Joining the Navy while in nursing school?

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Hi guys,

I just been accepted to a BSN program and I been thinking about joining the Navy for a long time. I want to know is it more beneficial for me to join the navy while in nursing school or after I graduate? One important factor for me is money because I can't work during school any more because of clinicals. I been supporting myself by working while taking my prerequisites. I am considering taking out loans but I do not want to graduate with a lot of debts on my hand. Any suggestions?

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The Navy has a Nurse Candidate Program for those in an NLN or CCNE accredited BSN program. You can start your application once you have an acceptance to nursing school and they provide you with a $10k bonus (paid in $5k installments) and then $1k per month. You then go into the Nurse Corps once you take the NCLEX. If you want to be a nurse in the Navy I would look into this or ROTC (though that requires more of your time, NCP only requires that you have a 3.0 during school). If you enlist now it can be tough to switch over as there is no lack of people wanting to be nurses in the Navy. I would talk to a health care recruiter if you are interested.

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I spoke with a recruiter today and she told me that the NCP process will probably going to take 6-8 months. :mad:, Oh well. I'm gonna talk to the AF also sometime next week to see how long their waiting period is.

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6-8 is pretty standard, though there are exceptions. I just finished my kit and I have been working on it since Feb, though I had some delays that aren't typical. Some of it depends on how quickly you gather things, but it does also depend on your recruiter. When do you graduate?

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I'm not going to graduate until 2013, I just got accepted for the spring semester.

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