On Becoming a Nurse

MickeyTong · Jun 25, 2011

Yo, Chief. I'm not a 'Merckan, so I can't advise on the hoops you have to jump through. But if you have 8 years' military service and half a brain and the desire to be a nurse - you've got more than what it takes, and we need you in our business.

A five year old misdemeanor? Yeah, you'll fit right in.

Go for it, dude. :up:

MickeyTong · Jun 25, 2011

(Sorry, Commuter....I thought I was discreet, and decent folks wouldn't be able to decipher what I wrote.)

Jenni811, RN · Jun 25, 2011

maybe your experience in the army will outweigh the misdemeanor.

May i ask what your misdemeanor is??

Whispera, MSN, RN · Jun 25, 2011

I think whether your misdemeanor will prevent you from becoming a nurse depends on what the misdemeanor was, and what you've done about it, since it happened.

What do you want to do with a nursing degree? An associates degree is enough for lots of nursing jobs, and an RN, whether through an associates degree or a bachelor's degree, generally gets the same pay for the same seniority and job.

You can have perfect grades and still be on a waiting list if everyone else has the same grades you have. The thing is, there aren't enough instructors to teach everyone who wants to study nursing, especially for clinical courses where there are limits as to how many students an instructor may have. Sometimes too, there aren't enough sites available for students to do clinicals. Schools can't overwhelm facilities with their presence in large numbers.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jun 25, 2011

I'm in the last few months of an eight year term of service on active duty in the Army. I fully intend on becoming a nurse, but I have some concerns. Some, such as a now five year old misdemeanor, have been slightly alleviated by a pep talk from a doctor who essentially told me to not let having to jump through some hoops with a Board deter me from doing what I want to do.
The time is rapidly approaching when I will have to make some definite decisions, such as enrolling in school. I have a GED, and my college transcripts from the community college (Central Texas College) near my base show a mediocre GPA with the four or five courses I've taken over the last eight years. I've been unable to apply myself to my potential due to service obligations, but I will be focusing entirely on studies after I end my term.
My tentative plan is to seek enrollment in the community college's Associate of Applied Science in Nursing program (the curriculum is on page 82 of this document), and raise my GPA significantly. I'm not sure if I should complete the Associate's, or only complete enough courses to significantly raise my GPA before applying to the BSN program at University of Texas at Austin. It's also not clear to me what is meant by wait lists; is it true that even if you have an impeccable transcript you might have to wait a year or longer before enrollment into a university's nursing program?
If any nurses can offer suggestions for inquiries I should be making or considerations I should be making, I will greatly appreciate it.

Why didn't you get your degree while in the army?

netglow, ASN, RN · Jun 25, 2011

Nobody will "weigh" that you were in the army. Lots of people were/are in the armed forces. It is not unique. What you have to do is make sure all the "stuff" associated with that ruling is resolved, and, that you have all the records associated with it in order to answer to anyone's questions.

In my state, you cannot even begin education for something as simple as a CNA level certificate without a background check. This, because the facilities (hospitals, nursing homes) of course, don't want anyone with questionable criminal history onsite.

So forget projecting as far as employment as an RN for now.

Concentrate on your records and any resolution you may need to do in order for you to just be able to gain entry into a registered nursing program.

Jackfackmasta, ASN, RN · Jun 25, 2011

I'm in the last few months of an eight year term of service on active duty in the Army. I fully intend on becoming a nurse, but I have some concerns. Some, such as a now five year old misdemeanor, have been slightly alleviated by a pep talk from a doctor who essentially told me to not let having to jump through some hoops with a Board deter me from doing what I want to do.
The time is rapidly approaching when I will have to make some definite decisions, such as enrolling in school. I have a GED, and my college transcripts from the community college (Central Texas College) near my base show a mediocre GPA with the four or five courses I've taken over the last eight years. I've been unable to apply myself to my potential due to service obligations, but I will be focusing entirely on studies after I end my term.
My tentative plan is to seek enrollment in the community college's Associate of Applied Science in Nursing program (the curriculum is on page 82 of this document), and raise my GPA significantly. I'm not sure if I should complete the Associate's, or only complete enough courses to significantly raise my GPA before applying to the BSN program at University of Texas at Austin. It's also not clear to me what is meant by wait lists; is it true that even if you have an impeccable transcript you might have to wait a year or longer before enrollment into a university's nursing program?
If any nurses can offer suggestions for inquiries I should be making or considerations I should be making, I will greatly appreciate it.

