New Grad NP salary Texas

djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 9, 2019

7 hours ago, AlcRoc said:
Hello
Perhaps what I’m about to say is silly but I really would appreciate some feedback from nurses on this site. I am an aspiring NP and based on some things I’ve heard I am now questioning even putting the money and time into becoming an APRN. I love the idea of advancing my practice, having greater autonomy and better pay but friends who have become NPs here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area are telling me to forget it. They say they are overworked and underpaid. One person told me RNs we’re getting paid as much as NPs in her state of Hawaii! I’m 46 years old. I’ve worked in Med/Surg, OR and now doing Psych PRN. I make about 65,000.00 as a nurse with 5 years experience. Is spending another $30,000 on an NP program worth it? I didn’t get into nursing to just make $ I also love it, however I would hope being an NP would raise my salary quite a bit. Any thoughts? Please share your salary, location, specialty and years as an NP with your thoughts on this. I guess I need some hope?

I can't speak for Texas and I can say in Michigan, there aren't a ton of np jobs. But I finished my RN days with 9 years at about 73k. Now some of that was because of VA politics and I more appropriately should have been around 80k. When I got my first job as an NP in primary care a year ago, they under bid me at 90k. I countered at 100 and more time off and they took it. Now this is an underserved area and a growing clinic desperate for providers. So I know my negotiating power there. One year deep I easily renegotiated for more money and time off because they can't keep staff.

Now this isn't the same everywhere and you really need to be choosy on where you practice. You need to look into other states for ideas of pay/leave and present yourself like moving to those are valid options when negotiating locally. Even if they technically aren't. Look to less traveled areas or places in economic decline because those places are desperate for providers. Nurse practitioners weren't envisioned to create a second class of doctors. They were made to provide cost effective access to healthcare for a myriad of patients who couldn't get access. The underserved should be our primary calling imo.

Oldmahubbard · Mar 9, 2019

Nothing silly about it. From the dark ages when I became an NP, to the present day, there never has been a guarantee that you would make a lot more as an NP, or that you would even like the job. It's a very reasonable question. As I have previously remarked, I hated being an RN, so I wasn't even looking for or thinking about a big paycheck. And I didn't get a big paycheck at first. It did end up eventually paying better than I ever imagined, but a lot of that is productivity based. No one is going to give you a big check to see 10 or 12 patients a day.

I know people in their 50's who graduated the same year I did, and still don't have their loans paid off or anything in the bank for retirement. It's such an individual thing and random factors are part of it too.

I make my home in an area that is considered economically depressed. I know the local medical clinic has NP openings at 80k that they can't fill.

On the other hand, with online NP schools popping up everywhere and a very low bar to entry, I have no idea where the profession will be in 10 years.

It doesn't seem to be moving in a positive direction. I do not think the DNP helps at all. Anyone can hit google and see that the DNP is not a real doctorate. My opinion only.

Goldenfox · Mar 9, 2019

2 hours ago, Oldmahubbard said:
Nothing silly about it. From the dark ages when I became an NP, to the present day, there never has been a guarantee that you would make a lot more as an NP, or that you would even like the job. It's a very reasonable question. As I have previously remarked, I hated being an RN, so I wasn't even looking for or thinking about a big paycheck. And I didn't get a big paycheck at first. It did end up eventually paying better than I ever imagined, but a lot of that is productivity based. No one is going to give you a big check to see 10 or 12 patients a day.
I know people in their 50's who graduated the same year I did, and still don't have their loans paid off or anything in the bank for retirement. It's such an individual thing and random factors are part of it too.
I make my home in an area that is considered economically depressed. I know the local medical clinic has NP openings at 80k that they can't fill.
On the other hand, with online NP schools popping up everywhere and a very low bar to entry, I have no idea where the profession will be in 10 years.
It doesn't seem to be moving in a positive direction. I do not think the DNP helps at all. Anyone can hit google and see that the DNP is not a real doctorate. My opinion only.

Some here lie and troll about the reality of all this (for their own purposes, I'm sure). I used to give advice to younger and newer RNs and NPs based on my own experiences over the many years that I've been doing this. I try not to do this anymore. I am tired of being attacked by know-it-alls and trolls. Some of us will have to learn the truth the hard way, the old-fashioned way.

