Is Nursing For Me?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am currently enlisted in the National Guard as a Military Police Officer. When I was in high school I was dead set on becoming a Police Officer because I wanted to help people. But after being in the military side of things, I've come to find that I'm not getting what I wanted out of it. I've had lots of leadership push me and praise me for so much of the hard work I do and even some that pushed me to test with their civilian police departments. After slowing down, I took a full time job with the Guard. 8:00-4:30 at a desk, interacting with Veterans and people all over the state. Decent Pay, I'm exceling. But this isn't where I see myself. While I do love the guard, I would love a job where I'm pushing myself, on my feet and interacting with others, going to bed at night knowing I helped someone that day, even in the smallest capacity. I've done research, looked at the pros and cons. My fiancés sister is a teacher at a hospital and has helped me along the way. Problem is, I took easy classes in my high school career. Loved everything except science and math. I've been graduated for almost 3 years. I feel like now is different because I know I'll apply myself. I deploy next year and hope to start pre requisites while I'm overseas. I also ordered college books from thriftbooks.com so I can jumpstart my mind on things like anatomy and physiology, fundamentals of nursing, etc. Could this be for me? Is there anything else I can do to prepare? Advice? Words of encouragement? Thanks in advance.

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I barely graduated high school, I'm certain the school graduated me so they didn't have to deal with me lol. I think my GPA was 2.2.

It wasn't until I found that I wanted to be a nurse that I found my educational drive. Last May I graduated with my RN and a 3.9 GPA. I also have 3 kiddos and a husband so it wasn't easy. So I wouldn't worry that because you don't like math and science, you can't make it through nursing school.

I had to study twice the amount most of my classmates did to get the same grade. But I wanted it that bad that I didn't even mind doing it.

If you really want to do it then you will, you have already accomplished so much. Pre-reqs online are a great place to start. Dedicating your time in pre-reqs will make your nursing courses much easier.

Just make sure nursing is really what you think it is. Almost always, its vastly different than the perception in people's head. I would see if your sister could get you in the hospital for a day to shadow a nurse. GL!

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Thank you so much! And congratulations! :)

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You have much more experience than I do in LE, but I just wanted to say that I graduated police academy in 2008. I have security background and with my POST cert, I worked as a criminal justice officer for community corrections for four years while I worked on my pre-reqs for nursing school. I also just wanted to help people. I was honestly miserable as a corrections officer. It's definitely not for me. I was so glad to get out of there.

It sounds like you know what you want. That's good...this will need to be self-driven. I tried college directly out of high school and got horrible grades and gave up. It took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do and go for it. There's really no way to tell ahead of time if this will be "right" for you. If, upon taking your A&P classes and other required classes, you continue to have an interest, then that can push you forward to each new step.

I will say this much, though, when I first started out in nursing school, I wasn't so sure that this was for me! There were certain aspects that I wasn't sure I could handle (no, not any of the bodily functions...I was a CNA, those don't phase me) and they have wound up being my favorite parts of being a nurse. So really, I think it's hard to say if it's right for anyone until they really get down into it.

Good luck on your path!

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Thank you so much! I appreciate your input, and I'm glad to have spoke with others who have started in a similar place I will be starting soon!

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