New Grad - NICU or L&D ?

[grpyrRN, BSN]

Hi everyone, I hope you are all staying safe during these crazy times we are living in!

I am going to be a new graduate RN in May, and will be applying to new graduate programs in my local area (Southern California, Riverside/San Diego). I will be applying to any L&D/Postpartum and NICU opportunities I can find because I love and am passionate about both areas equally. With that said, I am having a hard time picking which should be my first choice. In your opinions, which area would I probably find more success if I did my senior internship in Labor & Delivery and the Nursery? It may seem like a silly question, however, due to how competitive these areas are I want to give myself as much success as possible.

Thank you so all for your help!

[babyNP., APRN]

I guess I am confused about your question. If you want to do L&D you should try to do your internship in L&D, likewise if you want to do NICU, try to get the internship in NICU. We can’t tell you which specialty you would like better; that is personality dependent and your area of interest.

Take comfort in the fact that you aren’t pigeon holed once you choose. This internship will not make or break your career- you can always change if you don’t like what you choose. You may need to be flexible in terms of shift and location but where there’s a will there’s a way in nursing. Let us know how things turn out, best of luck

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Both L&D and NICU are high demand specialties. Depending on your location it may be fairly easy to get a job in those specialties or near impossible to get those jobs as a new grad. I have never lived in California, but according to posts on this site, it is hard to get any nursing job as a new grad in California. It may be far easier to move to a less desirable area of the country, get a L&D or NICU job, work for 2 yrs, then move back to California if that is your desire.