Anktshah

I looked up average salaries of warehouse shift supervisors and network engineers, network engineers made twice as much in some cases. Maybe location is playing a role in pay. Making $50,000 in Manhattan is not the same as making $50,000 in a small town in Indiana.

I'm guessing "KA" stands for "kiss-ass"? Nowhere in my posts do I say that I'm a "KA." I'm a student full-time. I don't understand your comment on brown-nosing. You're saying that someone who brown-nosed ended up with a cushy job, only to be replaced by someone else who brown-nosed? It's too bad the first employee was let go, but it seems brown-nosing served her well (and it's helping her replacement out too). If not for the regime change, the first employee would have kept her job...because of brown-nosing. Using a cliche and being ignorant aren't directly related. I'd talked to good nurses, one of them was the nurse in charge of the shift (getting promoted means she's at least half-way decent). Even so, maybe nursing just comes easier to some people than others. There's no way you can say how good these nurses are at their jobs from reading a few sentences on a forum. I'm not posting to goad people. I'm having discussions. Just because you read what I wrote and got angry doesn't mean I'm here getting to get a rise from people. Maybe you're just a bit too sensitive. Alright, maybe this last paragraph was mean to goad you, but you called me ignorant (and didn't even give a good reason for it), so I don't feel bad.

Hmmm. I don't think I'm wrong. Please, tell me why you disagree with my view on human nature. And "he may be spared that"? What does that mean? I may be spared maturing?

You understood my post just fine. Money is hard-earned. Health-care is a good field to get into if you want to make it. Is it a physically demanding job? Yes. From the nurses I've talked to, though, the work itself isn't rocket science. It's stressful in that it keeps you on your feet and constantly on the move. A good trade off, though? Hell yes. 12 hour shifts a few times a week seems better than the whole 9-5 thing. Overtime? I'd take the opportunity to get better at nursing and make more money. Where I live, nurses start at $26 dollars an hour. Advancement? BSN, MSN, NP, CRNA, and DNP. I'm sure there's more (A JD is an option, though maybe not as lucrative as the others). Job security? Yes, it depends on where you live, like with EVERY profession. If you want a job, you may have to move around to find one. The opportunities for nurses are more widespread than other job fields, so if you want a job, you'll likely get one. I don't see why someone who works a job for money can't be good at it. Money is motivation for a lot of people. It seems to even be motivation for you, though maybe not the primary source. It is my primary source of motivation, with the satisfaction of helping people taking a backseat. That doesn't make me a bad person, and it certainly won't make me bad at my job. If money is someone's primary motivation, won't they work hard too? Won't they want to make sure they don't get fired? Or be good enough at their job to get promoted? Not ALL bad nurses are the ones seeing dollar signs. It's possible, and probable, that a bad nurse cares about caring for a patient, but is simply incompetent. About being a "brown nose." Like a suck-up? That's not a unique phenomenon. It happens all the time. It can help you get ahead. If it works, it works.

Wow, long post. Very interesting, though. What you quoted from me is an opinion. It was worded poorly and sounds like I'm barking a command, but it was an opinion. I'm not telling anyone how to live their lives. I don't think that people who don't make money are "inferior." I understand that people are dealt different hands in life, I consider myself very lucky to have been dealt a good one. I won't waste it. Being content is different than being happy. Complacency is what prevents people from getting what they want. Being happy takes hard work. Being content is easier. Everyone has their own definitions of happiness, but I can't say I know many that are doing the work required to achieve it. I'm not pursuing perfection, I'm pursuing excellence. Trying to be perfect is impossible, trying to be [your version of] excellent is incredibly hard, but entirely possible. Being happy is just as hard. Why? People ALWAYS want more. I find it hard to believe that you say "I didn't want more. What I had was enough." It's human nature to want what you can't have. It's not shallow. Say, for example, you had been able to spend more time with your parents, well it's a trade off: you wouldn't have had a nice house, or nice things. Had you grown up in that environment, you would have wanted more money growing up. It doesn't make you shallow, it makes you human. I don't mean any of that as offensive, I'm just trying to make a point. Also, someone who works for money can be good at their job. I don't want to be a bad nurse, how would I advance my career? And no, I won't always be a staff nurse, but while I am, I'll be the best I can be. Yes, I am young. I don't think I have some unattainable, shallow view of life, however.

