elainebenes

I looked at the career sites for major hospitals in my area, and found my job listing there for one of the hospital's primary care clinics.

For your first job, I think a nursing home would be better for growth and future opportunities. What sounds most appealing to you? Jail nursing is hard because you don't work with many other medical personnel, so it limits your learning. And you literally have to go into jail every day. The work conditions are not ideal, and it may train you to develop bad nursing habits if you aren't surrounded by other nurses who are held to best practice standards. Try to pick a first job that you are either passionate about, or that can expose you to a lot of different learning opportunities.

Hello! I've recently moved and am looking for a new Med Surg position. I see many positions offered here are advertised as Day/Night shift. Is this a thing, to have to work both shifts instead of one or the other? In this scenario, do nurses typically work day shift one week and night shift the next? I've always found day shift positions easily in the past. A day/night shift seems hard on childcare options, and sleep continuity. Please let me know if you've worked a "Day/Night" situation before and how scheduling has worked for you. Thanks!

The hard job hands down.

I have a BA in Psychology and am now going back for an ABSN 15 years later and now that my kids are in school. You will be MUCH much much better off switching to nursing now and getting it done. A BA in Psychology doesn't do much for you career wise. I wish I had done Nursing the first time around, it would have saved me a lot of time and a lot of money (ABSN programs are not cheap). I think it is a much better idea to graduate with a degree that translates to an actual job title (ie nurse, engineer, lawyer, or even business, etc) than it is to go for a degree more based in theory like Psychology, philosophy, etc. Good luck!

I just took it two weeks ago. The practice tests were harder than the test in my opinion. Get a good night sleep and have a good breakfast. The thing I was most surprised about when I took it was how many people rushed through it without using the whole time allotted. I took my full time (but was always mindful of the amount of time left) and went back and looked over my answers if I still had leftover time. You can always eliminate one or two answers right off the bat, then just take time to think through the remaining answers. I scored a 92.7%. You can do great too. :)

I just took it this past weekend and the ATI workbook was very helpful. I also had the McGraw workbook which was also helpful but harder. I actually thought both workbooks' practice tests were harder than the actual test. I did not find an app to use, sorry I know that is your question, but if you master the ATI workbook info and practice tests you will do well. Just carry it around with you LOL. I scored a 92.7% which put me in the 99th percentile (national).

Yes, I was just going to say that for a traditional student, their first two years would be general education and the junior/senior years would be the nursing portion. So that is the only two years you will have to worry about. Your prereqs plus two years of nursing school is what you will do. I would love to connect with you and will send you my contact info to your email! Thanks for reaching out, we are in the same boat. And yes, regarding different prereq requirements for traditional vs ABSN, I had to deal with that as well. I chose NOT to take the combo Anatomy and Physiology that was required for the Accelerated because almost every other school wants the two semester separate A&P courses. So I would rather just cover all my bases now up front. Which is why I also threw Nutrition in there at mid semester. (I took an online course that was condensed into just the second half of the full semester because I realized I could handle it). Not all schools require it but many do so I just took it. St. Mary's wants me to take another Humanities class as well for the Traditional route, but not for the Accelerated. My head spins trying to keep track of it all! Anyways, I'll send u my email. Maybe we will be in Anatomy together at Leavenworth next semester?!

Hi!!! So I ended up doing my first semester of prereqs at Kansas City Kansas Community College and it worked out perfectly! I was able to take Biology and Chemistry right at the Leavenworth campus in downtown Leavenworth (8 minutes from post!). I also took Nutrition online and that went really well too! In the spring I will have to drive to the main campus for Microbiology, but I think it's only about 30 minutes away (I've never had to go to the main campus yet for anything). And I will take Anatomy at Leavenworth campus. Then Physiology in the summer. I went and visited USM and they were very helpful and kind. Arrange to take a tour and they will give you a ton of good information and you will meet the Nursing dept directors while you are there. I'm going to apply to enter the traditional program for next fall but since i won't have all my prereqs done yet I will be at a slight disadvantage but I'm not too worried. I will miss the cutoff this year to apply for the Accelerated program because of my prereqs timeline, so I will do that if I don't get into the Traditional. Both options will finish at the same time then for me (Summer 2017), so I'd rather go to traditional school for 2yrs and have some calmness, than take a year off waiting and then kill myself in the Accelerated program for a year, KWIM? And they told me that the Accelerated program is very rigorous and can be very hard if you have kids. The school is expensive and that is definitely going to be rough, but all of your school options around here aside from KCKCC are all in the same ballpark cost wise. I wanted to consider other schools, and there are several, but they are all 45min to an hour away and that is too far for me. And since clinicals can be up to 50 miles from campus, if it's in the other direction that could make attending a Kansas City area school a very long commute. My only other backup plan is to get the ADN through KCKCC and then get the BSN later. This option is VERY cost effective but doesn't work well for my timeline. But definitely consider taking your prereqs here. The Leavenworth campus is very convenient and I liked my teachers, and USM transfers these credits without problem. I just signed up for Micro, Micro Lab and Anatomy with Lab for next semester and my bill was $870. Let me know if you need anything!!

