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1. DC Metro area (Active Duty Military) 2. 5 years 3. Ortho / Gen surg 4. $96k year. We do 84/hrs every two weeks, not including the extra military stuff we have to do which might be around ~10hrs a month. You do the math. 5. Salaried 6. No DC is expensive.

nurse now software engineer. I'd never go back to nursing but I do miss it sometimes.

Glad to share my knowledge guys/gals!

You can start by searching allnurses.com. This website is a wonderful resource for people who are considering nursing as a career! :)

APA format, for one, was a whole new concept and I doubt I am alone when I say I practically clicked every toolbar option in Microsoft Word before I figured out how to properly insert headers and page numbers... Nursing students have to develop ways of doing things that best accommodate their work style. Procrastinator? Sorry but that habit is hard to kick. My advice to you is to embrace it--late yet strongly focused work sessions can get you through nursing school for the most part. However, no matter what your work style is, there are eight essential tips and tools that can help streamline your efforts. As a senior nursing student, I can only wish that I had stumbled upon these sooner. Essential Studying Tools1. Online nursing care plan constructor.Use this online tool to help guide you in care plan construction. Although some are outdated, the interventions for each nursing diagnoses are often backed up with nursing research. These are useful whenever teachers ask for evidence based rationales to nursing interventions. 2. Ottobib.This is a wonderful time saving tool that creates reference citations using only the ISBN's of textbooks. Bookmark this for sure! 3. Use a hand-held nursing database whether it is Lexicomp, Unbound, or Skyscape.These programs are often expensive (google jailbreak), however, I can not even begin to explain how helpful these are in clinical situations. 4. Use Microsoft Word's Notebook option.This program allows easier outline creation and is amazing when taking quick notes during lectures. There is even an audio note option that records audio as you type. When you review the document later there will be little audio icons that bring up audio that was recorded a few seconds before your notes! 5. Citation Machine, like OttobibThis is another quick and free online service for reference pages and citations. Simply plug in the data and Citation Machine organizes everything according to what you are using whether it is APA 5th or 6th edition, MLA, Turabian, or Chicago. In addition to electronic tools, there are tips and ways of doing things that almost guarantee success. As a student, it is our responsibility to find and develop our own personal way of doing things. To have made it this far you have proven that you have experience in studying (or stuDYING for those who are inclined to cramming), writing papers, and passing projects and exams. What did you learn along the way about your educational habits? What educational techniques have you tried that have proven useful and you continue to do up to now? Also, look into the habits that haven't helped and instead have proven to make things harder. Looking at ones faults can be eye opening and lead to change. For me, I have found a few habits or ways of doing things that I just could not function without today. Essential Studying Tips1. Read with a purpose.Rather than reading textbooks just to say you've read it, read it to understand. A simple trick you can try is to go over the reading or lecture objectives (my professors provided these) and keep these in mind while reading the chapters. The goal is to meet the objectives by singling out important text while ignoring the unnecessary side information that litters textbooks nowadays. Ask yourself what is important while reading and you'll soon find that you remember the important concepts come test day. 2. Study in the same location as much as possible.For me I couldn't study at home as my TV and radio often proved heavy distractions. A messy house also meant for unorganized thoughts and these were always counterproductive. To focus on school I often ran away to the third floor of my school's library. I've had and continue to have long and highly productive work and study sessions in that little nook of the library. Something about that familiar location seems to get me ready to do work. Try finding your place today. Personalize it (I do not condone destruction of school property) and make it yours for years to come. 3. If your goal is to read bring as few distractions as possibleLeave the laptop and iPod at home. If you bring your phone, silence it. If you must bring your laptop, don't bring your charger. This guarantees against long youtube and facebook sessions that steal time away from studying. If you don't bring your charger your laptop dies that much faster and you are left to study that much longer. Obviously these tools and tips aren't meant for everybody. Learning to be a good student is a lifelong task and everybody is different. I hope some of you can adopt some of my tips that I've learned along the way and I hope many of you will share your own tools and tips with me! As for now, try these out and let me know how they work!

I figured I would be taxed. I was more surprised about being taxed at 28%, however. This scholarship is my only form of income.

If considering the Nurse Candidate Program make sure you realize that you will be taxed for whatever money you receive. Currently I am making about $940 a month and my supposedly $10k bonus will only be $7K once Im taxed at the 28% bracket. Maybe I'll get some back during income tax time though. Just a heads up. I budgeted to have $10k and Im a little short now after receiving my bonus.

Wait what do you mean fresh sign on bonus money?

