Jkadkins

Hi! Im looking to start college in the fall and something on wondering is if I should carry a job while attending school. I have heard a lot of arguments on either side and I know there are many great minds on this site willing to share advice! Basically I don't have a rich family to put me through college AND pay for my apartment and life expenses.. I'm stuck doing it all myself! Luckily financial aid is helping a lot in my bracket. My question is...should I look into loans to supplement my income and not work through school so I can soley focus on education? ( I'm not a lazy person...I have no problem working if that's the best route..I just know nursing school is quite demanding and without decent grades you won't go very far.) If so what kind of loans should I look into? Any reasons for or against would be appreciated! Thanks in advance guys!

Hi. So, I've been to a couple of sites and something I'm starting to see is that some are speculating that you will need a doctorate before becoming a CRNA. I was just wondering if anyone could confirm or debunk that? I've done some research on my own, but I keep getting conflicting answers! Any help would be awesome! Thanks in advance.

So.. I recently got a job as a Pharmacy Tech trainee at CVS (I figured "hey..it's not fast food and it's at least in the health care field") I have 6 weeks of training to do which brings me to my first question; 1) Will I be certified in anything after this training or is it just like training to be a trainee? haha and lastly 2) If I can somehow get certified in Pharmacy Tech would it look better for Nursing in the future whenever I can list certifications..or will it not really effect the likelihood of me getting a position in the future/look better? As always.. thanks in advance!

Thank you guys for all of your replies so far! I will tell you I AM pretty interested in the more OR/Surgical setting, but it isn't a make or break for me. Firstly, I want to be a nurse..and that to me means providing awesome care to anyone, anywhere.. I realize I might have sounded a little adamant on my placement, but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea..I just want to take care of people. That being said, I think you guys are right researching more and more with the combined help of advice I can get from this site and other resources is in my best interest. Also it helps that after pursuing the RN path, there are an incredible amount of advancement positions as far as possible specialties. MY only remaining question is; Do you guys think it'd be best to just jump into a BSN program and go straight through with it from the get go..or is it a good idea to get a job as a ST or CNA or something before hand to gain experience while I'm in school. Right now, I'm working as a Pharm. Tech, which doesn't hold much relevancy, but I just wanted at least some kind of exposure to medicine and patients at an entry-level position to see if I'd like the whole idea. Thanks again for your time and replies! Cheers.

So..I'm glad I finally decided to register with this site. The amount of hours I've already spent researching all of your guys' experience and advice never ceases to amaze me. I don't have a lot of people to ask these questions to, and I'm incredibly grateful for any input I receive..Forgive me if I have a lot of dumb questions or ignorant posts! Something I've been struggling with deciding is my over-all career goal and the routes needed to get there. I've only been exposed to a few options regarding the field and some of them really stick out to me.. Being the most obvious is obtaining work as an RN, working in different fields of the hospital providing excellent care for patients and connecting with people to make a difference is something that has always been awesome to me. That being said I often find myself getting the most excited about OR and Surgery based settings (for the adrenaline junkie in me! ) One of my ultimate goals is to hopefully become a CRNA/Anesthesiologist Assistant..pain management and Anesthetics are so interesting to me..and like I said I'm really attracted to the Surgery based settings. So my question is..Does it seem that nursing (until I decide if I want to pursue a career path as a CRNA/AA) sounds like a good fit? I was also thinking about Surgical Tech work, but I know they're extremely limited in where in the hospital they can work, but provide comfortable salaries with a few years of experience..so your points on ST vs Nursing would be helpful! My point is, I love the idea of a surgical surrounding and am wondering if being a Nurse will provide appeasement to that or if I should consider a career path with more focus in the surgical setting? As always...thank you for the replies..words can't describe how grateful I am for your inputs and replies! The good, the bad, and the ugly are all welcomed! Thank you guys for your time!

I recently applied to Columbus State Community College (I heard their nursing program isn't too bad!) but the classes were already filled up so that's why I've been debating on taking the CNA course to get some experience (and hopefully some brownie points haha) for when I'm finally able to do my pre-reqs and enter the course. I'm only at the very beginning so I'm still sorting things out...I do know that after searching and researching and reading just about everything I can get my hands on about this...I MUST have at least SOME passion for it..Also it's something to consider than CNA courses are 600-800 bucks out of pocket.

Thank you both for the replies! They helped a lot. I apologize for the misunderstanding I DO mean to work on my BSN I just meant I would obtain my ASN first (obviously). I would love to get a job as a CNA first, but that just adds to the confusing process of where to start...do I take CNA classes first and then begin my nursing programs/schooling or will they provide that while in school? I've heard some different responses on that as well. I know these may be incredibly ignorant questions, but...we all started somewhere, right? Thanks again for all of your support and help! It's really appreciated.

Hi! I'm new to AN so forgive me if I make any embarrassing remarks or ask any silly questions. I want to thank everyone in advance for any replies I get! Anyways- I've been debating on going to school to become and RN (and possibly even continuing school to be a CRNA, but still unsure of which specialty I'd like since there are so many of them) I am incredibly interested in becoming a nurse and I'm well aware that it's no walk in the part to get there. My only concern is the amount of misleading/contradicting replies people get when they ask if it's a good idea to go to school for it. One second you hear "there's a crazy shortage of nurses" "Now is the best time to go to school for nursing!" and then other times all you hear about is how nursing is over-saturated and you'll never find a job in the field. I just want to hear some realistic replies on the matter to properly access what I should do! "Negative" or "positive" replies are equally wanted! I just want to know the odds of me being able to work in this occupation if I started to pursue it. Secondly, I'm kind of confused on which nursing path to take..Should I just straight up start on getting my ASN and then BSN or should I get my CNA or LPN first? Another person suggested NA classes first...There's just a lot of tracks people go and I'd like to know what you guys thought was the most practical. Another question I have is; do I have to be a genius in Math to become a nurse? I'm don't have any notable learning difficulties, but math has never been an easy subject for me and was just wondering on if I should be concerned with that? Thanks again for your time. Sorry for the novel!