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Discussion

Graduate school?

Hello everyone!

I am a very conflicted nursing student. I am entering my final semester of my undergraduate degree in nursing (BSN). I am currently working for a hospital near where I live and am being hired in as an RN once I graduate. I am 100% sure that I want to go back to school and get my graduate degree. I am 90% sure that I want to be an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. My question for all of you is if I should practice as an RN for a few years or begin getting my degree now while I am still willing? Here is a list of pros and cons I can think of. Please feel free to add and tell me your opinion!

Pros for going to graduate school now:

1. I am willing, young, have the energy, have no kids, and have hardly any other responsibilities besides my dog.

2. I will be working as an RN full time while I go back to school part time to get my graduate degree, so I will be getting experience as I go to school for about 3 years.

3.

Cons:

1. What if I change my mind about what kind of nurse practitioner I want to be?

2. Will going back to school make my transition into nursing harder?

3. Am I too young to make this decision? (I am 21)

4. I am already pretty burned out on schooling

Please feel free to leave your opinions, I am very open to any suggestions you may have. My fear is that if I don't go back now and do it, I never will.

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    • Featured Replies

    My recommendation, for whatever it's worth, is to work for at least a year or two before deciding to go back to school.

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    • Expert

    Work for a few years first.

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    I agree with the above posters. You need a couple of years to get the lay of the land, and then several more years to keep working, while taking courses part-time.

    The entire time you should be asking yourself "how would I handle this patient as a provider?"

    If you don't do this, and just do Acute NP school with minimal RN experience, and without extensive self preparation, you are at risk of becoming that awful clueless and dangerous NP grad that people talk about.

    My opinion only.

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    Get some experience first. Most of the projects in my program rely on students identifying real-life practice problems. I dont know how you would identify one without encountering them through work... Unless you just pick out a problem covered in a nursing magazine.

    Anyway, if you can actually connect what you're learning to what you see in practice, you will get a lot more out of school. Work first. 1-2 years will fly by.

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    I started after 2 years. Believe me, it flys by. Plus, I needed that time to decompress from nursing school, and I feel so much better prepared now than if I jumped immediately back into it.

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