Eager student seeks wisdom

[AmandaF]

I am a 19 year old woman in Oklahoma city, who started out in college toward medical school, and in the process i baiscally stumbled over nursing. I took an Overview of nursing course and now I am really interested in getting into the profession. There are so many opportunities out there! I am about to appy to my school's nursing program....and am pretty sure I will get in...at least that is what my advisor told me. But now that I am jumping into it, though still very excited, I am also quite overwhelmed. There is just so much I need to learn. I know that once I graduate i will want to specialize....but I am not sure in what or how to even do that. Basically I am searching for any advice or opinions or information that might be encouraging or helpful. Anything at all. I am so excited about entering into this profession and I just want to learn all that I can. So please feel free to email me and let me know what you specialize in, how you like it, or anything else you would like to share with an eager nursing student. Thank you for your time.

[mustangsheba]

Amanda: I could write a book to answer your questions. It's good to have a goal, but deciding on a specialty at this point is probably not realistic. You will work in many areas before you finish school, and many more will open up before you finish school. That's one of the things I love about nursing - it's diversity. You might find several areas fascinating. Just go into each experience with an open mind and heart, ask a million questions, and revel in the challenges. I wish you all the fulfillment that I have found in being a nurse.

[jnicoley]

I also want to specialize. My plan is to become a CRNA. I have found the most helpful information in that field was in the specialty forums, talking to people like me, who are just starting out, all the way to people who have been in that specialty for many years.

[colleen10]

Hi Amanda,

I'm way up in Pittsburgh, PA but my husband is from a tiney town in Oklahoma called Stratford. Love Oklahoma!

Everyone feels over whelmed when they start but just try to take one day at a time. Hate to say it, but you'll see from other posters here that even though you do learn a ton of information in school, when you are done you will probably still feel like you haven't learned enough. And that's really OK.

As far as choices try not to worry about it now. Keep yourself open to the experiences that you'll have in your clinical rotation. I know lots of people who totally thought that they would be an L&D nurse, for example, only to get through rotation and realize that didn't like it that much but totally fell in love with another area.

You could check out the Johnson & Johnson website about nursing. I have not been there but heard it is a good website and I believe they have career information regarding different areas of nursing. You could go there and do a little research.

Good Luck to you,

Colleen

[amblessing]

Hi Amanda!!

I'm from Oklahoma City too! Howdy! Go for it! nursing needs eager students like you and from what I understand some of the schools in Oklahoma are crying for nursing students.