watersamy

There are a few schools that offer classes either online or condensed classes for shorter periods of time that are outside of a regular semester. If you live in the Boston area check out Quincy College they have some pre-req's that start March 1st and I believe even April, they run for 10 weeks and some even run online. Give them a call. Otherwise look for online courses that you can complete at your own pace.

Looks like they've extended the deadline again to March 1st. Don't know what that means to those of us who haven't been notified yet.

Just an FYI if anyone is interested. I've found that the best site for ordering books is www.dealoz.com This site actually searches every other website online and returns the prices for each site so that you can choose the cheapest whether you're planning on buying or renting your books.

Its tough out there for new grads right now whether or not you have your BSN. If finances are an issue 2 year community college route is the way to go and once you're gainfully employed, pursue an RN-BSN program. ADN Nurses will find employment in Home Health, Nursing Homes, Community Hospitals and Rehabilitation Centers. Some find work at Boston Hospitals IF AND ONLY IF they are enrolled in an RN-BSN program.

you need to also consider those CNA's who started working while they were in nursing school, but never actually finished nursing school. One clinical semester would have qualified them to work as CNA's so they would not be licensed.

I'm an RN with a BSN & 1 year of nursing experience. I'm looking to break into pediatric nursing. I've been applying to absolutely every pedi or infant care job I can find in my area and then some. Haven't had one stitch of luck. I'm both PALS and NRP certified. My problem is that a lot of job openings require 1 year of pedi experience. Should I still be applying to these postings or don't I have a shot in &^%*. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

NP's working at any mass state hospital & centers are also covered by union under their own salary range and make more than RN's

I couldn't justify the cost of the BSN program either. I went the ADN route, was working at a rehab hospital as a CNA and they promoted me to an RN the minute I passed the NCLEX. I'm now enrolled at Curry College in their RN-BSN program and am using the tuition remission offered by my employer to pay for the classes. Its a win/win situation for me, although it may not appeal to others.

I once worked with a nurse who had 5 children, all under the age of 12. She worked 2 - 16 hour shifts on the weekend only so that she could be home with her kids during the week. Working in a hospital per-diem is also an option so that you can pick up hours when you have someone to watch the kids. You can do it!

Try the rehab hospitals, community hospitals and nursing homes. Community hospitals will post positions with "BSN preferred" vs. "BSN required" which gives them wiggle room. Spaulding Rehab in boston/cambridge also hires RN's with ASN's and has a great tuition-remission program if you decide to go back for your Bachelors.

Congratualtions! Working in an assisted living facility may not be the perfect place for an RN just starting out but it is a definite step up from unemployed and inexperienced. Am I correct in assuming that they've offered you the Med-Tech job in place of the RN position or did they offer you the RN per-diem with a few shifts of Med-Tech? My advice is to keep the per-diem job as an RN. That's the only way for that experience to count so that you can eventually look for work elsewhere. After about 6 months, I would definately start to look elsewhere. I'm not sure if you can do both, hopefully there is someone else here that can give you advice on that. Once again, Congrats!

I'm glad it worked out for you. Unfortunately not many people qualify for enough financial aid to cover most of that tuition, at least not those who have a spouse at home who makes an average salary. If that's the case, then you're pretty much footing most of that $24,000. That's an awful lot for just 10 months of classes. Lots of people will take pre-requisite classes while on a waiting list and for those, the waitlisting is worth the savings in tuition.

$24,000 for an LPN program is a hell of a lot of money when you can take the same program at your local community college for around $5,000. Heck, you can taken an RN program at your local community college for a lot less than $24,000. Community colleges provide tuition assistance as well, actually more than MPI. If you check this site, 2011 Performance Summary for Massachusetts Nursing Education Programs it will show you that only 87% of their students passed the LPN state exam on their first try in 2011 (only 80% in 2010 and 54% in 2009) compared to North Shore Community College which has a 100% pass rate and Bunker Hill which has an 89%. In my opinion its not a good bang for your buck!

If you need to work you're better off going the LPN route and then work part-time while getting your ADN and sitting for the NCLEX so that you can work as an RN. I would then take classes part-time towards the BSN. That's what I did. I'm now working as an RN and taking classes towards my BSN one class at a time. My place of employment is paying for the classes thru tuition remission. You can also get your BSN thru an online program as well. Good Luck!

I used to do 12s on the weekends. Loved it. I also don't mind 16s. When i have a day off I almost always pick up an additional shift and pull a 16 hours shift before my day off. Its a great way to pull in the overtime.