I am a male nursing student going into my sophomore year. I recently started a job as a CNA in a nursing home and am enjoying it. I am pretty confident in my decision to go into nursing, but I have a few questions.
1. One of my friends in nursing is saying the nursing field is beginning to become flooded. She says there are more students going into nursing than ever before and it is going to drive down the nurse's wage in the coming years. Have and of you found that to be true as well?
Also what is a good beginning wage for a fresh graduate with a bachelors degree?
2. My second question is about graduate school. With large amount of nurses in the world I expect advanced practice nursing programs to be super competitive and maybe hard to find a job if you are accepted into the program. I have been able to maintain a 4.0 so far, but I am still worried. Right now I am looking into Nurse Practitioner or a Nurse Anesthetist, and hopefully one day I can attend a graduate program of some sort. Just out curiosity, what are some graduate programs outside of nursing I could apply for with a BSN?
I don't know what areas are flooded but I can tell you that NE Florida is NOT. Graduate, pass NCLEX, you'll find a job. If you Google Hottest Nursing Jobs, nurse legal consultant pops right up. Of course, you'd need experience before a law firm would hire you.
There's a proliferation of NP programs that only require a 2.6 GPA and no GRE scores.
Being able to apply with a certain GPA and recieving an acceptance letter are very different. As for the GRE, studies show a good score on the GRE is not a good predictor of academic success. Neither is previous RN experience.
In my city, there are 5 nursing schools pumping out students. This has caused difficulties for new grads to be hired, but still experenced RN postions sit vacant. The students that were offered employment in my class were mostly PCTs and CNAs before they graduated. Since you are already working as a CNA, you are in a good spot to be hired but relocation is always another option. If I were tou I would apply to a unit you want to work at upon graduation and think of everyday as if you were interviewing for your new grad RN job. I was offered 3 jobs as a new grad and one of those spots was made because I did so well precepting.
Just keep working hard keep those grades up and tou will be golden.
As for NP there are very many schools out there. From my own estimation I would say 80-90% are offered online with 1-2 visits to campus each year to demonstrate your proficiencies. This allows tou to apply to several schools. They usually assign points to your application to determine if you are accepted: based on GPA, healthcare experence, admittance essay, letters of recomendation, and your interview.
Most schools I spoke with stated they admit half the applicants each cycle.
I was accepted to 2 of 3 schools (large brick and mortar state schools that offer didactics online) with a 3.6 ADN GPA, 4.0 BSN GPA, 2 years exp as a PCT, no RN experence, and IMO good admitting essay with plenty of citations, references, and interview.
What's the purpose of your "friend in nursing" saying that? If you want to be a nurse, be a nurse and don't let anyone discourage you. People were saying the same thing when I got into nursing school a fews years back. I graduated, passed NCLEX and got more job offers than I could handle. Dude, you are set just focus on what you need to do.
Concerning salaries all nurses do regular surveys you could search for them. My first year in nursing last year I made over $60,000 i did some overtime of course... But heres one thread with salaries click below.
of course the respondents have various yrs of experience. There was a thread for new nurses for i can't find it right now.
Despite what people say there's still many jobs out there and many hospitals with unbelievable nurse ratios and short staffed. I could pretty much at will choose if I want overtime or not. It's there for the picking. Of course this varies by region.
Np programs decide to accept or deny on a point rating system. They take your application and award points to a few different categories for example: GPA, rn experience, you're admitting essay, letters of recommendation, and your interview. Depending on the school these catagories have more or less weight attached to them.
Many little to no experence RNs are getting into NP school straight out of their BSN. I was not nosey enough to ask about gpa's but in a group of 6 np students I was in a few days ago, 4 were new grads. Myself being one of them and I had a 4.0 in my BSN 3.6 in my ADN. I was actually accepted to 2/3 colleges I applied to.
Nursing is a solid field, sick people are not going away. Not only is the general population aging, but so are nurses. The last I heard the average age of a nurse is about 45. As for wages, it varies a lot by region. Keep up your grades and you will do well. Good luck.
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I don't know what areas are flooded but I can tell you that NE Florida is NOT. Graduate, pass NCLEX, you'll find a job. If you Google Hottest Nursing Jobs, nurse legal consultant pops right up. Of course, you'd need experience before a law firm would hire you.