Unsure about RN

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi All,

I'm at a cross road and I'm having a hard time deciding what to do, I'm hoping you, as nurses, can help me decide what to do next. A little backstory is that I have an undergrad in business (marketing and international business). I graduated and because really passionate about environmentalism and started working on farms and planned to own one myself down the line. After a few setbacks I needed a job and I was hired at a hospital as a unit coordinator (receptionist-ish job). From there I moved up in the hospital setting and am now a drug and alcohol counselor. The catch is that I really don't like my job. It's really depressing and I don't often see any positive results from patients I work with.

Recently, I started taking prerequisites for nursing school. I decided to start them because it made sense at the time, my mom, sister, sister in law and several close family friends are all nurses so it seemed like a logical choice at the time. Now that I'm on my third and final prerequisite I'm find myself dreading the work, whether it be going to class or studying and I have this strong nagging feeling that I'm not very passionate about nursing as a whole and that I'm going into that profession for the wrong reasons, hours, salary, stability, family pressure etc.

My worst fear is waking up hating my job every day for the next 30 years and not following my passion. When people talk to me about nursing school I get a feeling like I've swallowed a massive rock. I think I'm really just scared to follow my passion for environmentalism and work in that field and I'm worried about talking to my family (all nurses) about my decision to go/not go to nursing school.

I know that's a bit of an information dump but I really need the unbiased opinion of others. I don't want to talk to my family until I decide what to do.

Thanks for your insights!

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

If you are already dreading it, don't enjoy the hospital environment, and know that you don't find this fulfilling, why on earth would you keep going with this? I find what I do to be important and interesting and I STILL question what I'm doing with my life, lol.

I would suggest discussing your concerns with a career counselor through your school. They can help you translate your interests into something that can also support you. I totally get the need to have a job and feel secure that you can always find work, but there's got to be a way to do that and not be miserable.

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Your relatives know nursing and they know you ...why are you reluctant to talk to them about this?

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

An unbiased opinion based on the tone of your post is that you should not pursue something you dislike before you've even really started. But as Sour Lemon pointed out, talking with people that know you better will probably be helpful, and support from family and friends is important when evaluating life decisions.

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Nursing is a challenging enough job, even when you know that you know it is what you want to do. I'll be honest; when I started nursing undergraduate, I wasn't sure that I even wanted to be a nurse. My mom and my grandma were nurses, and I knew that I didn't want to do the type of nursing they did...

But I knew that I loved and adored science and healthcare in general. Medicine and the science of the human body fascinated me. I knew I didn't want the lifestyle of a physician, PT and OT weren't medical enough for me...so even though I didn't know exactly where I wanted to be in healthcare, I knew I wanted to be on the front lines. Nursing ended up a default because I knew the variety was endless and if I wanted to leave the bedside, there were dozens of advanced practice options.

I hated nursing school. All of it. I freaked that I had made a mistake. I graduated with my BSN and got my RN at 21. Over time, I moved around and found areas that I liked and that worked for certain periods of my life. When I got bored, I moved on to a new specialty. The variety in nursing is exactly why I love it.

That being said, while I didn't like the nursing program, I loved my prereqs. Chemistry, microbiology, calculus, statistics, psychology and abnormal psychology, A&P, pharmacology...I adored all of them. And while I didn't enjoy nursing school, I liked what I saw that actual practicing nurses did, and that kept me going.

I think hating the preqs is significant. I think feeling like you have a rock in your throat even thinking about nursing is significant. And I think that you already know the answer to your question. You don't want to be a nurse.

Please listen to your gut. School is time consuming and expensive. Time and money that you could spend pursuing something you like and that doesn't make you feel like suffocating.

While I don't subscribe to the theory that nursing is a calling”, I don't think that you will be able to be remotely content, let alone happy, in something just because the pay is reasonable and the schedule can be flexible. Because sometime the schedule does suck (weekend requirements, starting on night shift, working part of every holiday, taking call, mandatory overtime or back up shifts”, etc.). Some people would not call that a flexible schedule.

Nursing is a demanding job, and while I don't think you have to love it, I do think that you have to find it at least interesting.

I think it's better to cut bait early. Forget family. They can't live your life for you...you are the one that will have to wake up every day and do the job, not them.

Best Wishes

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

I think you've already answered your own question: "after a few setbacks, I needed a job". A lot of people start eyeballing nursing after other jobs fail them. It is rare, in my opinion, that nurses seek other jobs because the nursing field has failed them in that same manner.

Continue on with your current path, get an RN license, begin working as a nurse (part-time if that's all that you can muster), and in your spare time; try to fulfill your dreams of that farm, knowing that your fallback plan is already in effect.

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Specializes in 15 years in ICU, 22 years in PACU.
Hi All,

I'm at a cross road and I'm having a hard time deciding what to do, I'm hoping you, as nurses, can help me decide what to do next. A little backstory is that I have an undergrad in business (marketing and international business). I graduated and because really passionate about environmentalism and started working on farms and planned to own one myself down the line. After a few setbacks I needed a job and I was hired at a hospital as a unit coordinator (receptionist-ish job). From there I moved up in the hospital setting and am now a drug and alcohol counselor. The catch is that I really don't like my job. It's really depressing and I don't often see any positive results from patients I work with.

Recently, I started taking prerequisites for nursing school. I decided to start them because it made sense at the time, my mom, sister, sister in law and several close family friends are all nurses so it seemed like a logical choice at the time. Now that I'm on my third and final prerequisite I'm find myself dreading the work, whether it be going to class or studying and I have this strong nagging feeling that I'm not very passionate about nursing as a whole and that I'm going into that profession for the wrong reasons, hours, salary, stability, family pressure etc.

My worst fear is waking up hating my job every day for the next 30 years and not following my passion. When people talk to me about nursing school I get a feeling like I've swallowed a massive rock. I think I'm really just scared to follow my passion for environmentalism and work in that field and I'm worried about talking to my family (all nurses) about my decision to go/not go to nursing school.

I know that's a bit of an information dump but I really need the unbiased opinion of others. I don't want to talk to my family until I decide what to do.

Thanks for your insights!

Serously? You think these are the positive aspects (though wrong for you) of nursing?

At the beginning of your nursing career you will have the worst hours, nights, weekends, holidays, split nights, rotating nights etc.

Salary is modest in some parts of the country. Downright sad in others. Once you gain some degree of experience you can make some coin but that is usually associated with the sheer number of hours you put in.

Stability is relative. Some people on this very board now feel trapped because they can't quit their crappy job now that they have these huge student loans to pay back. With the whole healthcare thing in such flux, Nursing isn't near as stable as it once was.

Only you can decide if you will let your family pressure you into something you clearly don't want.

If you need a stranger to tell you not to go into Nursing, here it is. Do NOT go into Nursing.

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