feelslikefire

Thanks for all the wonderful responses!! Everyone here makes a lot of great points & some very witty responses. The main reason I find it irksome is that in my current position, I have lots of coworkers/regulars (bartender) who know I've been investigating different career paths for awhile, and while many of them definitely ARE very supportive, just as many seem to think they know better than I do what I "ought" to be doing with my life---and without flatly telling them "none of your damn business" when they inquire how the school search is going, I have to struggle sometimes to come up with a thoughtful response.

NICE. I'm totally stealing that. Thanks!

I am not! But I do live in a university town with a well-respected state medical school, as well as a company that manages & produces a widely-used EMR. I don't know how much those things impact it, but I'm not sure what else to contribute it to. Hopefully I don't come across as a know-it-all or something.

Right? It's hard. I can't really cuss anyone out at work, not without losing my job (which I will be all too happy to kiss good-bye when I'm finally licensed and have a nursing job offer), but boy do I want to. In my parents' defense, my dad actually told me that he thought nursing would be a much better fit for me than any other choice, no matter how badly he personally wishes I would follow in his and my moms' footsteps. But peoples' casual condescension amazes me.

Hey there! I've made a few posts on this website, but I've been lurking for ages and want to state first off how grateful I am for such an awesome community with so much information available to read about. For every person who makes a post or leaves a comment, I guarantee there's one or two someones like me who reads avidly for 2+ years before finally making an account and contributing. So! On to my question. I just turned 30 this year. 3 years ago I decided I really wanted to go back to school for something in the health care field, and after much wrestling and weighing of options and soul-searching, I am firmly on the course to becoming a nurse. This was a big decision for me, particularly because both my parents are physicians (dermatologist and pediatrician), and I'm still relatively young with no life responsibilities (no spouse, no kids, no house). But I'm really attracted to the hands-on approach of nursing, nursing philosophy, the flexibility and opportunities for growth & education within the nursing field (not to mention not having to wait till I'm 40 to start my full income potential, not to mention avoiding the 300k of debt...) so I know I've made the right choice. I've taken 2 years of prerequisites already with just 2 or so classes left, and I'm applying to programs this fall, so I'm very excited. Now, of course, I'm getting the dumb questions. Mostly from totally well-meaning people in my life who are familiar with what I've been debating the past few years, but sometimes from virtual strangers in class or at work (I bartend part-time right now). "Why not just go to medical school? You're smart enough to be a doctor!" (Excuse you, what? And I suppose nursing school is all underwater basket-weaving and ouija board reading?) "Have you thought about being a physician instead? You can do it if you really want to!" (No, it has NEVER ONCE OCCURRED TO ME to go to medical school. Certainly neither of my physician parents has ever suggested it. Repeatedly. With that hopeful expression in their eyes.) "Why are you settling for nursing?" (Why did you leave your brain at home when you left the house this morning?) Has anybody else encountered this? What do you say? I usually just laugh politely and either brush it off or give a vague response, but it's really shocking and frustrating how much virtual strangers love to tell me that I'm wrong and really, you should go to medical school/PA school, dear! ​

I'm definitely worried about the debt load, but I'm ALSO really worried about the time taken. I'm already 30; I'd like to not have to spend another 283974293847 more years in school to become an NP, you know? So the direct entry program seems really appealing even if I'd enter with around 35,000 in loans BEFORE the grad program loans. Part of me just wants to be able to work full-time and start my career as soon as I'm done with school. Thanks for your input!! This thread is great.

This post is great. I do have one quick question; you did indicate that you feel it's much smarter for those with undergrad loans already to wait & go back to school down the line for the NP rather than accrue more debt right up front. Did you not have any debt? Do you mind if I ask how old you were upon entering the program?

Thank you so much, ToTheStudent!! What a great post. I will read through it & all the replies as well.

