Guidance Please

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Greetings to all,

I am a 45 yr old male in process of changing careers.

I have just been accepted into the RN program at my local community college but I am having second thoughts.

I have an existing B.S in an unrelated field. If I go through the program I was accepted to it will take minimally, 16 mos and will result in an A.S. in Nursing and ultimately the RN. The same school offers a BSN but it is online and part time and only available after the 16 mos RN program.

There are other programs in other states that offer entry points into their MSN programs for folks like me that have an existing BS in an unrelated field.

Bottomline,

If I am willing to spend ALOT more money I can potentitally be a nurse practioner in 3 to 4 years and if I remain here, at best I will have my BSN in the same time period.

I am also struggling with the thought of alternate professions such as becoming a Physicians Assistant or a Pharmacist. Basically I am very very confused.

Money is not an issue as I can always make more money. Time however, is another issue. At 45 I dont really feel like I can make wrong choices and then back track.

I realize that by posting here I will hopefully get the nursing perspective. Any advice and or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

p.s. I realize things will change, but all the posts I see about lack of jobs has me fairly troubled as well......

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If money is not an issue I would go the shortest distance and go all the way! The only 2 problems I see is:

#1 If you already have acceptance into one program, the ADN - that is nice. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the busch". If you throw it away are you sure you can get into the other program and in the time frame you are thinking you can???

#2. If your current degree is unrelated you are putting a lot of time and money into a career field you do not even know if you like. So therefore, get into the career field right away so that THEN you can decide if you want to go all the way.

If you graduate with an ADN or BSN - we all take the same boards and we all do "basically" the same thing. I worked with nurses who had a bachelors in something non nursing related and graduated with a masters in nursing. It was almost worse for them because they had their "Masters" but really only had a 2 year degree. The focus was more on theory than hands on.

Do you want hands on? Do you want pharmacy? What kind of work do you see yourself doing? Why do you think you want nursing?

I hope I did not confuse.

Good luck!

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