Perfecting Nursing School Application

[ThirstForKnowledge]

After attaining a Double Baccalaureate (B.A. Psychology, B.A. Criminology) and all of the wrong jobs in the Mental Health field, I've decided to pursue a career I love that pays a decent salary. Therefore, I have found myself applying to Nursing Schools with the hopes of being accepted and attending no later than Fall 2015.

I'm well aware of what has made me decide to choose a career in nursing. However, I seek guidance on portraying it to Nursing Recruiters to make me stand out amongst my peers. I'll give a little background on myself for anyone that would like to give advice.

I have been in the Army National Guard for 7 years and graduated from college on Dean's List. I have a thirst for knowledge and to help others. Hence, why I chose the degrees that I did. Nonetheless, the real world of finding a well paying job with just a B.A. in Psychology was more challenging than anticipated. I worked with children with behavioral disabilities in a middle school for a year and adults. I had gone back to school full time in 2013 while working full time with adults with a primary diagnosis of Autism. I worked directly with the patients and served as more of a caregiver than anything else. I learned medication administration in order to give the patients meds every day three times a day. Although I really enjoyed being able to help others that could not help themselves, the pay is not necessarily rewarding for the amount of work we take on. I have a passion for helping others and want to work in a field that will enable me to express that ability. My life goal and happiness revolves around helping others. In October 2013, my unit was called to active duty and they needed a Rear Detachment Readiness NCO to serve as the liaison between the soldiers deployed and the military in the United States. I really enjoyed this job because I was able to directly influence the lives of many soldiers in several ways, whether it be correcting pay issues, promoting them, helping to gain educational benefits and monetary incentives such as bonuses, etc. Although this was one of the most stressful jobs that I've ever had, it was also very rewarding because the positive reinforcement occurred instantly. Unlike the mental health field in which progression occurs over a very long time. I realize some patients in the Nursing field will recover slowly, there are also many that recover rather quickly as well to provide that sense of accomplishment that I'm helping another.

I'm known for being extremely organized, some say I can bring order to chaos. I'm also a hard worker and have put in over 10-20 extra hours per week while working as the Rear Detachment Readiness NCO. I find the sciences and medicine fascinating and enjoy learning about topics that I can apply to my own life such as Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, etc.

That is a lot of words and I'm trying to put it in a sensible fashion to convey what I want but not go on a tangent at the same time. Let me know if you have any questions to clarify anything.

[Crew2Nursing]

If you want to become a Nurse and it sounds like you do... Then go all the way.... :)

Have you thought about the type of Nursing you might be interested in? Maybe the VA or an Officer in the military as a Nurse again? You might want to add that into your application?

It looks fine to me.. and more than what most others put into their respective applications.... I want to help people, I want to be nurse, I want to be helpful.. yada...yada...yada....

[ThirstForKnowledge]

Crew2Nursing,

My long term goal is to become a Nurse Anesthetist which would take me about 6 years from now to attain. I considered doing Nursing in the military but want to be trained by civilians. Nonetheless, I plan to do Nursing in the Air Force once I get my degree. I did not even consider writing that into my application and the administrative experience I have handling Soldiers medical documents and contacting their PCPs to consult on whether their conditions would hinder their ability to perform their duties. I figured many people put that they want to help others which is a big reason why I did not want to sound cliche. It is definitely something that is necessary for me to enjoy my job but I know that's probably why a lot of people do it as well. Your insight on limiting talk of that in my application is definitely appreciated. Thank you for your help!