PCA or MA? Need Advice

[NikkiNicole1488]

Hello everyone, I need some advice!

The story is that I was attending my local community college to become a RN. I completed all the pre reqs and volunteered at the hospital to better my chances. Yesterday I did the final step and took the Hesi A2 exam, this exam is required by my school to apply for their RN program. I needed to pass this test with a 75 or higher to apply. Well, I failed the test... I don't know how, I purchased the recommended study guide, studied for weeks a couple hours a day and thought I had it down. When I was taking the test it didn't seem so bad just really long (300 something questions) and covered so many subjects (Grammer,Vocab,A&P,Chem,Math,Bio,and Reading). I sat there the whole 4 hours doing this test and still didn't come out with enough to apply my overall score was 73.77.

Ok so since this test is only taken every 6 months and the next dead line for my school to apply for RN program is OCT 1, I won't be able to test till Nov and won't be able to apply for the program till next year in June! I'm so down about this... so I decided maybe I should pursue something different for now so I can get a job and work. I am torn between PCA which is a 3 and a half month program, or MA which is a year and if I do it I will finish before applying to the RN program next year. I still do plan on going for RN but I would like to do something so I can get out of my minimum wage job. I am going to be 25 in Jan and have a small child I really need a better paying job, and was thinking maybe I can do one of these for part time work while I attend RN school in the future *hopefully*.

I live in South Florida and I have heard PCA only pays 8 and some have told me you could get 10-12/hr is this true???

MA is a yearlong program which is starting soon and I have a couple classes that can substitute some classes in program so I don't have to take new ones all over again. So it may be less than a year for me to complete. I believe the pay is better than PCA but am not sure. Some people have told me to give up RN all together and go for Radiologist tech (program starts soon also and I have completed some classes that can transfer over). I don't know I am just so confused I can't afford to wait a whole year doing nothing stuck at my current job.

Sorry for the long post just needed to tell the whole story here, and I figured I'd ask this to those who may already be in the PCA, MA, or RT field. All of these interest me just as much as RN did. I would like to stay at my current school because of cost, and location. Any advice?

Thanks in advance..

[NikkiNicole1488]

Anyone? lol Maybe I made my post too long...:doh:

[futurenurseya33]

For the MA, I think mostly they work in Dr offices. Because of this they aren't very flexible. As a CNA, I think you will get much more experience because the duties that you perform are those that you see in your first semester RN clinical. I'm not sure how much MAs get paid. I'm in St Louis and they make like $8 an hour. CNAs aren't much different but a friend of mine just got hired and she said they would be paying her $12 an hour. Also since CNAs mostly work in long term care there is much more room for flexibility which you will need when you start your RN program.