blueshift

Minot, due to the Bakken Shale Formation, is one of the job epicenters of the country right now. Tons of people are moving there for work, and the city/county management has resisted attempts to expand housing because they feel that this is just an oil bubble and it will burst; they think after it bursts people will pack up and go, leaving empty housing behind. The city is an absolute mess right now...it's growing by leaps and bounds, but the city will not build the infrastructure to support these people. Consequently, huge camps of RVs sprung up (these were nicknamed "man camps"! Minot is definitely the place to be if you're a single woman!) as a last resort. However, Minot wasn't happy about that, and they've been talking about banning living in RVs. I think they may have already passed that law, but I'm not sure. No idea where those people are supposed to go now. It's so bad that someone actually had to write an article imploring people not to live in their cars during the winter.

My school is a public community college way out in the middle of the nowhere. It's my only choice unless I relocate. I'm not sure why they're only now applying for accreditation, as they've had their nursing school for years now. But time does seem to move a lot slower here! I will PROBABLY attend, as I already intend to start on my BSN immediately (from a CCNE accredited program) immediately after I graduate with the ADN, but I'm definitely still weighing the pros and cons. I'm not sure I can afford to move at all and the price of the program is right.

True...almost everyone knows what is and isn't healthy. There is some misunderstanding, like some people don't realize why white flour is not as good as other kinds, but everyone realizes veggies are better than candy. This is not true of most low-income neighborhoods...have you heard of food deserts? Look at Detroit...there's not one chain grocery store in the entire city. You can check out street after street on Google Maps Street View...find one supermarket. It's hard. Most people shop at the typical Beer Wine Lotto Check Cashing We Accept EBT corner stores. Truth, but going back to the OP's story...it's more expensive! I personally LOVE McDonalds salads. They're really yummy and also low calorie, around 300 each, and they feel filling (I usually put extra veggies in when I go home, too.) However, they are $5 each, and I can almost never afford to spend $5 on any one meal. My budget (as a starving college student) is $6 a day for food. I can't imagine what it would be like to try to raise a kid in poverty.

absolutely do not move to California! there are no jobs for new grads there. It's really sad that anyone would feel nervous that their name was holding them back, and I really hope that's not the case and that HR is looking for skills and not skin color. Still, I agree with the advice to maybe put your name down as Kerri. What kind of online presence do you have? Employers LOVE to google job applicants now (which is something that really bothers me, but it's reality!), and with a unique name other people are not likely to have, any online profiles will stick out immediately. In fact, if they google your email address, this thread will now show up. If you have anything compromising on the internet, delete it. If you don't have a professional-looking Facebook page, start on that. I'm a really silly, whimsical person in real life...I love to have a good time and joke around, and I'm definitely a child at heart. But I view my public Facebook profile as an extension of my resume, so if any employer googles me they're going to see me at my best and not me posting funny pictures on my wall. Above all, don't give up. It's VERY hard to find a job in this environment, for nurses and non-nurses! I'm sure you'll get one eventually, just don't be discouraged :)

I've been accepted to a nursing school that is apparently only a candidate for NLNAC accreditation (until august 2013, according to NLNAC's website) but is accredited by my state's board of nursing. If I go to this school how bad am I crippling my career? Is it a major no-no to attend a school that is only accreditated by the state? I'm supposed to be starting in January. If my school gets NLNAC accreditation before I graduate, does that mean I'll have an NLNAC accredited degree, even if they weren't accredited when I started?

Well, gosh...this topic is terrifying! I've always been really good with basic stats/algebra, but I'd love to start studying up on these drug calculations tests. I start nursing school in January and the thought of all my hard-earned work going to waste by failing this test is giving me the shivers. Does anyone have any study guides they can recommend? Either a website or a book or both?

I am planning on applying to ABSN as well as direct-entry MSN-CNL programs. The problem with the ABSN is that I have no idea how I could pay for it, since the only aid offered to second degree student is unsubsidized loans. If I went the MSN route I would be eligible for graduate loans. I have no interest in working as a CNL...I would choose it because they're the quickest option -- and someday, down the road, I could get a post-master's certificate as an NP or CNM if I wanted to, right? The appeal of a direct entry program to me is not being a "CNL", but it being a route into bedside nursing. I want to be an RN! Is it hard for graduates of direct entry MSNs to find work as RNs? Harder than people with BSNs or ADNs? I've done a lot of searching about this on allnurses, but I couldn't find much of what I'm looking for - there are plenty of posts about it, but the replies are usually of the "why would anyone hire a new grad CNL?" variety. I'm not looking to work as a CNL. Is there discrimination against direct entry students in the new grad RN job market?

I try to avoid buying the newest edition of textbooks because you almost never need it. Often they're nearly identical, and whatever isn't covered in the book should be covered in the lectures. I took a full load last semester and didn't spend over $50 on textbooks. I even found one on Google Books! International editions of textbooks are also cheaper. I don't know how this works in nursing school, though - perhaps it's less of a feasible path.

Have you considered either PT or OT? Prereqs for those degrees are very similar to nursing, so you could end up graduating with a bachelor's degree and the ability to go into any field you wanted to. It would give you more time to make a decision. If you're more humanities oriented, what about social work? You could become a medical social worker and work in a hospital. They make decent money and have decent job prospects. That would require an MSW (and they'll usually consider any bachelor degree), so again, you'd have your whole undergraduate career to come to a decision. Also, no nursing schools in my state require college algebra. I only took up to intermediate algebra, because it was required for chemistry in my college. I also took statistics. I would never have taken any other math besides that, because I hate it!

Stories - plural, and it isn't just school - if so, I wouldn't be worried at all. I don't think it can be denied that stress, frustration and burnout in nursing is high. There have been extensive studies done on this topic. Thanks for the support...that is true. I suppose if clinical work became unbearable I could become a nurse educator and try to pass on some kindness in the world. :heartbeat However, I should clarify that this would be a second degree for me. At the moment I work in a job that is both very boring and very placid...I wouldn't say lateral violence or bullying occurs regularly in every profession. But you couldn't pay me enough to work for lawyers :uhoh21:

I'm particularly terrified of nursing school because I've all the horror stories I've heard...and I know school doesn't last forever, but I've also heard on-the-job horror stories too... One of my friends quit nursing school recently because her instructors were horribly rude. This isn't a girl with thin skin. In fact, she survived a childhood of abuse and is one of the toughest people I know. She said she couldn't bear one more second of her instructors and that it just wasn't worth it. I've wanted to be a nurse since I was a teenager, and I consider myself pretty good at dealing with BS, but I'm not willing to sacrifice a large chunk of my life dealing with rude people. If I were going to do that, I'd become a cashier Are some specialties less prone to lateral violence? Is it mainly confined to med-surg?