Nursing in NYC?

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So I'm a high school senior, I've chosen to be a Nurse, so I'm enrolled in my local community college in my home state of Delaware. To get the ball rolling, I am taking CNA classes this April and I'll be finished in early June, by then, I will have my High School diploma and I will look for a job and work as a CNA while in college. My goal is to get a Bachelor's degree and work up to a Master's degree one day. My goal is to relocate to NYC and to get a Bachelor's degree there. I'll most likely stay here in Delaware for another year or so after I graduate from College to get more experience under my belt before moving, also I'll have more time to save for it. What should I do? How hard is it to find a job with an Associate's degree in Nursing with experience as a CNA and about a year of experience as an RN? Will hospitals hire an RN to BSN student if I go to college there? My boyfriend is starting the same time as me in college, he's going to be a Veterinary Technician but after that he most likely won't continue his education and just work as a Vet Tech, so we would be making some type of income if I were to go to school. What's the Nursing job market like in NYC? Is it a good idea to go to NYC as an RN with an Associate's degree? Please leave positive feedback, thanks :)

Specializes in GI Surgery Step-down.

I have adn in New York City and moving Savannah Georgia. So don't even try to move Nyc without bsn and at least 1-2 year experience as RN!!

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Specializes in Cath/EP lab, CCU, Cardiac stepdown.

If you came here for feedback, advice, and the opinons of nurses then you came to the right place. But if you came to a public forum expecting people to only agree with you or give you words of encouragement, then youre going to be disappointed at this PUBLIC forum. On a side note I perceived no negativity, only people who were giving you straight to the chase advice.

Back to the subject at hand now, nyc is oversaturated with nurses. Just look at how many hospitals have shut down in nyc in the years. There is a continuous amount of nurses being produced here and there will always be the glamour seeking or just general relocators coming here.

Bsn is pretty much entry level regardless of whether youre enrolled to a program because there are plenty of bsn nurses who will apply as well and they will most likely get it over an asn. As for cna experience it doesnt count for much here. Unless you were a cna in that hospital and they didnt dislike you. To get hired in the ny market you will need to have your bsn and experience as a rn. Prefered is 2 years but 1 will sometimes work. You have a possibility of getting hired as an asn if you have good connections to a hospital or youre really lucky but its a slim chance.

Before you make any decisions I hope that you will consider the possibilities. Nyc is not a cheap place to live. It is also a place of endless temptations that will burn out your money quick. So consider the possibility of not being able to find a hospital job for over 1 year (seen it before and its not uncommon) while having to pay for the EXPENSIVE rent, food, entertainment, tuition etc.

I'll probably catch some ire from some here but hey I'm just being real with my advice and I'll say I addressed a good portion of OPs post so flame away or give me thumbs up

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

A gentle reminder....lets be supportive. The OP is a high school senior....I had one last year and another this year. Moving from high school to the real world is a daunting process.

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Did I say it would be easy "honey"?

Nope. And I didn't say you said that either. No need to get defensive. Just pointing out the realities of living in NYC, and I've lived there. I know what's it like to a be hs senior planning out the rest of my life. Rarely does it ever turn out as planned. AN is not going to paint rainbows and butterflies for you. Just because the feedback you are getting isn't brimming with positiveness does not mean it's not right or helpful. It may not be what you want to hear, but it sure is the truth.

You can choose to really look at the advice given to you here or not.

BTW the "honey" in my comment wasn't meant to be condescending, know that on online forums you should take everything with a grain of salt or you are going to be getting upset often.

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Specializes in MedSurg, PACU, Maternal/Child Health.

Reading everyone's posts, I do not see any negativity ...only truth. Unfortunately the truth can be negative because the reality is that the job situation in NYC as well as other cities in the Northeast and the West Coast is bad. I was a new graduate almost 3 years ago and this is being in NY a long time working in other field. What helps here in the city is working at CNA/PCT in the hospital and then being "upgraded" to RN once you get your license. This is about the only sure way and this is not 100%. What also helps is having connections to a high ranking employee of the hospital such as a main administrator Otherwise coming from out of state will be difficult for you.

You can apply to NY hospitals and other non-hospital facilities...but do not move here without an official job offer...you do not want to be stuck broke while waiting for interviews and job offers. Also once you have RN license....hospitals and facilities will NOT hire you as anything less than an RN. This is because they know as soon as you get an RN job somewhere you will leave the CNA/PCT/Clerk/whatever other job real quick and they will be again in a bind to fill this position. Also any non-RN jobs outside healthcare field do not hire people with RN licenses for the same reason they know those people will leave quickly once they get an RN job.

It is good you are getting CNA experience and you are young, why not do a year or two as RN in your home state and then apply to NYC? It will be alot easier for you to get a job then and also with 2 years experience you can do traveler RN and travel around the US on temp assignments (which often can become permanent if you make a good impression).

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First congrats on setting your mind onto a dream and taking steps to reach that goal.

While any healthcare experience is indeed valuable when it comes to nursing school after graduation how it will affect hiring decisions varies by whomever is doing the hiring. Some recruiters, nurse managers, etc.... like to see things like previous CNA, volunteer, experience; others are only interested in nurse internships/clinical experience directly related to professional nursing.

There isn't anything a CNA does that cannot be done by a professional nurse, but increasingly there is "assistant work" and "RN work". Knowing what was once called the nursing arts is all very well, but as a professional RN your supervisors/managers are going to want to see competence in technical skills that have nothing to do with assistants.

Regarding moving to NYC to complete your BSN. If you are going to be on financial aid/scholarship or whatever and thus not bear the full brunt of financing a New York City or State higher education program, then come on up. If you want the experience of attending a NYC or NYS college, again come on up. However if you believe attending a NYC or NYS nursing program will give you a heads up in being hired, *that* is something we would need to discuss further. *LOL*

There are new grads who attended top hospital affiliated nursing programs (NYU, Hunter-Bellevue, Columbia, etc...) and still couldn't get hired by those or any other hospital. The market here for RNs is just that tight. As others have already mentioned what matters more is one's experience and if you have the BSN.

Believe it or not you may stand a better chance of landing a job here in NYC if you graduate from a school in Delaware, pass the boards and get a year or two hospital experience under your belt. That stands out more on a resume than what school you attended.

The NYC area healthcare market is saturated with new grads and in some cases experienced nurses for that matter. Between hospitals and nursing homes closing, mergers, decreased inpatient beds, cutbacks in funding and places keeping a laser like focus on staffing and utilization hospitals are often running lean nursing staffs. This is translating into a hard time for even experienced nurses getting full time hours.

Many make the assumption that they must be in NYC to be hired by hospitals here; that is not entirely true. Most major private hospitals such as NYP recruit nurses from all over the USA.

If you read the archives of this forum you will find many new grads left NYC to gain experience elsewhere, then returned to land a job. Not attempting to rain upon your parade, but it is just that difficult for new grads to find work in NYC. Competition for entry into nurse residency/new grad programs is very keen, and every six or twelve months yet *more* grads come from local NYC schools adding to that pool.

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You mention that you're interested in NYU and Hunter. Just so you know, the way Hunter works you have to be a matriculated student BEFORE applying to be a nursing student. They only accept one batch of nursing students per year into their traditional program, and the applications happen in the spring semester for the following fall. You have to be taking classes at Hunter when you apply. Meaning you would have to move to NYC, transfer to Hunter, and take a semester of classes there before you can even apply to be a nursing student there. Given how competitive Hunter is that's a pretty big risk to take. And don't even bother with NYU unless you get major scholarships. I made the mistake of going there for a semester before transferring- not even close to being worth the money that it costs.

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