steelydan

I just got a call from an unknown number, but it was from a person saying I was accepted into the spring nursing prog! Just a heads up to answer your phone for the next few days.

You don't need the CNA certification for now at least. Drop the CNA class. You can challenge the CNA test after you pass the first semester of nursing school. You can call the Nevada Nursing Board to confirm this. I called them a month ago to ask about challenging the LPN test after one year of nursing school, but they said they do not do this. They did say I could challenge the CNA test after my first semester, but I already passed the test and am working as a CNA.

Spring of 2016 someone got in with 15 pts. Practically everyone that applied got in. One advisor told me I could probably do it online if it showed up on my profile. I went to orientation at Henderson yesterday to be on the safe side. It only lasted 40 min.

CNA was awesome. I hated the lab class, lecture was boring, but clinical was a great experience. All my teachers were great. Since you've already done you're pre-req's, I think you'll be fine for the didactic portion.

Does 50 hrs a week studying include class time? I've seen some people say on forums they do about 3 hrs a day of studying outside of class. I'm looking to apply to CSN's nursing program fall of 2017. Do you have any advice for what to do beforehand to be better prepared in the nursing program? What do you think about reading the books required for the classes before?

The clinical side will get better with time. Try not to get confused or frustrated with the book/school side with how to do things. It's easier and faster to watch other people do a skill on youtube or in class or clinical and copy them. Monkey see, monkey do. Have the mindset that you'll learn how to do things you're uncomfortable with, and fake it 'til you make it. Good luck!

This is what I've heard and what makes the most sense in my situation. I've only ever heard people who were nurses say getting a CNA helps first, but right now I think there's two big strikes against getting my CNA first. 1: It will delay the time I'm spending working on my credits for my ADN and BSN. The course is 6 credit hours and very time consuming. If I got a part time job as a CNA that would also cut into school time, but this is super super minor and I would gladly accept a hospital job part time... if I could get one. Which brings me to point 2. 2: Hospitals here are cutting down on CNA's, and I've heard you need at least 2 years experience before you're even looked at by a hospital. This is the major killer for me. I think it's super helpful to be a CNA first. You can get paid and possibly get the hospital to pay for some of your schooling. That being said, I don't think I could get my foot in the door at a hospital anymore.

Pay aside for a moment, do NPs generally have more job satisfaction and autonomy?

Ouch, I didn't think they'd have to start out as assistants for as low as 50-high 60k sometimes. I'm interested in possibly teaching way down the road for job satisfaction and enjoyment, but to put in that much time to make half as much as I could going down another path seems like too great a sacrifice. Plus, I am still helping people going down those other paths, too.

hahaha, yeah I need at least 8 hours of sleep if I'm doing a lot of studying or exercising or else I start forgetting random things and being really clumsy. I wouldn't be very useful with 5 hours of sleep for a year.

Yikes, at the two schools I'm looking at here I'd need at least a 3.5 to even have a fighting chance at being accepted. The good thing is that if I was able to get a 3.7 that helps significantly. I think it's kind of a weird system they have here, but I guess it works?

Wouldn't it be better to go ADN to BSN anyways than straight to BSN? You could save money and do it online. The former would be cheaper and hopefully faster than the latter.

I've seen a lot of older people going back to school while taking my core classes and it makes me realize that I'm not allowed to use age as an excuse. Just go slow and steady, and the cool thing about nursing is that if worse comes to worst, maybe you can major in bio since nursing is so bio heavy anyways?

This is exactly what I want to do. Plus I can apply to the ADN school and if I miss the cut I'll be working on my credits to get accepted into a BSN school. My #1 goal is to get into the ADN school, though.

I'm 26 and I don't feel old at all. You can't change the past. There's absolutely no way I had a chance to pick nursing as a career path even a year ago. It wasn't until I got older that things started to settle down and I knew more what I did and did not want to do.