For UT Austin I when I went to an information session they said that GPA is not everything, that they look a lot at volunteer work and other stuff. I have heard about people with 3.87 Gpas not getting in because they have no volunteer work. UT is is looking for well round people who stand out and not just the person with 4.0 gpa. However if you have a 2.9 GPA you're not going to get in most likely. When I was there they said the average was like 3.3-3.5 I believe. I'm doing my ADN at ACC and love it. I've worked with UT nurses without knowing they were UT nurses and I have also worked with ACC nurses and in Austin ACC nurses are preferred over UT Austin from what many managers I have talked told me. There is not "wait list" with a number. If you don't get in you have to reapply and they will look at you again. It is competitive but UT is more academics and ACC our community college in Austin is more hands on. You can go on to do your BSN in less than 1 year online at Texas tech afterwards.

kalevra, BSN, RN · Jun 25, 2011

What do you want to do with a nursing degree? An associates degree is enough for lots of nursing jobs, and an RN, whether through an associates degree or a bachelor's degree, generally gets the same pay for the same seniority and job.

In the military a BSN qualifies you immediately for officer candidacy. The life of an officer versus an enlisted man or chief warrant are totally different. Being a RN with their BSN makes you an officer that works in the hospital NOT a line unit like infantry. The hospital is a great place when your an officer its definitely better than the line units. Officers get paid more, and there are a lot of times when things work on the "gentlemen's agreement" system. I was enlisted for 4 years as a Medic did a sting at DAMC saw how life for RN officers were and very impressed. The RN's described it as a regular RN gig with some extra perks thrown in like all of your student loans paid off for in three installments by the military. They also said if you get out, they have 4 years of experience and the rank that shows responsibility like 0-3 therefore they can talk about leadership experience in the military. You dont have to deal with the " dog and pony show" cause even if they kick you out the military for not saluting someone , as an example, they cant take you license away. Your options are still open with your RN license, and years of experience in the profession.

Many of my senior enlisted tried to tell me education isn't worth it, that enlisted ran the ARMY. Well it is a lie, officers tell enlisted what to do and the enlisted go do it. Only way to become an officer is to have an EDUCATION, look at West Point thats a University.

The OP has 8 years in the military. This means that after 4 years for BSN they will only have to work 12 more years to retire from the military and receive pay and full health benefits till they die. Then they can work at another location maybe Veterans Affairs hospital or the civilian side of the hospital and still be making tons of money.

lrobinson5 · Jun 25, 2011

I HIGHLY suggest that you call both the BON in the state you want a license and the nursing school you want to go to. It doesn't matter what people on this forum think, it is what THEY think that will allow you to obtain your RN. Good luck :)

kalevra, BSN, RN · Jun 25, 2011

Why didn't you get your degree while in the army?

There are tons of negatives attached to getting your degree in the military on active duty.

1. If your on a line unit like Infantry, Armor, and Artillery you have 10 days of every month spent in the woods in training exercises like gunnery and Combined Arms Live Fire Exercises (CALFAX). These events trump school any day, end up missing lectures, test, assignments and grades drop. Going to school while serving active duty less likely to happen when on a line unit.

2. You have responsibilities that require you to be at work at strange hours like when sensitive items go missing and you end up spending the next 4 days in the motorpool opening connexes looking for a radio, NVG, etc. As a squad leader your responsible for dealing with bull from your 7 man squad including their personal crap. This takes away from time spent in your books. Yes you are responsible for the actions of other people, no joke, you didn't even have to be there. If they screw up, you screw up that is how the military works.

3. You have to re-enlist for the "Green to Gold" program which ties you academic performance to the military at any time you cant pass muster then you go right back to the line unit as everyday Joe, do not pass go. If you did it civilian side you can try as many times as you want, keep in mind most military personnel have not been in college and would need some remedial courses to catch up to speed. Nothing wrong with that.

4. Deployment...your not even in the country. How about online work? You have active patrols every day you wont be able to get hooked up to the internet. But I wont be on patrols ill be at a fire base/ check point? You dont even have electricity at the fire base/checkpoint.

5. Clinical require you to be at a hospital/facility for 20 hours of the week and lecture for 9 hours...minimum. Will your chain of command allow you to be gone for so long with you NOT having re-enlisted and NOT have it written in your contract saying you can go to clinicals/lecture? Hell no, your not going anywhere!

These are all answers I learned from talking to my chain of command while enlisted in the ARMY 4th Infantry Division. Either re-enlist or shut up, thats what their position was. Cause they needed bodies for deployment and people going to school would drain man power.

Guest 360983 · Jun 25, 2011

I live in Houston and go to school with people who came back home because they couldn't get into UTA's nursing program, and they started their degrees there. If you get the CTC degree, the Killeen Tarleton campus has (or at least used to have) an RN-BSN program you can do later.