What sacrifices will you make? / How hungry are you?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Recently, at the age of 33 (to be 34 in July) "the light" went off. I have been searching my whole life for a purpose. I have been working a menial job, while trying to get by. I thought that this was it for me. All of the years of self loathing and feelings of worthlessness have done nothing for me except balloon me up to 500 lbs and make me feel like a horrible person. I don't know how it happened, but it just clicked for me. I decided that I want to be an RN. Now, nothing else matters. This is my goal and I will do whatever I have to do to make it happen. I haven't ever felt this motivated in my entire life. At some point I wanted to get into law enforcement, but I no longer care about that. I have many hurdles to overcome for sure. Firstly, I've never been a good student. I dropped out of high school back in 1997. I only recently got my GED 3 years ago. I was so intimidated by going for that. When I got there, I realized Hmm, this isn't that hard. It was all about going and doing. Now, I am ready to move onto the next part of my life. I know pre nursing is going to be hard for me, but I refuse to let that get me down. I plan on going to ALL of my classes, and even organizing study groups so that all of us will be able to challenge and test ourselves. I probably won't be able to afford a tutor, but I will definitely ask questions here on this forum when I need help. I am also now on a very strict diet. I have been counting my calories and making sure that I am not eating more than I should. There is no room for failure. As with a lot of you, I wasn't born into a family that has a lot of money. In fact, my family has NO money. Basically, before I can go to to nursing school, I will have to save about 7 or 8 grand so that I will have a cheap room to live in somewhere. If necessary, I will apply to every community college in America until somebody accepts me into their program. I will will work part time flipping burgers, mopping toilet stalls, dig ditches, or whatever. I'll even go on food stamps, and I'm a proud man. So basically, I will do WHATEVER it takes to get into nursing school, pass and then pass my NCLEX exam. I am just curious if anyone here is in a similar boat as I am. Are any of you folks super poor without support? I feel like It would just be a relief to hear from some of you guys. Thanks for listening.

Josh

This is such an awesome post! I think you should go for it and don't let anything discourage you. You seem like you have a good heart and compassion for others, which would be great in nursing. Go for it!

Hi! I am new to this website and really don't know where to ask this...I just finished freshman year and was totally idiotic and didn't put in too much effort...I have an overall 2.0 gpa and I want to apply to UT houston nursing program this january. I think that with 2 summer classes and my next fall semester...I may raise my gpa to a 3-3.2 maybe but I'm not sure if that would be enough to get me into the program. I really really regret letting my gpa drop so low, any type of comment would be appreciated! I just dont know if I will make it even if I try my hardest to get a 3.0 gpa. Seems like everyone gets a lot higher than that.... help!

Specializes in OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, Medical Speci.

Josh very inspirational story! Best of Luck and Success to you and stay strong.:)

Welcome to the broke club. We can and we will succeed!

Good for you :) You can do it!

As for me, I am a mom to 5 children (I'm 27). I graduated high school in 2004 with a 4 month old baby boy. I didn't start college pre-reqs until January 2007 with 3 under 3 (kids). It took me 5 years to finish all my pre reqs but I did it :) I had to go part time or quarter time. I have always lived pay check to pay check and it is hard! I just got accepted into the ADN program for this fall. Studying with kids was hard, but I managed, I don't have any room for failure, this is my goal and I will meet it. I graduated high school with my CNA and I finally landed a good position in the hospital as a PCT on an infant and children's unit nights part time 7p to 7:30a 2 nights a week. The good thing is it's schedule your own hours so I just have to get the PCTs who aren't in school to let me have Wed and Thur off because of my clinicals. Good thing about night shift is there is a couple of breaks here and there to get studying in. Bad part the exhaustion, but I will not fail because I can't fail! This effects my family and I want to be a nurse and make better money. I couldn't see myself doing anything else!

Specializes in LTC/Rehab, ICF/MR, Mental Health.

