jupiter4

Thanks for all the thoughts! I'll definitely contact the near by hospital when I get on campus next week to see if I can get in as a volunteer or part time employee and see what happens from there!

Thanks for your reply kbok! All that makes sense. I'm from Austin and my family lives there, but I'm going to school in PA. If I was to get a nursing degree I'd try to do so at a school closer to home, in TX. I've been looking into it a bit more and I discovered a hospital that's just a few blocks from my college. Without health care experience, can you tell be what kinds of things I might expect to do as a volunteer? At the hospital I had my treatment at I think many volunteers just got shoved into working the gift shop..... not exactly what I'm looking for.

Hi all, I'm a current college student going into my sophomore year. When I applied to school Nursing was not even a possibility in my mind. I'm a pediatric cancer survivor and two of my high school years were spent in and out of the hospital I was ready to get out for good! No way I'd want to be a nurse. Haha. But reflecting on things more this summer and preparing to declare as a bio major I feel, just deep in my gut, that nursing is really where I belong. I could ramble on about why, but that's not exactly the point. The point is: I've been lurking on these boards and my local community college website and a thousand other places trying to piece it together but it's time to admit that I'm stuck . I go to a small liberal arts college in a different state than where my family is living. I would have to transfer schools completely to attend a nursing school. My understanding that transferring into a nursing department as an external candidate is extremely competitive. Is there any merit to just putting nursing off to a (more expensive but possibly logistically easier) accelerated masters program? Is there any merit at all of possessing a Bachelors in a non nursing subject? I think I could get all the prereqs for an accelerated a program at the local CC during a few summer semesters when I'm home. The third, and somewhat drastic option, is to drop school where it is and shoot for lotterying into the Community College's ADN program which has a convenient BSN bridge at UT Austin. But even if this is something I would maybe want to do, what sorts of things can I do to find out for sure? I'd love to get CNA or EMT cert. I'm especially interested in emergency medicine. But who would hire me as a full time student? I go home to Texas for only 2 -3 months over the summer, and I could only work limited hours during the school year in Pennsylvania. With no previous healthcare experience would anyone, hospital or LTC, even consider taking me or should I settle for a volunteering position? One of my friends reccomended coming home in may and searching out a job and just "forgetting" to tell them that I'll be leaving in August. To me that just seems cruel and irresponsible. Do any of your Hospitals or LTC centers hire temporary workers or students? Anyway, there are plenty of inspiring stories of people switching careers to be a nurse, but switching majors seems just as hard ! Any and all answers, comments and thoughts, positive or negative, are welcomed. Thanks for your time! J4