Hi there! Thanks for reading. This question is for ALL current NPs, particularly those who work in acute care settings---and if you work in the ER, I am VERY interested in your response! I'm a student preparing to apply to programs this fall. I'm 30 years old, single, no kids; this is a career change for me, but I'd like to get it going as soon as possible. My parents are both physicians, as are one of my best friends (ED doc), and while I've dithered back and forth the past few years between med school, PA school, and nursing, I am feeling pretty firmly settled on nursing after lots of investigation and discussion. I have already taken 2 years of prereqs, and am just finishing up the last of them this fall (nutrition, abnormal psych, microbiology). I taught SAT & ACT test prep for Kaplan for years, so I'm not particularly worried about the GRE, though I have yet to take it. I already have roughly 30k of undergraduate student loans (sigh). I ultimately want to be a nurse practitioner, ideally in acute care, particularly the ED, although I understand that a lot of people change their minds when they get hands-on experience. (I'm also interested in infectious disease/epidemiology/public health, and I am really attracted to the idea of travel nursing.) I'm debating between accelerated BSN/MN nursing programs (like the ones at U of Minnesota & Johns Hopkins, that are Master's level nursing preparation but not APN), and direct-entry NP programs, leaning slightly more towards BSN/MN first and then work for a few years, followed by NP degree. My questions are as follows, for you nurse practitioners! 1.) Did you know right away which specialty you wanted to go into, or were you surprised when you found out you loved something you weren't initially attracted to? 2.) How hard/expensive was it to go back to school to get your NP? If I waited a few years of working with my BSN, I'm worried that things like paying off debt/having kids/buying a home would be difficult, which is one reason I'm thinking of direct entry & just getting everything out of the way. 3.) I understand that it can be difficult to work as an NP in the ER unless you have dual certification as FNP/ACNP, due to inability to see peds with just the ACNP most of the time. Is doing literally two degrees (or acceptance into a dual program, like Vanderbilt's) the only way to do this, or is there some kind of post-graduate certification I can get, say, a peds certificate to add to an ACNP that would qualify me? (I could totally be making this up. I apologize.) 4.) Do you have any other thoughts/recommendations for someone in my position? I honestly want to be done with school ASAP and start working and enjoying my job, but I don't want to screw myself over later in life, either. Thanks so much for your time!

Oh, that's excellent to know. Thanks for the heads-up, Silverdragon. I know it's tough all around right now, and that's one thing I'm trying to keep in mind as far as student loans vs. job opportunities go. Last thing I want is a 100k+ pile of loans and no job to show for it. One question: you said "NMS" in your post; did you mean "NHS," or am I totally clueless here? Thank you again! Edit: Please ignore my stupid questions, it's what I get for posting on 4 hours of sleep. Thanks for responding!

Silverhalide, babyRN, I was wondering about this too. Is there an equivalent position to nurse practitioner in the UK, and would getting a direct entry MSN qualify me to work in the UK in any capacity as a nurse? I'm going to be 29 in two months, just starting my nursing prereqs (posted upthread a few months back - thanks again, babyRN!) and having to go through a regular 4-year degree program for BSN and THEN come back for NP degree sounds onerous, especially when I already have one undergraduate degree under my belt, and would really like to spend my early thirties traveling. Maybe I should just do travel nursing in the US and spend down time in Europe!

Thanks, babyRN! I will do that later this week, then. I am now also wondering if the RN followed by bridge classes to BSN would be insufficient as well. Better to know now than have my heart broken down the line, I guess.

Hi there, I've read through this forum and tried to find the answer to my questions elsewhere, so apologies if I've missed the mark but this does seem like the best place to voice my concerns, and I'd really appreciate any help. Coffee Nurse, babyRN, and Silverdragon in particular, if you read this I would appreciate your advice. I'm 28 and JUST starting my nursing prerequisites; I will be a second-degree student, as I already have a BA in English. I was already leaning towards getting my BSN and working for awhile before ultimately acquiring my NP degree, but then I discovered that travel nursing existed, and I nearly imploded from excitement. But now I am doing quite a bit of research that's making it seem like working for a travel company like Continental Travel Nurse in the UK would be difficult, if not outright impossible. I want to make clear that (at least at this moment) I am NOT interested in immigrating to the UK; I merely wish to work there as a travel nurse for a period of time, likely through CTN, if possible. I am in particular concerned about the strict hour requirements---I read through this thread and elsewhere, and have been told verbally by a lady with Continental Travel Nurse that the NMC accepts nurses with BSN's from the US, most of which do not have the same clinical hours in their training as EU training does, but now I am seeing that accelerated BSN's are not accepted? This seems bizarre, as the accelerated BSN program I was looking at actually has MORE clinical hours required of their students than the traditional BSN, clocking in at 728 clinical hours in one 12-month cycle. I am now more confused than ever about what to do if I hope to one day work as a travel nurse in the UK and still fulfill my dream of working in the healthcare field. My options are these: -Take 3 years (1 year prereqs, 2 years program) to get my RN, then work as an RN while I take online courses through the public university/hospital system here to acquire my BSN. Total time: 5ish years. -Take 4 years (2 years of prereqs/wait cycle to apply, 2 years actually enrolled at 4-year institution) to get my BSN in the "traditional" method. Would require one additional year of working as an RN before I could apply. Total: 5 years. -Take 2.5 years (1.5 years of prereqs, 1 12-month intensive cycle) to get my BSN through an accelerated program. Work as an RN for 1-1.5 years before I apply to work. Total time: 3.5-4 years. The prereqs are actually MORE rigorous to get into this program than a regular BSN. The school that offers this is highly respected and considered "the nursing school" in this state (described thus by an advisor I spoke to at another institution). Could anyone point me in the right direction, or at least tell me where else I might look that would clarify this? I am sorry for such a lengthy post but I just want to make sure I get set on the right course now, and don't wind up closing a door before I even realize what I've done. thanks very much for reading all that! xo