I am only 15...~

chelsea, you need the same grades to get into a good nursing school as you would any college. Also if your really interested in nursing, at your age you should be able to volunteer at a local hospital and see what it is like. You may develope an interest in a particular area. Usually this interest developes as you go through your nursing rotation in school. I applaud you for wanting to be a nurse. You might hear a lot of negative things about nursing these days but we need young people like you in the profression to help change things. I hope you will follow your dream!

hey Chelsea......I've been a nurse for quite some time and I've grown up in the health field, as my dad owns a nursing home. Been there, done that and wore that t shirt!!!! Anyway, I have to say that I love my patients but I don't like my job so well??? A love hate relationship!!! LOL You think long and hard...consider all your options.

Hi Chelsea,

My advice to you is to consider looking into a "nursing assistant" course. You can usually get into such a program when you're 16. This would be an excellent way for you to earn $ and find out what nursing is all about. In the meantime, I'm sure any hospital or Long term care facility would welcome you as a volunteer.

In school, take subjects in biology, human development/psychology, chemistry, algebra, communications,etc. as these will be very helpful for you.

Best of luck to you!

Hello.. : ) I am a nursing student at Purdue, and the requirements aren't too bad for being a nursing student. If you take all the required courses, get mostly A's and B's, above a 1000 on your SATs, or I think it's 24 on your ACTs, then you are pretty much set to get in. One suggestion I do have is to apply early for any school or program that you are interested in. Here, the program fills up really quickly, and if you don't make it into the program as a Freshman, it'll take you a lot longer to become a nurse than four years.

When I was considering being a nurse, I had the opprotunity to shadow some really great nurses in lots of areas. If you are trying to figure out what type of nurse you want to be, I would try family friends that are in the health field, or even volunteer at a local hospital. You'll see things then a lot of times the general public doesn't.. and then you'll either LOVE it, or decide perhaps that it isn't your thing.

Good Luck in deciding.. : )

Originally posted by chelsea32:

Hi everyone (nurses and all)

I am 15 and i am really starting to think about becoming a nurse i am not sure what type yet. If anyone has any advice they can give me on different nurseing jobs, what grades you need to become one, I would really appreaciate it.

Thank You

Chelsea

Hi Chelsea,

I'm a student, trying to get into the nursing program in my college. I could have been in the Nursing program already. However, I did not quite know what to take in high school. It's a good thing you ask for advice early so that you'd be prepared when you get to college. What I would recommend are:

1- Try to obtain some A's or B's in high school because if you're going to a university that would reflect good on you.

2- Take pre- algebra, algebra I and II

3- Take biology and make sure you understand it.

4- Take chemistry in your junior or senior year and do good on that one.

5- Last but not least, ask your counselor if they have some kind of nursing class in your school.

In my high school they had a nursing class for those who wanted to be a nurse. At the end of completion, students received nurses aides certification. Some of the students in my class worked on it while they were still in high school.

It would be great for you to experience that so you could see if nursing is really for you. I hope this could help.

Good Luck!

Hi Chelsea,

I was 16 when I realized that I dreamed of being a nurse. I didn't think I could do it though, cause I wasn't strong in biology. After I graduated from high school. I took the pre-requisites one at a time (math, chem and physics). My advice to you is: take the pre-requisites WHILE you are in high school, it saves a lot of time and money in the end!!

I volunteered at a hospital as a "candy stripper", helping elderly patients when I was 17, so I knew that this is what I wanted.

Before I was accepted into nursing school, I took a nurses aid course and worked as a nurses aid for a while, made money to put myself through school......I had to pay my way and had no financial help at all!!!!!!

My suggestion is, if you can: Do not work too much while you are in nursing school if you can help it, stay with your parents!! I didn't have that option, and as a result it has taken be longer to finish nursing school.

Also I suggest that if possible take a course or 2 in the summer, such as a non-nursing course that you need for your diploma, it helps a lot when you are within your nursing semesters to have a lighter course load!! Trust me!

It is a lot of work and takes a lot of dedication. I hope you persue your dreams, you will have a career in the end that you really wanted!

I am now 24, and I had my graduation pictures taken yesterday. Finishing is really exciting!!!! So good luck!!

Chelsea-

Most of the comments I have read in reply to your request entails good grades, and the right classes. Yes, these are important and if you are on that track then I applaud you. But knowing nothing about where you are at in your life may I also say that determination accounts for much of your future success. If I may share my story:

When I was in high school I was told (by a not very nice step-father) that it was ok that I was stupid (I wasn't I later found out) because I was a woman and the only thing I really needed to know was how to cook and please a man. When I was 22 I had a beautiful daughter born to me, she fell sick with spinal meningitis at 6 weeks and we thought she was going to die. I lived with her at the hospital for 10days in ICU and watched with great interest, the nurses that came and went. I caught on quickly with what they were doing to my daughter. The procedures, the antibiotics, the tubes, and machines -- I was able to comprehend their uses, the reasons for them and what was going on in my little girl's body.

I talked with the nurses that were caring for my little Rachel, and began to realize that I could be like them. I wanted to be like them and I needed to be like them. I trained to be a nursing assistant at a nursing home. From there I entered a community college to begin the path to my RN, at the same time I was working and raising two children.

I worked hard and took extra classes, and instead of continuing at the community college level I was able to transfer to the University. In 3 1/2 years I graduated with my RN and a BSN, with honors.

I share this with you because not every one of us does things the "right" way. I encourage you to get the best grades possible, to take all the pre-college exams that you possibly can, and listen to the right way to do it. But if that is not you, don't give up. Just do it another way. The main point is do it.

At this point my daughter is a healthy, happy 12year old. She knows this story by heart but vows never to be a nurse she wants to be a veteranarian instead :-)

Congratulations on knowing what you want to do at a young age, I wish I had. Good Luck!

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--Char