Thanks for the comment LCDR Dan! Its good to know that there are still open spots for nurses in the Navy. I can't wait to fill one of those spots in the near future. I believe I was a bit unclear when I said that the Navy was at 217% capacity. I actually meant that the NCP program was at 217% capacity. I believe my recruiter said that the program traditionally accepts about 25 students every fiscal year and that they are running about 53-55 spots this year. The whole NCP process is long and the anxiety has just built up. Finding out I got accepted was a stress reliever but then finding out that I might not receive any money until the next fiscal year was a bummer. Does the Navy really do that?

Hi everyone, I recently learned from my recruiter that I was selected for the Navy NCP program. However, my issue is that although I was selected my recruiter says I have yet to be final selected for this year. He said that the Navy is currently at 217% capacity for this year and that getting anymore in before October 08 might be hard. I was wondering if anybody else is in the same boat as me or has gone through this process and has any insight on when I can get my hands on this money!? Thanks -Glenn

Hi, I too am applying for the NCP program this year. Just waiting on one more reference and hopefully I'll have everything done by the end of April. I would like to note that when they say you'll be recieving $1000 every month until you graduate it only refers to months in which you are in school Full time. So unless you plan to be taking a full courseload during the summers you will not be recieving the $1000 stipend. I know its a bummer when I found out. So in reality when they say 34k by the time you graduate they really mean about $25K+ depending on your school and how the summers go... But Im pretty much bent on the Navy. Tried NROTC for a semester and hated it, love the Navy, just hated NROTC. Took too much of my time and prevented me from really studying. Anyway, NCP seemed like a decent alternative. Just hoping I get in. Supposedly there are only 25 slots nationwide... Anybody know if this is true? Thanks and let me know how the process goes.. Its a pain in the butt for sure. -glenn

Hi all, I am an undergraduate nursing student in my junior year and I have a few questions about overall grade transcripts. I currently have a 3.7 GPA and I am hoping to finish with around a 3.7 - 3.8. My transcripts do however have an unofficial class withdrawl and a class incomplete (walked out in disgust and never returned) from my nursing prerequisites courses my freshman year. These were mainly due to personal problems with a few professors, I felt as if they weren't teaching me anything rather taking most of the class to talk about their children and family lives. I have since retaken those classes and made A's. Will this effect me in trying to get into CRNA school? And has anybody had any experience trying to explain these types of things to the interviewers and acceptance panels? Thanks

1) Yes they are hard. End of story. 2) Your girlfriend should be happy that she's with somebody even considering being a CRNA. As with almost any healthcare job the hours can sometimes be very long. Time management should easily solve this. Also your location factors into this in that your patient workload is different in rural and urban areas. 3) CRNA's are compensated handsomely for their work. On par with a lot of doctors now I believe. As with any salary, no matter how large or how small, your lifestyle and money management ability dictates whether or not you live paycheck to paycheck. Im only a nursing student but the answers to these questions are common sense....

Hi, I'll be a junior nursing student this upcoming fall and I am in a certain predicament about what I should minor in. After shadowing nurses as well as CRNA's I am about 90% sure that I want to pursue anesthesia as a career. What minors should I consider in regards to building a better foundation for CRNA school? I do not want to consider Biology or Chemistry related majors (although I would like to) as they would require a year long detour from my expected BSN graduation. These minors require 20+ credits and I do not have the time to complete these. Has anybody considered minoring in Hematology or Clinical Chemistry as related to the Medical Technologist profession in regards to CRNA preparation? Also, what minors do CRNA schools look favorably upon in general? I know science are key players. Thanks, Glenn

Hi all!, First and foremost I would like to say thanks to everybody who has contributed to this forum. It continues to serve as an important resource in my pursuit towards my chosen endeavors. I am currently in my junior year of nursing and I've come upon a certain dilemma. Financial strains have lead me to seek out alternative means to fund my education. Fortunately, the Navy has offered to fund the rest of nursing school, a 28k-34k offer, in exchange for 5 years of service (8 in total but the last 3 years will be in inactive status). Now this is a lengthy detour from my original plan of trying to get into CRNA school asap. Realistically I believe I can graduate nursing school with a 3.7 - 3.8 GPA. I've talked to two SRNA's from my school that were accepted into the program with comparable grades and only 1 year of ICU experience. So I know the feat isn't impossible but just in case I wouldn't mind working an extra year or two in ICU in the case that Im not accepted. Im only 19 and I know I have all the time in the world. I would just really love to step into this ASAP. Should I take my chances towards CRNA school fresh out of the ICU or should I take the stint with the Navy as a means to accumalate experience and probably insure (well increase) my chances towards acceptance in the future. *Financial reasons should no be factored into this decision as I am willing to take out loans if neccessary.. -Glenn