New Chitown Member

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jul 30, 2006

Welcome aboard! If you're looking at schools in your own area, you might be able to find more info within the Illinois Forum here.

Corvette Guy · Jul 30, 2006

:groupwelcome:

Paranurse77 · Aug 2, 2006

My brother,

As a fellow Chicago nurse I felt compelled to drop some advice your way. I've lived and worked in Chicago for the past five years. My background is the quintessential story: former firefighter/paramedic, ER tech for three years... Yawn... Went into nursing because.. Well.. I would like to be a artist/poet/writer, but I suck at all three.

The shark infested waters of Chicago can be a hostile environment to a charming male nursing student such as yourself. Having a psych background can be an asset if you choose to go into psych nursing, which is often a friendly male area.

As for the MSN entry programs.. You are limited... Depaul or UIC.. I've heard mixed things about both... Highly competitive, full of biology/pre-med types who had low MCAT's, and drive their rich daddys BMW/Audi/Benz... Classy... The princess factor can work against you. If you are completely independent and want (need) to work during your program, you will find little sympathy from your fellow classmates or faculty. God forbid you're married. See: the divorce forum. Same BS at the ABSN programs, except those programs may be harder to get into than the MSN entry. I heard about someone who had a Masters in Bio with a 3.8 GPA and didn't make it into Loyola... Yikes! From what I encountered, experience didn't really work for me except for in classes, which I slept through.

The MSN-entry programs suddenly became very popular in Chicago, and the city continues to experience a flood, I mean FLOOD of nurses and nursing students. Beware of the myth of the "nursing shortage"! I cannot stress this enough. Chicago is experiencing a surplus of nurses. Just look up some of the hospital websites. 20+ nursing schools just within the Gary-Joliet-Chicago region! New grad pay has stagnated. $22.50 at NMH. See: nursing salary lawsuit. Sure, most of my classmates have jobs, but what no one will tell you is that a new grad is no longer getting their "choice" nursing position. Again, you'll do fine if you want psych, or don't mind working in one of the dumpy hospitals.

Of course things change and I could be wrong....

Furthermore, you might want to chat up a male NP if you can find one... Good luck... Any dude who's a male NP will have some seasoned veteran stories for you.

Cheers.

sneaky1 · Aug 3, 2006

Paranurse77:

Hey man. Thanks for the feedback. My personal physician has suggested psych also. Depaul and UIC are the only two Masters Entry programs in Chicago. So, since I've been here my entire life, I have applied to several schools outside of the Chicago area. I am really ready for a change. A few years away from Chitown would do me some good.

Sneaky1