Frustrated with This Career Tug of War I'm Playing

[MsNicki]

Hello everyone. I desperately need some advice, guidance, and/or suggestions. I am currently seeking a career change into the healthcare field. I have always had a passion for mental health and once was going to enter a PhD Psychology program but the lengthy process and dissertation scared me away so I continued working in customer service due to that being my main job experience. Longing to work in mental health and after caring for my grandmother, I decided becoming a psych RN would be a step in that direction because eventually I want to become a Psychiatric Mental Health NP.

I was going to go the RRT route to gain experience for PA school but have seen few jobs available in my area for RRTs and heard PA school is hard to enter. So I think the nursing route is for me but don't know where to start. I have no healthcare experience, no prerequisites and limited financial aid availability. I currently hold a BS in Criminal Justice and a MS in Forensic Psychology. My alma mater has a BSN and ABSN but since I don't have prerequisites, I would end up enrolling in the BSN which is 4yrs and costs more than their online RN-BSN program. I was thinking of going the ADN route but nearest program is 30 months and require pre-reqs as well but its cheaper. The downside is I heard RNs with ADN have a difficult time finding work. Is this accurate? Any ideas on where I should start and which route is more ideal, affordable and manageable to care for my son?

[caliotter3]

You can find many posts and threads on how to start the nursing journey; just look around. But in general, you will want to look at the links for all the nursing programs in your area to gain information on what the requirements are to apply for admission. You can choose a program based upon your decision on what will work for you. If you can afford, and can be accepted to, a BSN program, that is the best route to go, but you may find another route may be better for you. Nursing schools are very competitive. Many persons apply to several programs with the hopes of being accepted at just one. You know that you will require certain recent prerequisite courses, pretty standard. Admissions committees look at your GPA for those courses as well as your overall GPA (in general), so you want to do your best to have as many A's as you can accomplish. Look on the nursing school links to see what prereq courses are the same, as well as which are different for each program, and plan accordingly. Arrange an appointment with the nursing advisor at each school to get specific questions answered and to find out the process and where you stand with each program. Good luck.

[MsNicki]

Thank you for the advice. I don't have many programs near me with 2 schools having BSN and ABSN and 1 having the ADN program. There is another school I'm looking into that is an hour drive to see if it would be worth the drive. I graduated with a 3.7 GPA in my MS program, its just the prerequisites I would need to concentrate heavily on. I see now that I have a lot of research and thinking to do. Thanks again!!

[caliotter3]

Be careful with the school that is an hour away. I commuted an hour and a half to a BSN program (the nearest), and it turned into commuter's hell when my car started to break down, I had problems with my full time job, and dealt with serious illness as well as dealing with all the problems of being a single mother. Based upon the frequent complaints about ABSN programs being overwhelming, I would suggest looking at the BSN programs first, and the ASN program second. Since you have degrees under your belt, you will already have a good deal of transferable credits that could be used toward a BSN, might as well take advantage of them.

[MsNicki]

Oh no that sounds like a handful and that is why I am looking there last. I can relate to having many responsibilities because I am a single mother as well and I'm helping my mother care for my grandmother and going to school close by would help me out alot, keeping me closer to my family in case something happens at the last minute.

I am so glad that you brought up th transfer of credits because I'm so focused on the prerequisites, I assumed I would have to take everything without any credits being transfered. I have taken a lot of the general classes that could save me some time. Would the transfer of credits lessen some of the amount of time the BSN program takes to complete?

[caliotter3]

The nursing program itself will not be shortened, only the time required for the overall degree, depending on them accepting previous courses. Most schools limit transfer credits in (usually 70 semester units or 90 quarter units (?)). You will meet residency requirements because of the length of the nursing courses.

[MsNicki]

Oh ok I understand now. I hope that would work in my favor, especially if the program at my alma mater is what I'm looking for. Then they can tell me which credits will transfer.