BTW oldma, you are dead-on. I have a doctorate degree...a real one. The DNP is not a real doctorate degree. I used to be in a DNP program and dropped out because it was mostly just ridiculous nonsense regurgitated from the RN program. No need to pay a college thousands of dollars for that. They will give you a piece of paper with a title on it, but it means nothing in reality.

Do I regret being an NP? Yes and no. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. If I had to take out large amounts of student loans to do it, I wouldn't. I came into this at a time when when it was worth doing and when there were plenty of decent opportunities. Now, everybody and their mother is an NP. It is very easy to get into the NP programs and very easy to pass to pass the boards. Pay and opportunities are in decline across the board. Many lie and say that the opposite of this is true. I know NPs in my home state who consistently lie about their earnings to impress others. I would never do that. One of my big weaknesses is that I like people too much to lie to them about things that I know will hurt them later, but that is not what we are cultured to do in this world. If you decide to become an NP you will find out what is true for yourself. If you decide to become an NP, do it because you really want to become a clinician, not because you are burnt out on bedside nursing. If you do it for the latter reason you will be a disappointment to the patients who look up to you, and worst of all, to yourself. The reason I like being an NP is because I now have the opportunity to help people who really need help in ways that I never could as an RN. You don't even begin to understand the importance of this until you've worked in a state that affords full-practice autonomy. But to really take advantage of this you need to know your Sugar, Honey, Ice Tea.

If you decide to become an NP because you really want to be a clinician, do it. Don't expect that you're going to get rich or that you're going to land a great job easily. You're probably going to have to move to get a job that pays a half way decent salary. If you have to, and you can, do it. Reality is that there just aren't many good paying clinical NP jobs out there anymore because, thanks to the easy online colleges, NPs are a dime a dozen now. Still, the really good clinicians among us will stand the test of time. The patients and the supervising physicians will quickly figure this out. NO matter what, don't sell yourself short. Be a real clinician. Don't take those home health assessment jobs that are now being advertised in overabundance online.

To the OP, you're probably never going to make bank if you're in a big city where there are hundreds of other unemployed or underemployed NPs who are willing to accept a crappy job and low wages. I quit doing locums a while ago and my NP colleagues who are still doing it tell me that it is getting harder to find jobs and that the pay is trending lower. Do your research. Don't just accept the sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows BS that you hear from some.

Troll attacks incoming... 3....2....1.....

AlcRoc · Mar 9, 2019

Thanks to both of you! I’m really excited about growing in my practice and I won’t give up hope. The NP program I am hoping to get acceptance to is pretty competitive and required a CV written in specific format, an APA formatted essay on the role and future of the Nurse Practioner in healthcare as well as a statement of purpose. I also had to send them three references to whom they sent an emailed form with questions regarding my ethics, character and nursing practice. The cost is very reasonable. The other major school (more expensive backup school) doesn’t require anything but maybe GPA parameters. It concerns me that they are churning out NPs and acceptance is so easy.

I guess all I can do is hope that the higher education will allow me to be a real clinician and I look forward to the challenge. I am getting ready to gain some experience in Psych because I am bored in the OR. I’m probably crazy but I loved my psych rotation in nursing school. I figured I better try it out or I’ll never know. It was the same when I left the floor to go to outpatient surgery. I just wanted to try it out.

I love nursing period and the only thing that’s hard is I don’t have as many years in the profession so I am constantly fighting to get a better wage. Even though I do charge nurse, materials management and patient outcomes are good, HR will always tell me that, “Based on your years of experience, we can offer you $XX an hour.” I didn’t get into nursing to be rich but I certainly would like a fair wage for what I do.

I am hoping that furthering my education will show employers that I care about my profession and my patients. Thanks for listening to my whining (violins playing) ?

Oldmahubbard · Mar 10, 2019

I wanted very desperately to be a Psych NP, and I would have been content with a very small raise, which I didn't even get until I had been working awhile. I had to prove myself. Anyone will probably have to prove themselves as an NP. That's why I was very happy that I went to school part time for 4 years and worked full time as an RN in psych, extensively preparing myself. Don't expect a program to prepare you.

