amberleigh

Loan forgiveness is a government program that pays professions to work in underserved populations - nursing and teaching mostly. Basically, the government will pay off a portion of your loans if you promise to give years of your life in underpaid jobs serving the general good of a population - like rural areas or inner-city areas. It's certainly not welfare, unless you consider military service GI Bills "welfare", too.

OP - I am a 30-something mom, changing to nursing after a career in finance. I would strongly recommend looking at a less expensive school. I am in an ADN program and I will graduate (hopefully!) in May. I will take a RN-BSN bridge program in my first 1-2 years of working as an RN and it will be primarily online with much more lenient clinical requirements than in the initial ADN program I am in now. You're going to still be very busy in your program, but you are paying way too much, especially being a third degree seeker. Nursing school is unlike any other college experience you've had so far. Go to a good community college or state college. It's a much better investment. Good luck! It's really hard to do with a family, but it is so worth it!

That's just weird, germy or not. Scrubs are a uniform. My husband was a Marine and couldn't even pump gas in his BDUs. I think of scrubs like BDUs. It is not appropriate to be "in public" in uniform. It is just weird.

My one classmate had 47 and the other had 50. I should have 50, too, so it is really annoying not to have my letter yet!

Ugh! I HATE WAITING!!! My two classmates received their letters of acceptance on Saturday... I am still waiting for mine to come. I SHOULD have enough points to get in, but you never know until that letter is your hot little hands, right? The nerves are KILLING me! I told my mailman I was stalking him... he laughed... I was serious...

I only hope to get back into an ED once I finish school!

:yeah:When I was working as a registrar in the ER about a decade ago, a 17yo girl came in WITH HER MOM to get the hairspray cap removed from her you-know-where... the worst part is she had to tell her mom because she didn't have a drivers license yet!

i won't say that it was "guilt" per se, but i went to my gp last year for the first time in a while to find out my numbers. she looked at my bp and my weight and told me, "you are pre-hypertensive. i can either prescribe you meds or you can eat better, avoid salt and work out". this was after talking to me about my lifestyle and habits. she was compassionate, yet honest. i lost about 15 pounds, and sure enough, my bp is normal and i do not need meds. the idea of going on bp meds at 28 totally motivated me to put in the work. my mom went to the doctor and was told she was pre-diabetic. she has lost 28.5 (as of today!) and her numbers get better and better with each check-up. sometimes being told honestly and compassi0nately what choices you have as a patient can motivate you.

I am happy you posted this. I am a future nurse, and will be starting my formal nursing program in fall 2011. I know it is a long road to go, and I am excited to be beginning this journey. It is good to hear the realities of the job and know that, even with all that you posted, I am still excited to become a nurse. I am changing careers, and believe me, every job has its ups and downs. I know that nursing will not be a cake-walk, but I know that I will be in a rewarding job, and at the end of the day when I come home exhausted and covered in who-knows-what that I made a difference that day.

hello all! this is my first post, so be gentle! :) i am interested in changing careers from banking to nursing. this is a really big change, i know, but i have done a lot of soul-searching and i want to help people more than i can in the financial field. sooooooo... here i am! i am currently attending durham tech just taking some pre-requisite courses so i can even put my name into the pool of applicants. i really want to try for the fall 2011 class, but i don't know if i can get everything done in time. i really want to get this done as soon as possible, as i am currently the breadwinner for the family and losing my salary for a few years is going to be really rough. how many of you out there know about the waiting period for durham tech? once i complete all the steps, should i expect to get into the class, or is there a long wait list? also, is the program there worth it? do the hospitals and medical facilities in the triangle hire many graduates from durham tech? thanks for all of your answers. i am excited to be on this path, but i am also very scared...