Indecisive about which path to choose

MassED, BSN, RN · Jul 31, 2008

Hi everyone, its been a while since I've been on the boards b/c I keep having this love/hate relationship with how to become a nurse.
So here's my dilemma. I work a full time M-F 7-4 job. Right now I can't afford to work anywhere else for less hours or pay. This will change in about 1 year when I finish paying off all my debt.
Here are the options I've looked into:
1. Taking my pre-reqs online or at night at a local community college until I can apply to the program ADN or BSN.
2. Taking a year off and getting an LPN degree, going to work, then bridging to RN and finally getting my BSN.
3. Taking 2 years off and getting an ADN then bridging to BSN while I work.
For right now I will have to pay for school b/c I'm not eligible for financial aid. I have some outstanding accounts with schools which are holding my transcripts and my GPA is not high enough.
I will have to save up for the classes I want to take either 1 semester before or just wait until I have the money saved for the total 1-2 years and then attend.
I'm not sure which path to choose. I get so impatient sometimes and I'm so ready to get my degree and get in the workforce that I lose focus of what I'm trying to accomplish.
Please give me your honest opinion on what you would do.
Thanks

one of the last things you wrote was "I get so inpatient... and I'm so ready to get my degree" - so choose the route that can get you there the quickest. How are you going to get your transcripts from those institutions b/c you have outstanding debt to start your nursing career? That sounds like the difficult part. So are you able to get your own loans for school? I'd go the quickest route...... just my opinion.

TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP · Jul 31, 2008

As far as I know, anyplace you would apply to would want transcripts from every place you'd attended previously - so it sounds like one of the things you need to concentrate on is clearing your debts there too.

Ladypie · Jul 31, 2008

I'm not totally clear on your situation. Have you already taken the prereqs, but just can't access them because of the debt? You also said your gpa is low--would it not be high enough to be accepted into a program?

I am not sure how transcripts work. It seems to me that you need to get that debt cleared so you can send those in. Avoiding that issue might hurt you later if your school finds out that you ignored those grades because you didn't want to pay off the debt or didn't want to submit those grades.

I love online classes, by the way. Since you are impatient about getting into school (like me!), and you say you will pay off your debt in a year, I would spend the next year or more taking online classes and paying off debt. When your debt is paid off, you will have some classes already under your belt, and you can apply to your school with your transcripts freed up.

Healer_at_Heart18 · Aug 6, 2008

Thanks so much for all your opinions on my issue.

It helps to put it all out there for others to give me some input.

I've decided to pay off all my school debt off ASAP and retake some of the pre-reqs to get my GPA up higher.

I'm going to do this online so I won't have the pressure of regular schedule classes.

penelopelp · Aug 7, 2008

I think that's a great idea. I'm in a similar situation. I have to work full-time, don't have much money, but I want to go to NS in the future. So, I'm taking a pre-req online and going in once a week for the lab. I have a friend who's a CNM and she said that if I want to be a nurse, I should go for it, and get started--now, not lat later. She said that I should start taking classes right away, even if it is one-at-a-time. So, that's what I'm doing.