Getting RN while working FT

caliotter3 · Apr 13, 2010

If you live in the Los Angeles area, Mt. St. Mary's offers a weekend and evening ASN program. You would have to look to find such a program near you. There are not that many evening or weekend programs.

SarahOrtiz · Apr 13, 2010

Im actually in Charlotte NC right now...

Yea I havent had any luck yet

DoGoodThenGo · Apr 13, 2010

While it can be done, nursing programs today are *very* demanding, and some outright frown upon students working (yea, I know) at all. How one is supposed to earn a living and not go into massive debt on student loans (if financial aid is at all possible), while in school under those conditions is beyond me, but there you are.

Aside from looking for nursing programs with flexible hours, start to consider how going to nursing school will impact your family, expecially the children. You are going to require quite allot of time away (lectures, labs, other classes, clinicals, etc), not to mention a good dose of quiet time for study, writing papers and so forth. Many nursing programs are not forgiving if one's GPA falls below a certain level, and or a student cannot complete assigned work due to "personal" issues. Their feeling is you were told in advance about time requirements and standards, thus should have worked these things out beforehand.

Being as all that may, keep looking into programs and ask nurses in your area for recommendations about schools. Also look into seeing if there are any on-line options for classes. You might be able to get some of the pre-reqs and other classes done that way, this will lessen the time you need to be away from work, and or your children.

Best of luck!

SarahOrtiz · Apr 15, 2010

Yea I guess that is why I am so discouraged :confused: I know it will be a good career but I just dont see how its possible to do it while working and raising kids ((

UVA Grad Nursing · Apr 15, 2010

There are not a lot of part-time programs to become a RN. There is one program in my city that has classes three nights a week from 5pm-9pm, and clinicals every Saturday from 7a-4p. This program takes 3 years to complete. It is designed for individuals who already work in healthcare (LPNs, PCAs, PCTs) to advance to an RN certification.

In my state of Virginia, the Board of Nursing and the Commission on Higher Education have encouraged schools to enroll fulltime students only (as that can produce more RNs in a shorter period of time).

hotflashion, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2010

I guess if I was you, and not knowing anything at all about your situation, so this is really a stab in the dark, is that I would get all the pre-reqs done ahead of time as has been suggested. What you should watch out for, though, is that the pre-reqs you take at one school are transferable at your (future) nursing school. The safest method would be to target a nursing school and then take the pre-reqs at that school. I know that some transfer students in my class had to retake courses they'd already taken elsewhere because (by some magic computation method) they were not accepted.

At least a couple of students in my class were working, if not full time, then 24-36 hours a week, and one of them had kids (but also a spouse). Honestly, I don't know how they did it. Or, maybe I do: they hardly slept. They passed, but for some, this was by the skin of their teeth. The one with the spouse was already an LPN and that work/training helped him immensely; he already knew a lot of the medications, for example.

You might want to seriously consider the following route. Get a job in a hospital, one that you'd like to work in as a nurse. They will likely have benefits to help you pay for your education. Take your pre-reqs and see where you are after that. Consider getting training and then working, perhaps part time, in an allied health field. Consider training to be an LPN and working in that capacity for awhile.

If I had it to do all over, I might become an LPN first and then after a year or so of experience, go back for the RN. I think that the experience in practical aspects of nursing is invaluable and sorely lacking in today's RN programs.

Good luck!

deleern · Apr 27, 2010

I guess if I was you, and not knowing anything at all about your situation, so this is really a stab in the dark, is that I would get all the pre-reqs done ahead of time as has been suggested. What you should watch out for, though, is that the pre-reqs you take at one school are transferable at your (future) nursing school. The safest method would be to target a nursing school and then take the pre-reqs at that school. I know that some transfer students in my class had to retake courses they'd already taken elsewhere because (by some magic computation method) they were not accepted.
At least a couple of students in my class were working, if not full time, then 24-36 hours a week, and one of them had kids (but also a spouse). Honestly, I don't know how they did it. Or, maybe I do: they hardly slept. They passed, but for some, this was by the skin of their teeth. The one with the spouse was already an LPN and that work/training helped him immensely; he already knew a lot of the medications, for example.
You might want to seriously consider the following route. Get a job in a hospital, one that you'd like to work in as a nurse. They will likely have benefits to help you pay for your education. Take your pre-reqs and see where you are after that. Consider getting training and then working, perhaps part time, in an allied health field. Consider training to be an LPN and working in that capacity for awhile.
If I had it to do all over, I might become an LPN first and then after a year or so of experience, go back for the RN. I think that the experience in practical aspects of nursing is invaluable and sorely lacking in today's RN programs.
Good luck!

That is exactly what I did, I sold my business took a Night CNA JOB. My job paid for my CNA classes, and then I started the LPN program while I worked full time. After 6 months I was able to start using my PTO so I could work 1 day less a week. I took all the online classes that I could. I graduated from LPN in 3 semesters. Then I worked as a LPN while I was doing the RN program.

During the whole thing I worked full time. And life went on. Both my Daughter and Son were married, my son Graduated from HS and Collage (with post secondary he graduated with his Bachelors at 21. ) He is a city manager for a small city in NW MN.

You have to Micro manage time. From start to finish it took me 3 years. I have been an RN for 3 years and I love it more than I can tell you.

