Is nursing your second career?

[LeLeeFNP]

I decided to go back to school to become an RN after a short career in sales and retail management. My first degree was in a Bachelors in Communication. I've noticed a lot of educational programs recently catering to second degree students. I am just wondering about any others out there who went into nursing as a second career. What was your first career and why did you decide to leave it for nursing? Also do you regret it or do you think you made the right choice? I believe that I have opened up a whole new world of opportunities now that I am an RN, however I often wonder what if I stayed in my first career and was it worth it.

[SanDgroovy]

My 1st degree was a BS Exercise & Sports Sciences. I was in the fitness/health industry full time for about 3 yrs before I decided to get my BSN (chose BSN in case I wanted to get a MSN). I always wanted to work in healthcare & I thought nursing was a prestigious career. I don't regret getting my BSN but now I see "the big picture." I do enjoy it most days & I love that I learn something every shift. I regret it on the tough days when crazy pt's threaten me, or Dr's REALLY tick me off, or days I feel like I can never get caught up, etc.

I'd love to get a Masters in the next few years, not sure if it will be in nursing or not. I still work part time in fitness & love/miss it but it definitely did not pay the bills; however, back then, I didn't have to work weekends/holiday, nor did I have spider veins LOL-I do miss that!

[streetmedic]

If you are working on a 2nd degree or later, take this message as warning!!

Having degrees in other fields (BS, MJ, MBA) and now one-third of the way into an accelerated alternate-track BSN program I got a rude awakening in the mail the other day -- I'm no longer eligible for federal financial aid!

I'm not talking about grants or subsidized loans, I'm talking about regular interest rate student loans. It's not specific to my college but is a federal requirement. I'm in my mid-50s and nursing was to be my "exit" career. Although I'm working fulltime as an EMT, without the financial aid, I never would have started. And now that I'm a third of the way through the program, I'm informed that I can't get any more loans to complete it! The Catch-22 is that most of the 60 undergraduate credits post baccalaureate were pre-reqs required to apply and be accepted into the program!!

Here are the rules:

Maximum time Frame

The maximum timeframe of credit hours a student may pursue and be considered eligible for financial aid is as follows:

Associate Degree Program

90 credit hours pursued

2nd Associates Degree Program

45 credit hours beyond 1st Associates Degree

Bachelors Degree Program (4 year program)

180 credit hours pursued or a maximum of 6 years from their original term of entry

2nd Bachelors Degree

60 credit hours beyond 1st Bachelors Degree

Alternate Teacher Certification

45 credit hours beyond 1st Bachelors Degree

Masters Degree Program

48 credit hours beyond Bachelors Degree

2nd Masters Degree Program

25 credit hours beyond 1st Masters Degree

Doctorate

60 credit hours beyond Masters Degree or 7 years

• Students seeking a third bachelors or masters degree will not be considered eligible for federal financial aid.
  

[Sk8ermomRN]

Second career for me, too. Have a BA in English Lit and was a school teacher. LOVED teaching. Great job if it is the 2nd income in the family. Not a great job if it is the only income! Also went for the associate's because of the time/$ issue, but will be going after my bachelor's soon.

I was 40 when I went to nursing school. I was neither the oldest nor the youngest in the class. There were a lot of women like me who needed to be able to support themselves and their kids on their own.

[streetmedic]

With an ADN, you can pursue the BSN totally online at many nursing schools. But as you can see with the timeframe financial aid lockout, don't wait too long.

This timeframe lock wasn't on when I first attended college. And getting financial aid was the tipping factor in deciding to pursue nursing as an exit career. I expect that this lockout will hurt a lot of older students who have degrees in other fields.

I hope the ANA starts to lobby for a nursing/2nd degree loophole in this law or those schools offering the alternate track with wither.

[trauma_lama, BSN]

Yay! How awesome. I'm not alone! I'm 26. I had to take time off from college (originally pursuing BFA, then changed major to secondary education) and work in retail (sudden change in $$ situation)...turns out, retail is a big black hole that sucks you in a lets very few people out. Spent 6 years killing myself to make people want to buy sweaters and pants for a $200 bonus 2x/year. And I wasn't making enough $$ to get myself out of my acute financial crisis, just enough to get by. So I didn't see any out for escaping from retail in sight...then I met my hubs, who insisted that I go back to school (because he knew I wanted to). I started back to persue my education degree, and I realized that my passion had shifted from edu to health care...He paid off my school debt and allowed me to QUIT WORK ALLTOGHER so I could attend the prereqs and nursing school fulltime (and he's NOT rich, just willing to make a sacrifice for me :heartbeat) at our local community college. Now that I've discovered where my heart lies and started to pursue it, my whole life is turned around. I can only look forward to the day that I pass NCLEX, get hired on at a hospital, and let him take some time off to go back to school (or even just sit on his a$$ if he wants to)! to all of you hard workin' peeps!

[Darjeeling22]

BA in theatre, three years working in professional theatre and then six years working in adult literacy and ESL -- started as an educator, moved into administration. Now in second year of an ADN program.

I do miss the arts and education sometimes, but if I've learned anything so far it's that if you look hard enough you can eventually combine anything. So who knows where it'll all lead. No regrets.

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

yes I am a second career RN. I have a previous Bachelors in Biology and worked in research for 3 and a half years before going back for nursing. No, I do not regret it and yes, it was the right decision. After undergrad, I was burnt out and just wanted to work for awhile, make money, start paying off my student loans and really take some time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I originally went to college thinking I wanted to go on to medical school, but once there I quickly realized that becoming a physician was not for me. However, I still wanted to be in health care and really wanted to work with people, at the bedside, so here I am. I do have plans to later on, once I am done having kids and they are in school, to go back for advanced practice.

[streetmedic]

Darjeeling22, I think acting skills and a theatre background would be great prep in just about _any_ profession!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

not a second-career person (unless you count some wildly divergent nursing jobs-- bedside to teaching to case management to consulting and a lot of interesting stops in between) but i have had a lot of second-career students, so i can tell you about a few of them.

1) woman, 29, from a pacific basin country, english as a third language, was a biology professor in native land. brilliant, knew all the sciences and math, had a heartbreaking refugee story that 25 years later makes me cry when i tell it so i won't here, worked her butt off on english and graduated magna cum laude while raising three kids and husband working 2 jobs to support all of them. is working as a nurse specialist serving her ethnic community, so valuable because she is trilingual.

2) woman, late 40s, who was a marketing manager for a big retail department store chain, always wanted to be a nurse. loved it. also very smart, good with the math, worked hard on the science, i think she may be a manager now. her advantage was that she had maturity that her 19-yr-old chickie classmates lacked, so she was able to win the confidence of her patients more easily.

3) my all-time favorite: woman, 63 (!), always wanted to be a nurse but had an abusive husband who spent forty-five years telling her how worthless and stupid she was, and never allowed her to go to school; she worked as a waitress and whatnot. then the sunuvab**** died...and she took the insurance money and went to nursing school. she was everyone's grandma, and, with a lot of experience in human relations (waitressing will do that for ya) was a perceptive and supportive nurse to patients and families in stressful situations. she knew she'd only be able to work as an rn for a few years, but by god she was gonna make the best of it. i loved that woman.