KaTStudentNurse

Please don't go the private school route, your debt to income ratio will be ridiculous and I'm sure you do not want that type of financial burden hanging over your family. Those type of private for profit school will cost you nearly 100k to become a RN which in my opinion will never be worth it to slave and pay it off. So go for a cheap school (no matter the wait) and see it as an investment where you can be spending money to do things with your wife and kids then having to work a lot of overtime to pay off your debts and still feel like you've gotten no where.

I'm not trying to sound cold hearted, but is there any chance you could reschedule the honeymoon after 1 st semester has ended? There's your break right there and you wouldn't have to be worried about school.

Actually my school has this "board post" for future students and present students to speak with one another and asks questions and such. Many on there are selling text books but I've notice their book bundles have a couple of different books than what is required as if my school where sampling different text book authors.

Thank you, I figured that I should just purchase new and see it as an investment to my career...

Lol, my wallet's tears are all dried out.

Haha, actually they do require a specific laptop which, fortunately, I already purchased months ago for $250 after receiving %50 off for it since it is sponsored with my program.

My school let some people in with some criminal backgrounds but ultimately it's up to the clinical site on whether they want to accept these students.

I would definitely contact your school and find out because each school is structured differently. And speak to the dean of your department if you have to.

I believe it depends for every school on what they may consider but it still won't hurt to become a CNA and gain some healthcare experience for when you officially become a RN.

Do you want to be a RN or an LPN? If you want to be a RN then you should take the chance and apply for admission into an ADN program. Since there's no reason to settle for less than your intended goal.

Some suggestions: you can bring it up to 2.5 ( though I recommend to bring it up to at least a 2.75) then apply all around the U.S that meet your requirements and you may even have to go for the private colleges (though make sure all schools are reputable). I also heard many community colleges with year long waiting lists are more likely to take you so look into that route as well. I even suggest to you to look into going for your LPN first than an LPN-RN Bridge program. Since you just have to do what you've got to do if you really want to be a nurse.

Definitely go for your RN if it's truly what you want to be. Its obviously the main goal of yours so why not go straight for it? I say this in almost every post I see like this that I chose to be an RN over LVN that was a 1 year program. My family was somewhat annoyed that I didn't just choose the "easier" route and go into the workforce as early as possible after graduating from high school. But I ignored my family and went after my dream, and now after taking 2 years w/summer of 60 credits of prerequisites I will be starting my BSN program this fall. So I can tell you now it will be the most rewarding feeling you've ever felt to know that you have accomplished your #1 goal after some commitment and hard work and the payoff will be tremendous. And I could also tell you that my family is very proud of me now for getting into nursing school and they regret trying to continuously suggest to me the LVN route in the beginning when they had a lot of doubt that becoming a RN would be too hard for me. So just get on the prerequisites now and become a CNA if you have to because you could pick up a flexible schedule and still work while be in school.

Yeah, having 50,000 in student loan is obviously hard to swallow but it is still very common and people do get through. All my friends in college will be at least 30k in debt because nursing school is expensive especially for a bachelors + factor in having to go to school for an extra 5 semester program. If OP is single with no kids then she could easily pay that back with a good nursing income before she buckles down and have a family. I have an ED nurse friend who went down the same road as OP but she still has a lot of debt to this day ($63,000 debt) though her family was more important than rigously paying off her student loans. So I hope OP won't make the same mistake and live broke for a few years and tackle them loans straight a way and not going back for her BSN unless she's paying for it in cash or some type of reimbursement from her job.

I may be the minority here, but I think going in some debt for a stable career is not the worst thing in the world. U.S higher education is not cheap but yet in this day and age going to college and getting a degree is almost expected and needed. I'm going to be in 35k in debt but in my opinion its a good debt because it will come with a great payoff and job security. I will certainly be able to pay it all back. Though to the OP: if you're going into 50k in debt and maybe more, please go for your BSN because an associates should never cost you that much. Plus, you still would have to go back for your BSN and/or your MSN if you choose. So you're looking at just more than 50k of debt, do the math and please be smart about it.

Good to know, so those two will be my first priority in purchasing then.

For the people who are in accelerated nursing programs, how many credit hours do you take during the summer and how do you manage the courseload? The program I will be attending in the fall is a BSN one that does gives it students the option to do the traditional track of 21 months (without summer) or the accelerated 16 month track (with summer while taking more than 8 credit hours). The accelerated track also does not require a previous bachelors, you just have to have at least a 3.0 GPA. I already submitted my decision of choosing the traditional track but after some advisement from my family I am thinking about contacting the school and switching it before the deadline so we can be placed in a cohort. Though I would like to hear stories of others first who is going through an accelerated program and wether you felt it was a good decision or not.

Lucky, this book list states its only for 1st semester and we will be receiving a book list before every start of the semester sadly.

That was just a brief estimate but after going back and truly calculating the price it will cost me $894 if this price doesn't fluctuate when it gets closer to August.

I will be starting nursing school in August and I just received my book list. I need to purchase 10 books for only 4 classes that will cost me $500+ and it says all of the books are "required latest editions" in big bold letters. I searched online and only 2 of these books can be rented, the rest must all be purchase new because some come with access codes and spiral book binding. Mind you this is not a for profit program but I still find the pricing a tad bit extreme. So to all new or former nursing students: did you purchase the required books, and did you actually ever used them often for class?

I'm going for my RN, and I gave up the opportunity for going for my LPN even when my family and college counselor told me not to. If I went for my LPN I would have wasted a year of not being able to continue my pre-nursing for RN and that would have stretched out my ultimate goal. Now I will be attending a BSN program in the fall after 2 years of taking prerequisites for it. So ultimately I do believe it is your choice of what you want to do, but I say go for your LPN if only you do not have the financial resources to go straight for the RN. Though it would be much easier for you to just become a CNA over the summer and work as that while in RN school. That way you can make money and gain some experience in a short amount of time then if you got the LPN. Also check if your nursing school gives you the option of becoming a LPN after the first year. Just my personal opinion.

Wow, she's sick.

Hi everyone! I'm a student nurse and is curious of what's it like to work in the ED? Are there a lot of patients you need to attend to in your shift? Are you forced to stay overtime if you get a new patient a few minutes before you leave? These are just some of the questions I have at the moment and thanks to anyone who takes their time out to answer them!

This is a very ignorant question but my nursing program requires us to get a CPR card from the American Heart Association. On the website it list the courses instructed by a CNA or RN. I have one class time that I most prefer on a Monday early in the morning but it is taught by a CNA though it's titled differently than the ones instructed by the RN's. Is there a supposed difference that I should consider or are all the classes taught the same? Sorry for the stupid question. I'm not trying to bash either professions as I just want a legit answer to this. Thank you.

I found this article very interesting of a woman posing to be a nurse with a master degree and even had the audacity to teach her 'non-skills' to students in a nursing program. She was finally caught and brought to justice. Check it out: No degree. No skills. So how did she get a nursing job at a St. Louis hospital? | Law and order | stltoday.com Just imagine needing medical attention and a fraud nurse can't even pass the basic nursing skills.