PS. I passed with a 3.47 GPA, I called in 1 time in 3years, and never missed a day of school. BUT I kept my eye on the ball. and knew that there was an end in site.

muskylounge · Apr 29, 2010

At least a couple of students in my class were working, if not full time, then 24-36 hours a week, and one of them had kids (but also a spouse). Honestly, I don't know how they did it. Or, maybe I do: they hardly slept. They passed, but for some, this was by the skin of their teeth. The one with the spouse was already an LPN and that work/training helped him immensely; he already knew a lot of the medications, for example.
Good luck!

I did, am working F/T right now. I am not working in a related field. The ADN program I am about ready to graduate from does offer evening clinicals and classes but the evening clinicals are usually done by 6 or 7pm. I may be one of two f/t students in the program. I can assure you that we rely heavily on family for support. When I say we I mean we. My wife and I are both in the program together and will graduate at the same time. We have 3 kids and 3 dogs. We are almost insane. At the end of each semester we peak at insanity and then we have a few weeks to gather our wits till the next round starts again (haha).

The job I have now have has flexible hours and I make a new two week schedule bi monthly. Basically I need to get in 40 hours within 70 hours of possible time. Not a whole lot of extra time to spare for school and clinicals but somehow I managed. I will say my children sacrificed the most. They missed a lot of Daddy time over the past 24 months but I will be able to make it up to them very soon. My wifes family and some of mine have helped us through this journey we did the leg work but it would not have been possible with out help. If you have children and a f/t job you will need HUMILITY a word often misundrstood. You will need to learn to ask for help.

I know anyone can do it if we did it. And we did do it!

musky

:yeah:

poppy101 · Apr 29, 2010

Mercy offers night classes. Deadline for Spring 2011 is sometime in June. Good Luck.

fitRNpic · May 27, 2010

It is extremely challenging and very hard work. I was a CNA/Nurse Tech for 7 years before I finally received my BSN. At first, I wasn't so sure about nursing. I did the CNA thing because it paid better than minimum wage. Once I found that there are a ton of different opportunities in the nursing field, I found my love! It took me a long time to get pre-req's done. I was working full time and school part-time, and was also a military police officer in the Army National Guard (which was at the time when 9/11 happened!). Then, when I got pregnant and couldn't get a job, I went to school full time. I even returned to class the day after I was discharged from the hospital after having my son. I applied to a lot of different nursing programs (both BSN and ADN). Some of the schools didn't accept all of my credits, some did accept some of them but wanted me to take more classes that were required for their program, and then I found a school (State University with a private BSN nursing program) that accepted ALL of my previous college courses and I didn't have to take anything more. I was accepted to the school, but not the nursing program. So, we moved!! I took a few classes, and by some slim chance, I received some information about getting the funding for school from the state to pay for nursing school if you met certain requirements. I applied to that program and was accepted and started nursing school that year in the fall! I took a full time Nurse Tech position at one of the local hospitals working night shift. To tell you the truth, I don't even know how I got through it all!! I continued to work full time nights and went to school/clinicals during the day/afternoon/evening hours. There were a lot of times that I would work all night, change my clothes right before my shift ended, and headed straight to clinical. Lucky for me, most of my clinicals were at the hospital I worked at (and we didn't get to choose clinical location, they were assigned to us!). Studying was very difficult to do at home because my then toddler son was very very active and always wanting to know what I was doing or thinking that he could help me!! :) I often would go to the library to study almost all night. The school I went to would keep the library open 24 hours a day during midterms and finals. I struggled a lot! Nursing school is very demanding of you and your time. There were times when I wouldn't get any sleep for 24-72 hours. I was going on coffee and motivation (at least what I had left for motivation!). When assigned to do group projects or presentations, many of the other student nurses didn't understand why I couldn't make it to meetings and such. I tried not to make my situation any of their business, but eventually told them that I was working full time and married with a toddler at home. They just don't understand, even after the explanation. I was the non-traditional student in a sea of young, just turning 21, no responsibilities, still living at home, mom and dad paying everything, nursing students. It was tough. I made it through with a final cumulative GPA of 3.2! Passed NCLEX the first time with ALL 265 questions! However, getting a job has been the tough part. I graduated in 2007 and got my license that summer. I had started applying for jobs during my last year of nursing school and still didn't have a job by the time I graduated. I took a job where I currently worked just because I couldn't get anything that I wanted elsewhere. A few months later, I was offered what was supposed to be my dream job and moved my family AGAIN. It was my dream job, just not the right facility/hospital to do it. I have struggled to get employed. I forced myself to take jobs that I did not want and had no interest in just to support my family. Of course, none of them lasted because I have come across some bad situations at these places. I am still in search of my dream job and hope that someday it will happen for me.

I hope that you will really think about this long and hard. Becoming a nurse is a huge commitment and you really need support from family and friends in order to do it. I believe that it can be a rewarding career choice (I just haven't found that yet). I also believe that people can do whatever they set their mind to. I was extremely motivated and committed to becoming a nurse. I did what needed to be done in order to reach that goal!

I wish you good luck in whatever you decide to do. Just make sure you do the research before jumping the gun.

Conqueror+, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2010

It can be done but you have to really want it bad and lay out a plan. It can be done without a spouse if you have other support (parents,siblings) to help you. Otherwise, this may not be the best time. Hang in there.