Looking for advice regarding Practitioner Program

[sweetpepper]

I am a new nurse in my first year of nursing and I was interested in possibly applying for grad school next fall. The grad school I was interested in only required 2 years of experience and they would allow you to get your 2 year of experience while you were in school so I would have been eligible for admission next fall. After much deliberation I decided to go into a family practioner program since I would have the most marketability and I wouldn't be limited to one particular age group in practice. My great love is pediatrics, but I've talked to many practitioners who have Family Practice degrees and are working in pediatrics, and also people who have Pediatric practice degrees and couldn't find jobs, go figure. I live in an area with a limited job marked so I feel like I'm making the best decision by going into family practice as I will have more options if I can't find a job in the pediatric area. But here's the clincher. I'm currently working in the NICU at the largest hospital in the area. Great experience, and I really like my job. However, when speaking to the grad school representative she was not encouraging regarding my potential for success in the program based on my experience in the NICU. She felt that I would need to go work somewhere else in order to get the experience I would need to succeed, and not only would I have to find another job, but I would also need to work 3 years there before going to grad school. So my question is this. Do I really need 3 years of experience before starting a family practitioner program, and also what is the best area to get that kind of experience? Any suggestions or personal experience stories would be appreciated :wink2: