

Ambition, Aptitude and Opportunity are attributes that we all share but take us all in unique directions. I have been fortunate and for that I am grateful. But I have also made some good choices in my life and for that I remain humble.

If you have a broadband connection (cable, DSL, T1, etc) I will share with you the following link for further clarification on how I achieved the things I did. You will also need a Power Point viewer installed on your computer to view the PPS (Power Point Show) file. I am about to retire from the Navy to pursue other opportunities and the slide show below is being used in my retirement ceremony. It pretty much shows how I got to where I am today.

http://home.comcast.net/~hbscott61/HughScott.pps

If you need a free Power Point Viewer see the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=428D5727-43AB-4F24-90B7-A94784AF71A4&displaylang=en

Good Luck in all your endeavors!

-HBS