newnurse?

Hello! I am seriously considering changing careers from operations management in the manufacturing industry to nursing. I have a BA in Psychology and a BS in engineering. I have been out of school for 7 years. I have researched the nursing profession online, I have spoken with several different nurses with different backgrounds, and I have been reading many of the posts to the forums on this site. I have contacted several schools in the Midwest, my focus being on the MSN-CNL programs because they accomodate a person with a non-nursing background. However, I am also researching the accerlerated BSN, which for me may be a better option as my dream is not necessarily a Masters in Nursing(yet). The two things I am aware of that I haven't done are physically go to a hospital or other settings to shadow different nurses, and I haven't posted to this forum asking for other points of view. My three questions are: 1. What is a good plan for shadowing nurses to get some kind of feel for what it is like? For example, are there three, five, ten different nursing specialties I should shadow to that will provide a decent sampling? The goal is not to get all my answers, but to get a feel if it is a profession I can contribute to and one that I can make decent living at while having some time to spend raising my young children. 2. MSN-CNL or accelerated BSN? 3. In reality are there really as many options in nursing as I am reading about? For example, is it common for your employer to support your efforts to continue your education if you want to specialize, or if you want to go into teaching, or something else related to your profession? Sincerely, Potential new nurse