Your story sounds so similar. I'm having to pay for my nursing on my own now. I went to school and got a BS in Management and realized it wasn't what I wanted to do. I got into a nursing program and got my LPN but now am maxed out on student loans so I can't finish my RN. I need less than 5k to finish so right now I'm doing my pre-req's online that I didn't get when I was in my management program (anatomy, Micro and psychology) I'm working as a psych nurse and just picked up a PRN job at the methadone clinic so all that money will be going towards paying for school. I'm bound and determined to get my RN and I know it's going slow, but I keep telling myself a step ahead is still a step ahead. Like you I want to be a travel nurse and found LPN travel jobs where I could make more money and save faster but my fear is that I'd stop working on my studies like I should. I've even found myself thinking of selling my house and moving back to my parents which is 8 hours away from here so I could finish my RN. Your post has given me motivation and I also follow a group of traveling nurses who don't always know it but they motivate me to study because I see them doing what I can't wait to do. Good luck to you!

I agree with everyone else, Awesome post! I too am a late bloomer and in my 30's and just figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Nursing has always been at the back of my mind as a career but I was too afraid to go for it. I wasn't good in math or science and my gpa wasn't the best when I graduated high school. But after wasting time in life and letting the years past me by, trying to take the "quick route" I racked up student loans trying to do something quick and easy (as my career). My point is, the motivation and drive that you have now, will make you do well in nursing! I feel the EXACTLY same way as you do, it's do or die, now or never! The first step is believe in yourself and put forth the effort. I think this is a great part of nursing, you have to be driven and be passionate about your goals and dreams. It will make the hard work worth it. I am so afraid to make this next step in my life but I have no doubt that it won't happen. Best of luck to you and your future! See you at the finish line

Look, you gotta ake it work. No more boozing, and partying, and going out with your friends, ok? You gotta get that GPA up a little more. You want it rite? Then Take it!

What a great post! I have seen you on here in other posts... but it seems to me that you have become more dedicated! Awesome! To answer your question(s)... YES many of us are working menial jobs and have no family support on top of that. I feel your pain!! I'll try to make my story short :) I have always had an immense interest in human anatomy, as well as helping others. When I was about to graduate high school, I thought about going to college to get my EMT. As life would have it though, I found out I was pregnant about three months before I graduated high school. My whole life shifted in an instant. On top of that, I was also living on my own and working as well as going to high school (a whole other story about my family life). Naturally, at that point college wasn't really an option. Trying to make this really long story short... I danced around life for a while,, being a new mom (and later a single mom) at 18, and also trying to make ends meet, all the while still kind of growing up. It took me a long time to finally take the leap and figure out HOW to make my immense interest into a career! Now I have taken many pre-reqs, and I have applied to one of the only nursing schools in my town that does not require two years of pre-reqs and another two years on a waiting list. The only catch.... they only accept 30 people per start date. The even years there are two start dates...odd years only have one. I still have to take their A&P course (starts in two weeks eeeek) which is basically BIO, A&P I and A&P II all in one course over ten weeks and all online. Very scary! So to answer the question in your title of this post... I am VERY hungry! And I am sacrificing time with my baby girl (not so much a baby anymore...she is 9) and time with my husband, and lots of money that I don't have... but I know it will all be worth it!! Once I finish this last pre-req, and all of the other stuff like drug test, background check, immunizations blah blah... I will find out if I get in to the program in November. I guess I didn't succeed in making this short, my apologies... but I was really moved by your post, and sometimes I get discouraged when I am reading stuff on here. I wanted you to know that I understand the frustration of the process to gain this ultimate goal, but I think you CAN DO IT!!! Also I wanted to thank you for helping me realize that I am not the only one struggling with, well, just life getting in the way sometimes. :) Best of luck to you!!