Hello! We just found out we are moving to Ft. Leavenworth, KS (Army) in August. With my youngest son entering Kindergarten in the fall, I would like to return to school for Nursing. I already have a Bachelors in Communication/Psychology. What school options do I have in the area? My gpa was always pretty high, so I'm not too worried in that regard. I also know we will only be there for 2.5-3 years and I need to do the science prereqs. Its so frustrating! If I just aim for an ADN at a community college, can you recommend which school? Or would St. Mary's accelerated BSN be the only option? It is expensive and I'm concerned with having two children and no family help in the area... I would love to hear any school options in the area, or any advice at all, thank you so much!

Wow, these posts are really great and interesting! Thanks for sharing your stories, I love to read about them! It's good to hear from both sides of the fence on the good things and bad things about Nursing. :)

AMARTIN1 - Hey! No, I totally agree. Nursing is not for everyone. I do however think it is for me. I already have a BA in Psychology and Communications, but it is hard to put these majors into action by themselves. I worked with mentally disabled adults for a long time, and there was a lot of physical non-glamourous work involved. I absolutely loved my job, unfortunately though those jobs don't pay the bills. When I realized I was doing basically the same job as the nurse there was, except for handing out meds, I knew what my plan was to be. Plus I love my nursing classes and have always had top grades. I am a hard worker, and have never backed down from a challenge or given up in anything I have done. I have worked with many lazy people before and could never stand to be like that. So basically, I didn't mean to say I'm not sure about becoming a nurse, my mind has been made up for a long time now. I guess I am just more interested in hearing some nice positive stories for a change. Alot of people get into Nursing b/c they think of it as a rewarding career, and I would like to hear people's stories on how it has been rewarding to them in their own lives and what their favorite aspects of their careers are!

There's so many stories here about how people hate their nursing jobs. Does anyone here really love their job? Also, out of curiosity how long have you been a nurse, what shift do you work and what specialty do you work in? I am a student excited about becoming a nurse, but am a little scared by the negativity, I would love to hear some of your positive thoughts about your jobs, if any! Thanks in advance!

I hear that! At least you can show him this thread so he can see that you have it prettty good! By the Lake, thanks for the financial aid info, I'll look into that!

Yours still looks good, if you take 13 credits for $585 that is still only $45 per credit, right? We still have all those lab fees, general fees, etc. too plus books. I'm still doing prereqs right now, so who even knows what the fees will be once I'm in the program. But regardless, your tuition still looks pretty good to me!

Hey! I am going to Central Texas College in Killeen near Fort Hood. I'm not sure where Ellington is, I'm still pretty new here. I agree that Texas Comm Colleges are surprisingly reasonable, I reallly hope to finish the entire program while we are stationed here. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to apply for Financial Aid for this year, but will definitely be doing it for next year. Since my husband's in the military we qualify for the resident in-district rate of $32 per credit. The out-of-district rate is $39 per credit here and the nonresident/international fee is $130 per credit with a minimum of $200 which all still sounds pretty reasonable compared to some other parts of the country. Take care!

WOW!!! I am going to a community college in Texas near the military base my dh is stationed at, and it is $32 per credit. I am taking 10 credits in fall for $320. Books however are going to be about $400.

I've considered doing the LPN thing first and then doing an LPN to RN when the baby is about a year old, but am not sure if this is a good idea or not. Does anyone have any opinions? This thought crossed my mind, but at my school the LPN program is about 1 1/2yrs and ADN is about 2 or a little longer. I think that taking the transition courses from LPN to ADN is about a year, but I may be wrong. So if I did LPN first and then ADN I would be able to work earlier, however it would only be extending my schooling even longer and then I would be working, going to school, AND caring for the baby. I decided I'd rather just do all the schooling in one shot to get to my final destination (ADN) faster. However, in the future, way down the road, I hope to possibly be working as an RN and go back to school for the BSN when the baby is much older and many hospitals will pay for you to go back for the BSN. Hope this helps! Good luck!

I don't think you should be a nurse at all. Your heart is not in it at all, and you don't sound like you possess the basic desire to care for others who are ill which is fundamental in this field. Maybe I missed it, but I never read that you like helping others, and that you are a compassionate person. Basically you are in it for the money, and I wouldn't want a nurse with that attitude caring for me. And you don't think you can deal with bodily flluids and all that? Yeah, that's a big part of the job so I think your answer is obvious. Plus, nursing has nothing to do with your ulltimate goal of owning a business. What kind of business do you want to own? People don't just want to 'own a business' they usually have a product/specialty that drives them to want to go that route. If you still ultimately want to own a bakery, then pursue something that will help you to eventually accomplish that. Most people who own businesses first started working for nearly nothing, taking the scrap jobs and putting in hard work and building on that to one day become successful. Nobody just starts out on the top like you want to do, sorry to break it to you. You sound really young and not sure of how a lot of things work in the business world. I think if that is your goal, then go to business school. If you want to own one, this will best prepare you for that. Besides, my friends who went to school for accounting, marketing, etc. make more money than nurses make. Yeah, they didn't start out on the top, they worked hard, got promoted and now make around $55K - 70K and they are only in their late 20s. Hope this helps, good luck.

