Hey guys! New here. Was introduced to this forum from another individual at another forum lol Thought maybe you guys could help me more since it's more focused on nursing.
I'm facing a huge dilemma right now and am totally stressed out about deciding on what to do with my life.
For the past 2 years, I've been taking Arts/Education to become a teacher, but I realized that wasn't my forte so I decided to apply to nursing (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) in December. I got accepted in February so now I've got 3 more months to go before I start my first year of nursing. I was extremely stoked and super excited about starting my first year till a couple of days ago; I started registering for classes and I realized how much time and money it was going to take. Not only that, I applied for student funding. Applying for my student loans made me realize how much debt I was already in. If I were to continue down the path of Nursing, it'd take 4 years (considering that I pass all my classes and don't have to retake anything) and each year would cost about $8,000 - $9,000 which would approximately total about $36,000 in loans, adding another $17k to that for the past 2 years. Watching the dollar signs build up like that made me feel nauseated and it got me thinking, "what if I don't do good in nursing? What if nursing is too hard? I'd be wasting another 4 years of my life and $40K" so now I'm totally on the fence. I don't know if nursing is really something I'd be able to handle.
So I started researching another program that my college offers and it appealed to me; medical assisting. The program runs for 10 months, and if all goes well I could land a job right after I'm done school. It costs about $8,000 but again, it's only for 10 months, so it's not going to build up like nursing would. Thing is though, Medical Assisting doesn't assure me a job right after I'm done school like nursing would. And I don't think the pay is that great, compared to nursing. (but that makes sense, since nursing is so much harder, the higher pay compensates for that) Again, I'm on the fence about this one too. Maybe there are some people on this forum that has taken a medical assisting program, or has/had a medical assistant job that could give me a more thorough idea about it?
But my main concern right now is, which direction to go. I'm not the type that handles well under pressure. I'm not a quick thinker when I'm on my feet. I don't think I'd be able to handle the stress. But despite those reasons, I've always wanted to do something in the medical field. Pursuing a doctor's career is much too ambitious for me, and I don't think I'd be able to keep up the marks for it. But like I said, I would enjoy working in/with the medical field. The medical assisting program sounds really appealing, but in the long run, would it be a good decision?
I would love your input and greatly appreciate whatever advise you can give me. I'm sorry for rambling so much, and I probably don't make much sense considering the fact that it's almost 1AM here where I live. But I thank you guys for actually (if you did) read through all this and helping me. I'm opened to all kinds of opinion. Give me what you think. Tell me your experiences, from school to out in the work force.
Can you do a year or so of pre-req's at a junior college? That's a good way to save money.
Hey guys! New here. Was introduced to this forum from another individual at another forum lol Thought maybe you guys could help me more since it's more focused on nursing.
I'm facing a huge dilemma right now and am totally stressed out about deciding on what to do with my life.
I haven't read what the other posters have so this may be repetetive. There isn't anything you can't do w/ a nursing degree. I worked in Employment Education for 6 years and I can tell you that if you have a nursing degree, especially BSN, you can be hired for most jobs. If you decided you didn't like nursing on the floor you could teach, be a social worker, work for a doc's office, or a school. The options are limitless. So, no, I don't think it is ever a waste of time or money. Have you tried looking for hospitals that have tuition reimbursement. Here in the STL area, we have a hospital that pays 45OO/ year for working 15 hours every pay period.
I have always dreamed of being a nurse, but was also worried about spending so much money and time, and what if I didn't like it? So I went to MA school. Sure, I learned a lot of info and skills, but it took FOREVER to find a job. And the job I did finally land was front office! Nobody would hire for back office without experience. Of course that was in 1999 so I'm sure things have changed, but if I had to go back and do it all over again I wouldn't. To me, MA school was a huge waste of time and money, and I wish I would have just gone the ADN route to begin with. I spent $9,000 on MA school and my ADN will only be about $15,000.
I haven't read what the other posters have so this may be repetetive. There isn't anything you can't do w/ a nursing degree. I worked in Employment Education for 6 years and I can tell you that if you have a nursing degree, especially BSN, you can be hired for most jobs. If you decided you didn't like nursing on the floor you could teach, be a social worker, work for a doc's office, or a school. The options are limitless. So, no, I don't think it is ever a waste of time or money. Have you tried looking for hospitals that have tuition reimbursement. Here in the STL area, we have a hospital that pays 45OO/ year for working 15 hours every pay period.
My personal experience is that it isn't THAT easy to get other positions outside of basic clinical nursing, especially if you don't already have at least a couple of years in some clinical area already. Possible, yes. But rather hit or miss and being in the right place at the right time. Which is pretty much what folks with generic bachelor's degrees have to deal with. In my experience, many of the type of non-bedside jobs that BSNs work at do NOT require a RN license. It may be preferred, but the preference is in regard to the experience the person is bringing to the table as opposed to the license itself.
And when a place is willing to hire a nurse who doesn't already have related experience, how much support and guidance can they provide you to help you be successful in that position? Or will you have to figure it out on the fly? I found some places desperate to hire anyone with a license but not concerned with how prepared I was for the position - eg a place willing to hire me as charge nurse at sub-acute facility without any substantial clinical experience. When they couldn't offer me much in the way of training and support, I didn't feel it would be prudent to accept that offer.
Anyway, it's just a gripe I have whenever I hear someone say something to the effect of 'you can do just about anything with your training' or 'the world is your oyster with nurses' training.' A BSN/RN does open many doors, but it's not always THAT easy to walk through the various doors without previous connections and experience in a particular area - and a bit of luck to be in the right place at the right time.
PS Let me explain where I'm coming from. I decided on nursing partly based on the sales pitch that one wasn't limited to bedside nursing or even hands-on clinical roles, that there were SO many options, just about ANYTHING. Turns out I REALLY didn't take to bedside nursing, so when someone says you need "just" a year or two of bedside experience, that's a pretty high hurdle. Especially since I don't want any job that is predicated on any kind of clinical expertise.... because I don't have any and don't plan to get any - at least not bedside! I eventually turned my attention to office-based administrative-type roles in health care related organizations. It works well for me, but seriously I don't NEED a BSN for the type of work I do. Just a bachelor's and interest in/understanding of medical issues. Nursing school gave me that background, but a degree in health policy or public health or human biology would've worked as well. Well, we all live and learn! Sometimes, you just gotta make a move and see what happens next!
I can tell you that if you have a nursing degree, especially BSN, you can be hired for most jobs. If you decided you didn't like nursing on the floor you could teach, be a social worker, work for a doc's office, or a school.
Where can you be a social worker without a degree in social work? And starting salaries for social workers are pretty low.
js408
224 Posts
Can you do a year or so of pre-req's at a junior college? That's a good way to save money.