What a great post! I have seen you on here in other posts... but it seems to me that you have become more dedicated! Awesome! To answer your question(s)... YES many of us are working menial jobs and have no family support on top of that. I feel your pain!! I'll try to make my story short :) I have always had an immense interest in human anatomy, as well as helping others. When I was about to graduate high school, I thought about going to college to get my EMT. As life would have it though, I found out I was pregnant about three months before I graduated high school. My whole life shifted in an instant. On top of that, I was also living on my own and working as well as going to high school (a whole other story about my family life). Naturally, at that point college wasn't really an option. Trying to make this really long story short... I danced around life for a while,, being a new mom (and later a single mom) at 18, and also trying to make ends meet, all the while still kind of growing up. It took me a long time to finally take the leap and figure out HOW to make my immense interest into a career! Now I have taken many pre-reqs, and I have applied to one of the only nursing schools in my town that does not require two years of pre-reqs and another two years on a waiting list. The only catch.... they only accept 30 people per start date. The even years there are two start dates...odd years only have one. I still have to take their A&P course (starts in two weeks eeeek) which is basically BIO, A&P I and A&P II all in one course over ten weeks and all online. Very scary! So to answer the question in your title of this post... I am VERY hungry! And I am sacrificing time with my baby girl (not so much a baby anymore...she is 9) and time with my husband, and lots of money that I don't have... but I know it will all be worth it!! Once I finish this last pre-req, and all of the other stuff like drug test, background check, immunizations blah blah... I will find out if I get in to the program in November. I guess I didn't succeed in making this short, my apologies... but I was really moved by your post, and sometimes I get discouraged when I am reading stuff on here. I wanted you to know that I understand the frustration of the process to gain this ultimate goal, but I think you CAN DO IT!!! Also I wanted to thank you for helping me realize that I am not the only one struggling with, well, just life getting in the way sometimes. :) Best of luck to you!!

You are an awesome person. My goodness your going to make a great nurse. 4-5 years down the road when all this is behind you, and you've got a couple years of experience under your belt, and your making 30 bucks an hour (45 with overtime), all this hassle, well, it's just going to have been well worth it. I have been surviving on less than 10 bucks an hour my entire life. I decided that I wanted a change, and the only way I could do that would be getting into a field that had a little bit of security. People don't stop needing medical care, rite? Besides, I love people. Even if I'm not a super smart nurse, I think I will do ok. I am the kind of guy that would pull up a chair to an elderly woman (or man) , that is nearing the end and very depressed, and hold their hand and talk to them like they were a family member. I want to take the holistic approach. Yes, yes, medicine is great. The doctors do their job and they heal the patience (if they can) with surgery and pills, but I feel a patient needs more than that. They need reassurance and someone to just be kind to them. I feel like that goes a long way in the healing process. Have you ever seen the movie Patch Adams? I was inspired by that story. I know of course I won't be a doctor, but you don't have to be a doctor to be kind to people. Anyway, Thank You very much for sharing with me your experiences. I have no doubt your going to work out nicely! Have a great day...Josh

You are working nights?

Try to find classes that are after 1 pm. That way you can get 4 hours or so of sleep before class starts.

I work nights and my earliest class is 1:00. That schedule works reasonably well. I only work maybe one or two nights a week right now though. This does allow me to keep a more normal daytime schedule which is nice.

I like your eagerness but it's not a bad idea to try to ease into your big transition a little bit. Try to scale back your hours at work, and try to find a scheudle that is going to work in the long run and not completely destroy you in 3 months. Look at this transition into your new career like a long distance race, not a sprint. You certainly seem to have the motivation, now put the plan together and get 'er done.

Best of luck to you.

You are working nights?

Try to find classes that are after 1 pm. That way you can get 4 hours or so of sleep before class starts.

I work nights and my earliest class is 1:00. That schedule works reasonably well. I only work maybe one or two nights a week right now though. This does allow me to keep a more normal daytime schedule which is nice.

I like your eagerness but it's not a bad idea to try to ease into your big transition a little bit. Try to scale back your hours at work, and try to find a scheudle that is going to work in the long run and not completely destroy you in 3 months. Look at this transition into your new career like a long distance race, not a sprint. You certainly seem to have the motivation, now put the plan together and get 'er done.

Best of luck to you.

Yes, thanks. I definitely plan on cutting back. The good news is my full time job is a desk security guard job. This allows me time to study, study, study.. I will have hours a night to read, read read LOL..Things will be different in Nursing school, though. I won't be able to work like that then. I can only do this during prereqs. Those may take over a year though since I don't have a background in scinece, and I don't know how long thats going to take..

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