New, CRNA, Canada, Help

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Hello I am new. I am 17 years old and my last year will be next year in high school.

I live in Canada. And I decided I want to do nursing. But I can't really find any times of nursing that interest me...

until i stumbled upon CRNA! Which I love... because it sounds easy (i know its not easy) but I can't think of any other kinds of careers in medicine i want to do.

I wanted to do dermatology, orthodontics, even dentistry, or psychiatry, but it's way too long. I even wanted to maybe be a nurse in the trauma nurse. But I don't know what its called. I'll admit another reason why i want to get into it, is the good pay. But I am interested in it. But because I slacked off, I don't have any of the prerequisites in high school, so i will need to take a year off and get everything I need. I want to do CRNA But apparently they dont offer it in canada which makes me shriek!!!!!!

I am not looking forward to studying abroad in america. Or maybe I am. But i dont have the money to go and live somewhere and I wouldn't know where. America is very different from Canada.

I need advice, please. And maybe any other alternatives? I tried asking all over the internet, but i got pretty lame advice... I don't know how many years of schooling i need and the degrees and whatever. Does maybe University of Toronto offer something?

Pleaaase, serious advice!!

My entire family is in the medicine field. My mom and sister are nurses, and my dad is a doctor.

Specializes in med/surg.

My son also ****** high school.he got his diploma thanks to summer school math 30 but the rest of his grades don't look pretty (he did get mono in Gr 12 too - which didn't help plus there were other issues with being new to Canada.)

Now he is just taking a breath, getting a locla job and plans to upgrade some of his other classes before choosing his Uni Subjects. It's taken a lot of heart ache on all sides for him to come to this choice.

Maybe you need to take a breath too - maybe your parents need to see this.Make sure you talk to thembecause myson didn't!! Well not until it was too late anyway.

Still it's getting sorted now and I'm sure you will get there too. I know I was harsh before but if you read back your post I'm sure you'll see why!! ;-)

Good luck and at the end of the day remember it is your life to live and not your parents!! No matter how much we complain we'll nearly all support our kids in the end!!

I don't understand. So there are no CRNA's or programs in Canada? At all. I googled, and they exist. But only in the US?

that's very silly. Are there any alternatives? I chose nursing because it's in the medical field but doesn't require ridiculous amounts of schooling like a doctor would need. And the debt I'd have to pay would be high..

Can you provide me other alternatives? How much do nurse get paid anyway? I'm looking for the anual range at least near 90K

is that a lot? I just want to be able to support myself well, and live a good life and love my career at the same time. I could be some type of physician but it requires so much schooling, and I have no idea which interests me besides psychology, making me a physciatrist. But are these people even in demand? And how many schooling do I need? I just want to be able to get a job after I graduate.

I was cringing when I was reading all your post but hey, I think it's because your 17 and you're still trying to figure out where you want to be. I think some teenagers have a grandiose plan for themselves and don't understand reality of the real world. As someone else mentioned here, nothing is easy. You have to know what you want and you have to strive to achieve it. Have you thought about becoming a Respiratory Therapist (RT)? Check Michener Institute of Applied Sciences, they have a lot of alternative health care areas you might be interested. $90,000 is a lot of $$ especially if you're just starting out. A lot of nurses make that amount because they have experience, education and/or have taken a lot of shift differentials. If you want to start with that much money, you have to get more experience/education or get lucky in the lottery or stock market. If you're single, no kids and have decent job that pays $40K-$50, you can easily support yourself. You don't need a lot of money, you just need to know how to handle your money (i.e., don't buy a BMW when a Toyota works just as fine).

If you want to do psychology, then do psychology. Do what makes you happy. You're scared of being in debt, but honey, the reality is 70-80% of students have debt. I have debt. Yes, I'm scared and overwhelmed but I understand that everything that has some sort of paper value has a price. I'm tempted to go to some financial advising on how to properly budget so that when I graduate I know how much money I have to save each month to pay for my loan.

Here is what you do:

1) Figure out what YOU want to do. Not what your parents want, but what YOU want to do. This is your MAIN GOAL.

2) Close your eyes and envision yourself in that role.

3) Do your research.

4) If main goal is too big to achieve, separate it to subgoals. Baby steps is key.

5) ACT on achieving your goals!

When you're feeling unmotivated just think of what you'll be able to do once your achieve that goal. My main goal right now is to graduate from nursing school. You know what I do to keep myself motivated? I look at nursing jobs in the hospitals I want to work in. Sometimes, I look at MSN programs and look at their admission requirements to motivate me to do well in my undergrad. So you see, you need to find ways to keep yourself motivated. Use your frustration with your parents as a positive thing and work hard to get into nursing school or whatever school you want to get into.

You say you're in Toronto, ON right? I was wondering what career did you pick for the mandatory "Civics and Careers" subject in HS?

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