Hey Chrissy, yeah we are in a very similar position. We are really going to be poor on one salary until I finish school but I know there is no way I can do baby, school and work all at once. I am going to take student loans out for school, and we may even go into debt a bit with the child care until I am done, but at least it shouldn't be a problem paying it back once I start working (hopefully!) I have been making budgets left and right trying to make it work for us. We have been married 3yrs too, so I know what you mean when you just know you are ready for that baby. But the baby will be my priority and if I have to put off school I will, but I am pretty sure I can make it through. If you really want to do this schooling, maybe just go for it. You can still do 3 kids at 27, no problem! My mom had my sisters and I at ages 28, 30, and 32 and I love the closeness we have. My plan is to have three that close also, but now with the whole nursing school thing I am back in the same position as you!!!! Oh well, it will all work out in the end either way. Good luck!

I am so glad you guys are all responding! This is really helping me figure things out for myself, as I'm sure it is for the original poster. Chrissy82- just one more thing... you are still young in my opinion. But if you do decide to have a baby now and need to work, I definitely don't suggest school + work+ baby, that just seems like too much. You can have the baby now and work and then maybe go to nursing school when your child starts school in about five years. You will be starting school at age 28, which is not bad at all. I'm just starting now at 27. Lots of people in their 40's and 50's are going back to school for nursing, so don't think you would be out of the game. Maybe for work you could just do a quick certification program as a nurse's aide or ultrasound tech or something (I'm not sure how long those are or what opportunities there are but it's something to look into) and then you can be getting valuable hospital work experience while you have a baby and that should be really helpful when you go to nursing school. Just an idea, hope it helps!

Hey! I just wanted to let you know that I am going through a very similar situation. I am pregnant now and am currently taking my prerequisites. I am not taking any classes in the Spring and hope to start Nursing classes next Fall 06. Thankfully I have a BA in Psych already so I have those classes out of the way already, along with English and Humanities. My husband is in the Army so we had to base pregnancy off his deployments to Iraq. He just returned in March so we wanted him to have as much time with the baby as possible before he has to return again. Anyway, I am really going to try my hardest to do school and baby at the same time, b/c the sooner I finish school the sooner I can contribute a good income to this family which is what we really need. But no matter what, the baby is the first priority, so if I can't manage, hey at least I tried right? I 'll finish one day, that's for sure. But you have to consider that you are basically going to have to be able to pay for full time daycare (I made up a fake schedule for next fall based on this fall's course offerings and it pretty much is a full time schedule with classes, clinicals, and studying). And you will have to study while the baby sleeps at night. I have a very supportive husband and he is very encouraging so I think that will make a big difference. In my opinion, so far school has been easier than working while pregnant b/c you kind of get to make your own schedule of studying, and getting things done, and classes aren't that long. I didn't know how sick I would feel during pregnancy and was afraid to work and be locked into a long shift being sick and tired. Anyway, I'm sure that by the time I actually finish school and start working we will be ready for baby #2 so I am kind of in the same position as you. I hate to start a new job while pregnant. I guess that you don't have to start working right away. I posted the same question a few days ago about working while pregnant but only got one opinion. But anyway, don't try to overthink and schedule this kind of stuff too much. You never know how long it will take to get pregnant and who knows what else may come up in life. Just let things happen they way they are meant to happen. You will get through it and be successful no matter what!!! There is never the 'right' time in life to have a baby, something is always going on with work, not enough money, not a big enough house, etc. but once you do it you find a way to make it work and everything will turn out fine! Good luck! :)

Hi everyone! I just found this site and see that you guys give great advice so here's my situation. I am taking my prerequisites for nursing school now (have a BA in Psych & Communication) and am also expecting. I won't be taking any classes next spring when the baby is due (in Jan.) but hope to go back in the Fall and get through school. I am really scared about how this will all play out with a baby, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I just really think this is a good career move for our future. My husband is in the Army and with all the moving around and living in the middle of nowhere, I think nursing is my best bet for a successful career, not to mention that I love the line of work. And I know it would be a fulfilling career to me instead of continuing to take ho-hum jobs that I'm not interested in that are low-paying anyway. So anyway, once I graduate and start working, I imagine we will want to have a second baby around then. I just read a thread about lifting restrictions as a nurse so my question is, what happens to you as a nurse if you get pregnant? Do you continue with your position, or do they put you on some sort of 'desk job' and do you get discriminated against? Also, for those of you who are moms, do you find nursing to be a good career path to have with small children at home? Are there a lot of part-time opportunities available? Once I finish school I think I would like to start in a part-time position to be home more often with my child. Also, what is the usual situation for part time jobs in hospital nursing? Is it usually all nights/weekends a couple times a week or are there day part time jobs? Sorry to ask so many questions, I am just new to all of this, nursing, pregnancy, etc. I'm a little overwhelmed! :) Thanks for any advice, positive or negative, in advance!!!