In highschool.NEED HELP

[Bobbyyuu]

ok so im about to be a senior in highschool and pretty much decided to go into male nursing after highschool. i have a crapload of questions...Keep in mind i dont expect u to answer all these questions. The point of this post was to show how much direction i am lacking. Which is the correct way to go? These are SOME of the questions i have been thinking about: Do i need college to go into nursing? Can i just go into a nursing school right after highschool? Whats the difference of a nursing program in a community college vs a college like Rutgers vs a program in a hospital. Difference of a LPN and RN?

[Fireman767]

First thing, you don't go into male nursing. I myself am a male nursing student, not going into male nursing but going into nursing. You do need school to be a nurse, you need an associates or a bachelors to be a nurse, for the Registered Nurse. the other route is a LPN (licensed practical nurse) which is a license or diploma up to a degree depending where you go. The difference is RNs have the ability to assess and more autonomy than an LPN. In addition RNs can be incharge of LPNs. The pay difference is RNs make more than LPNs, but money shouldnt be the main thing your interested in. The difference between community colleges compared to universities varies from school to school. most often, a community college costs significantly less than a university, however usually community college only offers an associates while a university may offer both. also, some universities offer an accelerated bachelors of nursing if you already have a bachelors, but you don't so thats not an option. Nursing programs are competitive, so you do need to have good grades, however being a male does slightly help but not enough if your grades arent up to standard.

[nurseintraining1]

I have a few things to add. I wanted to be a nurse when I was in high school but I didn't know where to start. It is now 10 years later and I am 6 months from my BSN. The best thing for you to do right out of high school is to focus on general education classes that focus on nursing. These classes are Anatomy and Physiology, microbiology, english, speech, Chem, and college math. I did 2 years of general education classes then transfered to a 4 year school to do nursing so I will end up with a bachlors degree. If you want the quicker and cheaper option, I would look up what your community college requires as prerec's for nursing and focus on those first. If you are thinking you might want to go on and get a masters to teach or a specialty like CRNA, a lot of schooling but makes top dollar, then a 4 year school might be for you.

Nursing school is no joke though. It takes hard work and lots of studying. I never thought I would read as much or write as many papers as I have. All of my gen ed classes can't compare to the work I put into my nursing classes. The grading scale at my school is 77 and below fails. It is well worth it though. I hope this has helped a little.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Here's a pretty good website for people who are considering nursing. It oversimplifies a few things, but it touches on some of your basic questions like the different educational paths available to enter nursing. Under the Meet The Nurses section, it even has profiles of a few men who have chosen nursing.Discover Nursing | Campaign for Nursing