help! future nursing career plan

Glenna, LPN · Nov 20, 2011

Have you talked to your academic adviser at your high school? I would go and talk to one. I am sure that they would have all the 411 you would need in order to guide you where you would like to go and give you handouts for what you need to do.

I also think that being male would give you a leg on on this one because so many women go into nursing. This is a good thing you are trying to figure this out now. I wish I would have known what I wanted to do when I was your age. Instead of figuring it out when I got out of high school and had to go the extra miles...and still doing even more.

Good luck.

Also....I would look into getting your CNA. It will give you an idea as to what nursing is like. It was a real eye opener for me.

poodloo28 · Nov 20, 2011

thanks. i actually did have a small talk with my counseler n they told me to do all 4,yrs in high schoolsince i was in asvanced classes.they said that wud increase my chances of getting into a good college nd maybe evengetting a,scholarship. i also plan to join pep(parallel enrollment program) which allowa me to take college classe while i m in high school so i can get credits nd ge classes outof the way. anyway thans for replying.

leenak · Nov 20, 2011

Johns Hopkins no longer has a true undergrad BSN program. You need to have a BS or BA degree to get into their BSN program. UMD though has a true pre-nursing program that once you are accepted, as long as you maintain decent grades then you will be accepted into their BSN program.

poodloo28 · Nov 20, 2011

does anybody also kno any good tips for getting into johns hopkins or univ of md.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Nov 21, 2011

your counselor is correct. nursing requires college-level preparation, so take all the college prep and ap courses you can, especially sciences (bio, chemistry, physics) and math (at least through algebra-trigonometry and more is helpful because it teaches you how to problem-solve). college prep/ap english will help you express yourself better, because you'll be doing a lot of writing (and i don't mean cutting-and-pasting off the web, either). all reputable nursing programs are affiliated with hospitals for clinical rotations through all the various services (medical, surgical, pediatrics, obstetrics, psych, public health, and others) so your horizons are wider than jh or umd! (a poster above commented on them already.)

:twocents:an terms of service (https://allnurses.com/terms-info.html) also does discourage the text-speak that teens use on their cells here, so you can start practicing better written communication with your future peers now.

get a good education and use it. you'll be glad you did.

poodloo28 · Nov 21, 2011

thank you to everyone who commented.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Nov 22, 2011

While it's nice for the ego (and lousy on the debt), after you get your RN or BSN, MSN, or whatever, nobody stands around saying where they went to school- they talk about how competent and skilled their coworkers are or aren't- and a school can't "make" someone good- they give them tools. An accredited school will have a curriculum that must meet the standards of the accrediting agency.

As someone who has gone through applications, WHERE someone went to school meant nothing- length of time at the prior employer, reasons for leaving (if they share that), and skill level are MUCH more important. :)

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Nov 22, 2011

I am also a male, and I am currently in nursing school. Being male has nothing to do with how likely you are to get into a program. I graduated 8 months early from high school, and did all of my college prerequisites except microbiology online at the college level while still in high school. This means that I took A&P I and II, developmental psychology, intro to psychology, English 111, English 114, Latin I, II, and III, French I and II, intro to sociology, and Humanities II online. Also, I took AP Biology, AP English III and IV, Calculus, physics, and AP Chemistry while in high school. I generally took between 10 and 15 classes a semester, and I had no life outside of school. However, I was a very competitive applicant given that I graduated so early, and had so many prerequisites done. My advice is that you take online college courses, if your school offers this option, or take as many AP or honors classes as you can while you are still in high school. Try to concentrate heavily on science if you can, but if science isn't something you're good at, don't let your GPA drop because you took too many sciences. My high school was pretty large, we had over 1,000 students, and they offered a college prep track that prepared you for admission into a four-year university. I took this route, and also took a ton of extra credits and courses, and ended up going to a two year school to get my ASN. Don't knock the ASN route until you look into it, and don't be fooled into thinking that the BSN route is the be all and end all. If your school has a college prep track, follow this track and try to make As and Bs. Good luck on your journey, and keep us updated as to how things are going for you! Nursing is a very rewarding field, and I'm so glad that this is what I decided to do with my life.