Thornva

Mary, Making tapes to listen to on the drive is an excellent suggestion! Thanks, Corey

Hi Mary,That's great that you can relocate to attend nursing school. I wish you all the best. Although the waitlists and prerequisites for the local nursing schools were factors in my decision, there are other reasons why I'm choosing RT. You're absolutely right about shopping around to find the best medical career that will fulfill our personal goals. I learned about the RT profession while researching a potential nursing career. I had anticipated attending my local CC for RT when I discovered that a nearby university offers a BS. Even though it's 90 miles away, I only have to drive there 2-3 days a week for 2 semesters. Fortunately, they'll allow me to take my clinicals much closer to home. I'm interested in emergency/critical care where RTs play a large role along with the nurses and doctors. I'm just not sure whether or not I want to specialize in adult or pediatric care. I'm hoping that I'll figure that out when I start my clinicals. Regards, Corey

Hi Mary,That's great that you can relocate to attend nursing school. I wish you all the best. Although the waitlists and prerequisites for the local nursing schools were factors in my decision, there are other reasons why I'm choosing RT. You're absolutely right about shopping around to find the best medical career that will fulfill our personal goals. I learned about the RT profession while researching a potential nursing career. I had anticipated attending my local CC for RT when I discovered that a nearby university offers a BS. Even though it's 90 miles away, I only have to drive there 2-3 days a week for 2 semesters. Fortunately, they'll allow me to take my clinicals much closer to home. I'm interested in emergency/critical care where RTs play a large role along with the nurses and doctors. I'm just not sure whether or not I want to specialize in adult or pediatric care. I'm hoping that I'll figure that out when I start my clinicals. Regards, Corey

I am also making a career change to Respiratory Therapy after working in various office positions for the past 16 years. I originally looked at nursing but decided on RT for several reasons. My goal is to get into critical patient care...I shadowed a couple of RTs in the ER and Trauma units and could easily picture myself in the RT role. I also find the idea of specializing appealing. Finally, I didn't want to wait a year (or probably longer) to get into a nursing program. The programs that I've looked into around here (suburban DC) all have waitlists and won't allow you to apply until you've finished the prerequisites. I've been accepted into a second degree BS Respiratory Care program which starts this August. It's 3 semsesters which means that I'll be taking my exam next August (2005). Making a major career change at 38 is a little frightening. I know the paycut will bite but I figure it's a small price to pay in order to move into a field that I will find personally challenging and rewarding. Best of luck to all of you.

Hello, I'll be interested in reading any responses to this posting as I'm in the same boat. I'm graduating with a BS in a couple of weeks. I'm looking at both NVCC and GMU nursing programs. I'm working on my prerequisites and hope to be accepted into a program next fall (2005). FYI, I went to the 2nd degree Nursing program information session at GMU a few weeks ago. We were told that it's very comptetive. They received around 250 applicantions for the 70 slots in the class that starts this fall (2004). I'm hoping that the NVCC program isn't as tough to get into. I should find out in a few weeks as I'm planning on attending the NVCC information session then. Corey