I have been very happy with my choice but I see poorly prepared people coming out of poor quality programs, ie the program director is not an NP, and it really scares me.

AlcRoc · Mar 10, 2019

Thanks Oldmahubbard! Ready to work and earn my way for sure.

direw0lf, BSN · Mar 10, 2019

Is a troll anyone who is in disagreement? For the most part what I have witnessed on this forum is a negative view for someone wanting to be an NP. Or they paint a picture that goes like this “the pay is bad, you won’t find work unless you move, the education is worse, but if you really want it and can work for horrible conditions then ok”. It confuses me. We hopefully chose the nursing career for the right reasons, and graduate programs should be embraced and encouraged by and for nurses who want to advance their careers. Instead those of us who don’t have the experience are given “advice” by what APPEARS to be from NPs who are upset about how easy it is for younger nurses to get in and out with an NP. Nursing at the BSN level is not nor should ever have to be the pinnacle of nursing. Nothing can stop this change in the nursing profession. And nothing can stop that new nurses are jumping at NP or other graduate nurse education, in discontentment over their current education level, a lot sooner than they would have 10+ years ago. I encouraged everyone in my graduating class not to wait, to go on to at least the master’s level soon, and it did get many of my peers thinking and planning and doing. There are bad RNs, NPs, PAs and physicians everywhere. The concept of bad NPs is not a new one simply because it’s 2019 and education is easy to get. Let’s create some positive changes for the future of NPs instead of the negativity. Accept this reality and help contribute to better NP education!

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Mar 10, 2019

People who say it is easy to get into a good NP program are only applying to crappy programs. It is highly competitive and difficult to get into the best NP programs like U Penn, Hopkins, Yale, etc.

Yes, there are crappy NP programs out there that will take anyone with a pulse. So, anyone who goes to one of those and is poorly prepared and can't get a job has no one but themselves to blame.

I am dismayed at the number of comments on this forum by would-be NPs who want an NP program that is easy. In fact, I am astounded by the ignorance of so many would-be NPs (now I am venting). People who don't know how to find a decent NP program in a state like California! People who don't have the slightest idea what an NP makes! People who think an FNP means they can do anything to anyone in any setting! People who have no idea what the job prospects are for an NP in their desired location!

I am also equally dismayed by certain posters on this forum who think all NP programs are crappy. No, they are not. Some are great, most are ok, and some are crappy. Such is life.

direw0lf, BSN · Mar 10, 2019

53 minutes ago, FullGlass said:

"People who say it is easy to get into a good NP program are only applying to crappy programs. It is highly competitive and difficult to get into the best NP programs like U Penn, Hopkins, Yale, etc. "

I respectfully disagree about not being easy to get into a good/right school. If people apply themselves in undergrad it is possible to easily get into NYU, Upenn, Hopkins etc. I was accepted into Upenn when I applied after I graduated with my BSN last year and chose not to go there. I wasn't even impressed with their curriculum which seemed overburdened with theory and research instead of (not in addition to) practical didactic courses. One of my nursing professors had encouraged me to apply there. I did my own research about schools. I'm going to sound like I'm arrogant, so be it, but nursing undergrad school is not that hard. All it takes is time to study (some students have internal or external struggles, I'm not including them when I say this). But some people still pass having had the mentality that it is ok to study 1-2 hours a week and go out drinking each weekend. There are people like me though who have worked, volunteered and maintained a high GPA in college and made good rapports with faculty who write excellent letters of recommendation or pull strings if they can. That was my case. I recently applied to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Duke University and I really think I'll be accepted to both. I'm not alone, and some get in even easier. What you see posting to allnurses or in your own place of work are only a fraction of nurses or wannabe nurses.

"I am dismayed at the number of comments on this forum by would-be NPs who want an NP program that is easy. In fact, I am astounded by the ignorance of so many would-be NPs (now I am venting). People who don't know how to find a decent NP program in a state like California! People who don't have the slightest idea what an NP makes! People who think an FNP means they can do anything to anyone in any setting! People who have no idea what the job prospects are for an NP in their desired location! "

I too am dismayed, but mine is over the negativity and discouragement toward would-be NPs and NP programs. I really can't claim I read even 1% of the posts here on the Nurse Practitioner forum because there's so many here but what I have read is negativity and that's what my own vent was about.

