DavisMPN

I have a two Associates degrees in Biological Sciences and Mathematics, I am an LPN, which I achieved during high school through a BOCES program, and I recently was unsuccessful and failing level 3 of an RN transition program a year ago, and then Withdrew when I knew i'd flunk,...... However, I was smart and I applied into a B.S Radiation Therapy Program at another school as a backup plan, just in case I was unsuccessful, and I was failing and withdrew, I and im in my first semester so far this semester, and two exams through, im doing signifigantly better, and im not having a tough time at all, and for me, its good because my RN program killed my confidence.........dont get me wrong, Radiologic Physics and Radiotherapy Technology is very hard, and takes time committment, but im very good in math and physics, so its not too bad. But anyways, I do wanna be "Registered" Nurse, and not just an LPN, and im thinking about doing an Accelerated ABS program down the road again after this, so im trying to figure out what went wrong, and why im having a better go around in Radiation Therapy? I dont want to sound like a typical complainer, but I do feel like my program was the program, like I picked the wrong school..... I felt like it was disorganized, and dysfunctional, we got tested on things we never learned. I understand critical thinking is important, but how can we critical think and apply stuff we never learned? I was not like that in PN school, which yes of course isn't supposed to be as hard with the theory, but is still no joke. And honestly, that was my major problem, as I felt like the questions in my textbooks and in the NCLEX Review books were more literate and harder than the ones on the exams..... We also lacked somethings I hear other schools had that would improve success such as rationales for questions and sometimes exam reviews, sitdowns with instructors to go over the exams like some of my local competitor schools have and we had a relatively high attrition rate, even by nursing school standards.... starting with 180 undergrads and graduating, 65-70 (so less than half).....and I felt like the school was more about weeding out to the T, so students wouldnt take the boards who arent supposed to, instead of finding ways to get them through. Im thinking about a 1 year ABS program, and the school I am looking at, as an attrition rate at above 90%, and a very high NCLEX pass rate, and offers many of the things above I also described. Plus, I really strongly believe that 4 year Universities are much better than 2 year schools for Nursing for a variety of reasons, mainly because its my opinion that the Universities are more orientated towards the theory compenent, and are focused on getting people through, and have many "career educators" for instructors, instead of Nurses just looking to get off front line work and looking for extra money which is my opinion of many of them. So I wonder, was it the school? Should I give RN Nursing another go around? Im all for being a career Radiation Therapist, and the salaries are excellent, but the jobs are tough to come by, and plus, my ultimate dream is to be a Psych-RN, and work in the mental health field.

Here's my story: I completely understand where you are coming from with the MSW thing...... your colleagues who say you're taking a step backwards likely dont understand or get that MSW's dont make money, not with 1 job anyways and thats no joke. I am an LPN, and I bring home I want to say 35k.year or 18.82/hr, and thats almost more than my sister who is also an LCSW-R who makes 17/hr with here non-profit agency......now somebody above in another post said "they cant believe that MSW's require a Masters"..... let me tell you, they do and they should have masters level Ed....they have to understand a lot and know a lot and are vital to promoting psychosocial health of an individual, but, the problem is the overwhelmingly high amount of jobs in social work are in Non-Profit which aka means no money..... The Social Work jobs that do pay well are in Health Care Systems, or the Government and School Social Work......I know people that say, they want to work for the Government, and I say...Good luck with that one, unless you plan on living in the middle of nowhere. To answer your question though.... Rn's make double what MSW's make and have chances at advancement where they can make 70,80,and even over 100k in some oppurtuinites, but they're not easy to get because everyone wants those jobs.....and you would be financially better off, but more stressed than you'd ever imagine....im going to continue in another post below about the school