That's not the comparison I'm making. I'm saying that there just aren't easy ways to make money. Nursing is hard, as is being a lawyer. If you want to make twice the money you're making now, be prepared to do something four times as hard, stressful, and demanding...no matter what the profession.

Bringing home a (preferably big) check is important to me, and should be important to everyone. How much money you make defines your quality of life. Maybe money doesn't buy happiness, but I'd rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable. Sure, you can get by doing something you love and make less money, but don't think that you're happy about it. There's always something that can put you down. Everyone wants the best for their family, but without money, you can't get the best of ANYTHING. Making money doing something you hate, then coming home (to a nice house, because remember, you have a good job) and seeing your family happy should make up for it.

I don't think that a career like that is sustainable. You need to be VERY good-looking to be pulling in good money (read: six figures), and even then, your looks fade. Someone younger can come in and replace you. Oh, and if you make a couple of mistakes? I'm guessing there will be line of people to replace you before they can even hand you the pink slip. At least in high-end places, you need to be impeccable. I think a job like that is very hard, demanding, and stressful. But you're making good money. That's my point: depending on location, bartending/serving can be VERY demanding, but you're making good money.

Ok, try not to get too angry. I've been on this looking at posts on this site for a couple of months now and I hear "there are easier ways to make money than nursing/NP/CRNA." My question is: are there really? Nurses start off at a higher salary than most other professions. Sure, that salary doesn't increase much unless you take on specialties, get certifications, go on and get an MSN, etc., but it's still good money. When I think of people that make a lot of money, I think of lawyers, doctors, and business executives. Lawyers go through an EXTREMELY competitive law school, then, if they're good enough, get scooped up by a big firm and may one day make partner and start making insane money...or they stay stuck in their same position for the rest of their career.Doctors don't really start making money until their mid-30s (assuming good money management/debt repayment). Business executives also need to be working a LOT. For example, the higher-ups in accounting firms need to be working most of the time; it's not uncommon for them to work 16 hour days. Some of you might think that owning a business would bring in good money, and it would, if you're willing to put in A LOT of work. With your own business, you have to be "on-call" every hour of every day. Also, most small businesses fail, and if you're lucky to not fail, then you'll eventually have a Wal-Mart or McDonalds undercut you in price until you're forced out of business (which is ruthless, but great strategy). Now, with nursing, you have good job security and relatively good money. Yes, lots of nurses are underpaid, but pretty much everyone who has a job feels the same way. Becoming an advanced practice nurse only highers your income and marketability. Sure, it's challenging becoming one, but the pros outweigh the cons here. My point: I don't think there are really any EASIER ways to make money than going into healthcare; making money is difficult and time-consuming no matter how you want to go about it. Like the saying goes, if it were easy, everyone would do it. Anyone agree?

Right on. Thanks guys.

Hey, I'm new to this site and had some questions about transferring in to a nursing program, namely NIU's. My pre-requisite GPA is solid, around a 3.8, but my overall is a lot weaker (I was in engineering for a little while...never again), somewhere around a 3.0. Here come my questions: Do transfer students really get picked last? On NIU's site, it says that transfer students are considered as a separate pool, so I'm guessing they leave a certain number of spots open to transfers? Is my GPA high enough? If anyone out there went to NIU, posting a GPA or anything would great! Now, my last question isn't meant to make anyone go off on a rant about equality (which I would love to talk about, but not here), but does gender/race effect admissions? I ask because I'm a male as well as a minority.