I need help with my future....(long post)

[Tziirii]

Hello to all you wonderful nurses of the world...I'm posting here because I need a little bit of help and friendly advice from anyone who might be in, or have gone through the same situation(s) I'm in...this might turn out to be a long post and I just want to say thank you ahead of time to anyone who takes the time to read and respond.

I am 23 years old, I live in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles, CA) and I've been going to community college for almost 5 years now trying to decide what I want to do in my future. I have finally decided that I would like to pursue my goal of becoming a surgical nurse or something along those lines.

Here's the problem though....within my years at the college I took a bazillion classes, but unfortunately I didn't get the best grades in all of them. I'm not a bad student when I have my heart in a class but unfortunately since I didn't know where I was headed, I didn't have my heart in a lot of the classes I took. Unfortunately, because of this I have been "disqualified" from the college's nursing program before I even knew that I wanted to be a nurse....so that's when I decided to try out the trade school method...I've hit a wall here.

I went to West Coast University and after talking to people there and taking some tests and talking to financial aid...I found out the tuition for 3 1/2 years to get a BSN and learn what is required for state RN test is $130,000....this scared me so much I ran in the other direction and haven't looked back. I haven't been able to find a trade school that sounds nearly as nice as WCU for the amount of time it takes to finish everything...so this leads me to my first question: what do you think about WCU? I've read some horror stories but also some wonderful things, I'd like to hear all opinions.

There is another thing holding me back...the idea that I'm almost 23 years old and probably won't be a nurse until I'm 30 if I decide to take a route that is time consuming. I think there is a way I could get myself back into the community college nursing program, but it will take a little extra time...maybe 2 years worth, and then on top of that I would have to sit on a lottery list for another 2-3 years until I can finally join the 3 year long nursing program which won't even land me with a BSN...only an RN license. So I won't even have a degree by the end (unless I'm misunderstanding how the community college program works, please correct me if I'm wrong)

I also have another problem (what a surprise)...I really need to keep a full time job while going to school. I need to be able to keep up with my bills if I want to keep a roof over my head. So I need to be able to juggle everything properly...for those of you who did nursing and went to work, what did you work as? We're you able to maintain living in a place of your own? I know a lot of people even had a family while doing all this...I can't even imagine how hard that must have been. I commend you!

I was thinking of going through a one month CNA program to get my CNA license and start working as a CNA while I go to school, or even a phlebotomist license..what are your suggestions? I'd like to do something in the medical field to get my foot in the door.

So basically I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions on what schooling path would be best to become an RN and possibly receive a BSN as well, and how long it will take and the average pricing? Also what job would be best to have while going to school as I need to keep a roof over my head.

I want to add that I have no fear of hard work. Only time. I know that's a bad thing, especially since I'm going into the medical field and everything takes time. I'm just scared of life passing me by perhaps there might be another job in the medical field that might suit me better? I really would love to be a nurse though...I also should add that I don't mind taking out a loan of course..but the thought of a 100k loan is paralyzing to me :/

I would like to eventually pursue a masters degree in the future as well...which leads to my final question, what is the path to becoming a surgical nurse exactly? Do you need a masters??

I really want to thank thank anyone who took the time to read my post. I'm really confused and don't know what to do, any help would be greatly appreciated. Hope you all have a good day. :)

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Have you looked at the prelicensure BSN program at Online University | Online Degree Programs | WGU

WGU is a university designed for working adults. I would encourage you to talk to an enrollment counselor (be sure you speak to a prelicensure EC- there are specialized for this program and can give you the most complete, up-to-date information.

Use the 'search' feature in the upper right hand corner to find threads about this program. Total cost (uniforms and all) ~$25k. Fully accredited. NLN Center of Excellence. NCLEX pass rate above the national average.