My Future with Nursing...Unsure!

[Student0ntheRise]

I have a slight dilema(ish). I am a very indecisive person so I am looking for anyones input on this situation I am having. I recently got dropped out of my LVN program which is a private school in California. I recently started attending classes at my local community college to pursure a degree in business(my dream career). I was very discourage in going back to my LVN program because of the fear of failure. Recently me and a friend were talking about school and I was telling her I want to start working at a good paying job to help my mom out. I like nursing. But I love business. If i stay the route I am in and do my business thing I will be in school for a good 3 years to get my Bachelors. If I do decide to go back to my private LVN school I will only need 10 months left then I will be finish with something. If I do decide the LVN route I plan on doing an LVN to BSN program fully online to work full time and go to school at the same time. I plan on staying in the healthcare industry and work my way to management from there. And going through the LVN route will help me help my mom financially faster. I am a CNA at the moment at a acute hosipital for 4 years now and I am 23 years old.

The question is...follow my dreams or suck it up and do whats right....I know its a dumb thing to ask peoples opinions on. But I just want more opinions. Overall, my friends want me to go the LVN route.

Thanks for any advice.

[nekozuki, LPN]

Nursing can be a grueling, joyless profession if it's not what you truly want to do. Personally, I wouldn't justify the cost of a private education when the result is a tremendous student loan in a difficult job market, especially in California, and even moreso when there are so many RNs unable to find work and willing to work for LPN pay. If you are looking to help someone else out financially, a hefty student loan may offset the wage increase, if you can find employment at all in your particular area.

However, you're already involved in the field, so you might just have the connections to succeed. Does your particular facility employ LPNs? If you already have a position secured for the transition, then do the math on how much your loan payments will be versus the increase in pay.

Have you thought about getting your ADN instead of LPN? Since you have already done some pre-reqs, it may not be very long, and will also put you in a better place when it comes time to bridge to bsn, or simply continue along the business route.

[Glenna, LPN]

I think that you should listen to your heart. This will be your career. Ask yourself this, will I be happy in nursing 10-15 years from now? Don't go for nursing if your friends are telling you this is what you should be doing. You should be going into nursing if this is what you feel is your calling, what you were born to do. If this is how you feel, along with your friends say this is what you should do, listen to them.

Private schools are a lot of money. I just graduated from my LPN program this summer and I have 28,000 dollars in loans not counting my other loans from community college.

I also don't think that you should fear failure. It only shows that you tired and you learned from it. You try, you fail, you try, you fail, the only true failure is if you stopped trying.