However, you say "People who don't have the slightest idea..." how are we SUPPOSED to GET any idea? I met a handful of NPs during nursing clinicals and when I worked as a PCA. I grilled them with questions if they let me. I learned that the NP profession was originally created for the need of the underserved, but the profession HAS GROWN to be MORE than that. That is ok and a natural path to have taken, even though I believe in honoring its roots.

My friend wanted to learn about dermatology NP. She visited one NP after the other to ask if she could shadow. In the end none of them let her/had time for her/not interested. Nurses have got to take chances because sometimes there's no other way, and we have to fight to make this profession worth it.

Oldmahubbard · Mar 10, 2019

I have a few thoughts. Yes there are some selective and decent NP programs from big name schools. Thank goodness. I hope they are better than the ones I am most familiar with. They actually vet their preceptors, and also provide preceptors for the student. Unfortunately, they are outliers.

The professors should be actual NPs in the speciality with recent and extensive clinical experience. Again, not sure how you are going to get someone like this for the ridiculously low salary they pay. Is this supposed to be a job only for someone in semi-retirement?

I had one or more prospective students contact me for possible clinical hours when I worked for a state forensic facility. I was interested in having students.

However, my vindictive and narcissistic supervisors would not let me have students because I was making their "psychiatrists" look bad by regularly exposing the malingering that was passing for schizophrenia.

My point, NPs in most clinical settings are not free to just have students come in. They have to get permission.

All that being said, I am happy with my career. Very happy. But it was a long and bumpy road.

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Mar 10, 2019

4 minutes ago, direw0lf said:
I respectfully disagree about not being easy to get into a good/right school. If people apply themselves in undergrad it is possible to easily get into NYU, Upenn, Hopkins etc.
I too am dismayed, but mine is over the negativity and discouragement toward would-be NPs and NP programs. I really can't claim I read even 1% of the posts here on the Nurse Practitioner forum because there's so many here but what I have read is negativity and that's what my own vent was about.
However, you say "People who don't have the slightest idea..."

I think we are basically in agreement.

However, it is NOT easy to get into the best NP programs. Those programs do not accept 100% of applicants. There is competition. Perhaps you are stellar, but I did not get into every NP program I applied to. I got into Hopkins and UCLA, but not Yale.

I can't speak to the quality of every NP program, but I am very happy with my education at Hopkins. It wasn't perfect, but they did the best they could. There are ways for prospective students to find out more about programs, instead of endlessly whining on this forum.

I am not annoyed with people who ask questions, but people who are completely clueless when they are already RNs! People who apparently are incapable of googling "nurse practitioner schools in California." That reveals a level of ignorance and intellectual laziness that is astonishing. People who go all the way through nurse practitioner school and graduate, who are then astounded at what nurse practitioners actually make. (Ever heard of the internet or how about talking to your instructors and preceptors who are NPs?) Psych NPs who show up for a job interview with multiple facial piercings and facial tattoos, dressed unprofessionally, and then wonder why they didn't get the job (yes, this really happened)!

I agree there is too much negativity towards NP programs and new NP grads on this forum and have been quite outspoken about it. However, I agree there are some crappy NP programs out there and our profession should do a better job of policing themselves.

Can anyone here imagine a premed student asking "Gee, what are the good medical schools?" "Is Harvard or Johns Hopkins a good medical school?" Or saying, "I just want to go to the easiest med school possible." "No one will care what medical school I went to. I can go to Acme Med and get just as many job offers as someone who went to Hopkins." How about, "I don't want to have to read the text!" Or how about a medical student or medical doctor making comments like: "I'm going to become a Family Medicine Doctor. Can I work in the ER and do surgery?" "I want to be a Psychiatrist. Should I be a Family Medicine doctor?" "I want to be a cardiologist. Should I do an internship and residency in Family Medicine instead of cardiology?" "I want to be a doctor and make six figures, but I can only go to a med school within a 1 hour drive of my home, and I can't possibly relocate after getting my MD."