Niandra

That's so awesome that you want to be a nurse!! Definitely pursue it!!! I know this is especially hard still being in high school and dependent on your parents, but it's great you're rejecting that toxic masculinity macho crap in favor of doing something you love. (I've known several male social workers who also unfortunately dealt with this BS from their families). There are plenty of male nurses out there! It's so crazy to me when people denigrate it as this lesser profession that is only for women. I've worked with some amazing male nurses over the years. Where I currently live and work in rural South Africa (where female nurses are called "sisters" and still wear skirts!) we have a ton of male nurses even though gender roles are even more rigidly observed here in general. General advice I would give to anyone thinking about nursing: Get entry level experience at a hospital. Work as a nursing assistant while you're in college. It would 1) be GREAT experience and 2) let you make some money and get a little financial independence from your parents. You also might be able to meet some male nurses this way and learn more about their experience.

I'm facing a similar issue while looking for accelerated BSN programs -- $80k+ just doesn't add up. At the same time, I already have a BA in another field and the ADN to BSN bridge doesn't seem cost effective for me in terms of how much time it would take and the job market. Some of the state accelerated schools like UMass Amherst are relatively affordable for accelerated BSN programs that are about the same cost as ADN and bridge BSN programs, but a shorter time period. That said, it depends on where you live to a degree. The rural psychiatric hospital I worked at hires ADNs. It's not work many are willing to do. My friend has an ADN made close to $78K during her first year of being a nurse. The night nurse, also an ADN prepared nurse, made close to $100k. It's rough though. I think you'd be SOL with an ADN in major cities like Boston where there is already a glut of BSN prepared nurses and hospitals have accordingly included this in job requirements. Many nurses I worked with back in my CNA days in that area had to either pursue a BSN or struggle to find jobs, even with experience.

Hi! I am currently serving as a Health Volunteer in the Peace Corps where I work with the provincial department of health, the local district hospital, and a step-down facility. (I think there are some misconceptions out there that PC volunteers only teach English!) I love the work and hope to be able to return in some capacity to work with the local Doctors Without Borders as an RN. Prior to Peace Corps, I worked for 2 years a psychiatric hospital as a unit clerk/mental health worker/whatever additional support was needed when my unit was in chaos. I also worked as a float CNA for 1.5 years at a med/surg hospital. I LOVED psych (particularly adolescent psych) and I LOVE the public health nurses I work with now. I am from Boston, MA but would 1) like to work outside of New England at some point and 2) feel Boston is over saturated with programs. There are some (well, a few) accelerated BSN programs that offer a Coverdell scholarship, but I'd like to broaden my horizons and get feedback on programs to check out, especially outside of New England. Some accelerated programs (ex: MGH, NYU) are so insanely expensive I could never justify the cost! I've looked into the ASN route but would honestly rather get the BSN completed sooner than later. Still open to it but much less interested. Thanks for any input!

Thanks for your response! We would be working in the Health sector. This position is similar to what we applied for: Health Extension Volunteer Are you and your husband teaching English? I have previous experience as a CNA and currently work as a unit secretary and mental health worker on an adolescent unit at a psychiatric hospital. My partner currently works in a neuroscience research lab as a research assistant, volunteers doing homeless outreach and also a needle exchange for an organization that works to educate IV drug users to reduce infection transmission and train people on administering Narcan.

Has anyone done Peace Corps before nursing school? My partner and I applied to as a couple for the Health sector. We interviewed and are waiting to hear. If we don't get in this round, we're planning on reapplying for the next round. Peace Corps seems like an amazing potential bridge into nursing, though it would push off nursing school another few years. I really like my current job, but I've also been missing the international relations / community building aspects of what I studied undergrad. Has anyone applied? Know anyone who worked in the Health sector?

Some hospitals have their own CNA programs! You might be able to find one in your area. While I was an undergraduate, I worked as a CNA. The hospital trained CNAs (well, they called them Clinical Associates there which sounds a lot fancier than it was) through their own program, so I actually had paid training! The downside was I wasn't able to work outside of that facility without going through a course and paying money. It was a difficult job but ultimately I got invaluable experience from it. I transferred to the float pool after a few months and got to work on every unit. I found that I enjoyed being a 1:1 with the patients with psychiatric conditions. I left the field for awhile after I graduated college and have kind of come full circle. I'm planning to pursue an accelerated nursing program (I have a BA in Psychology/Poli Sci). I currently work as a unit secretary/mental health worker at a psychiatric hospital. Again, it's incredibly valuable experience. Working as a unit secretary is awesome -- the way my unit is set up has me working very closely with nurses. I've learned so much about meds, treatment planning, monitoring conditions, putting in orders, seen med passes, documentation and charting from this job. Good luck on your job search!

What area are you in, OP? And do you have an idea of what you would like to do after (med/surg, psych, etc)? I live in southern Vermont and work at a hospital that does and has hired many new grads, some even before they took the NCLEX. I know of several other hospitals in the area that also hire new grads. Don't give up hope! DTMFA (google that, wise words of advice from Dan Savage) and keep applying! And practice interviewing! Network the sh*t out of places you volunteer at, attend recruiting fairs, find ways to bypass the morass of online applications and get noticed! It's hard, I'm making it sound way easier -- I know how stressful it is to stay positive. The job search is f***ing horrible but you will find something. You might be surprised by the opportunities that come up in areas you weren't expecting -- or even local to you now! Also I'm curious about that scholarship!

Has anyone gone to Vermont Tech? I'm considering the LPN / ADN route and then the online BSN. I have previous experience working as a CNA (1.5 years) and graduated from Bennington College in 2010. I was looking at accelerated direct entry programs all over the country, but the cost is a lot higher. I'm most interested in the Brattleboro or Bennington campuses.

Thank you for the insight! This is the sort of information I've been looking for. My partner and would ideally relocate to Northern California (he's considering UC Berkeley & UC Davis for PhD programs). We have friends and family out that way which would make it a lot easier. We're also exploring options for both of us in Washington and Oregon. It can be pretty tough for new RNs where I'm from, too (Massachusetts). It seems difficult for new RNs in general when it comes to places that are desirable to live (eg: NYC, LA, SF, Boston). The COL of living in Boston has just exploded. We actually found less expensive and nicer housing in Manhattan. I won't be applying for about 2 years (by then I'm sure the tuition will be about $70000). I have a few prereqs to finish up (A&P, Microbiology and Chemistry). My plan is to get a relevant job in healthcare (that actually requires my BA degree, hopefully) and get some more volunteer experience on the side at local clinics.

Thanks for your reply Shondaj! What school are you going to?

Hello! I live on the East Coast and I'm strongly considering moving out to the west coast for a change of pace. My best friend from college moved out to Oakland, CA to attend Mills and recommended checking out Samuel Merritt for nursing. The program sounds good, I like that they seem value your work experience (I've worked as a PCA and as a CNA/mental health worker for about 3 years, all paid work experience), my math and science GPA is decent since I took the courses at a community college that assigned grades, so it's something like a 3.7. I started off at community college and my GPA when I transferred was 3.95. The caveat is I don't have an overall undergrad GPA. My undergraduate school (Bennington College in Bennington, VT) gave detailed written course evaluations. They also offered numeric grades but the professors I took courses with tended to be against assigning grades, and I'm pretty anti grade in general (it's a major reason why I went there). Other alumni have gone on to med school and other grad programs so it's not some totally weird, unregulated and unrecognized hippie thing. My undergrad major was Social Sciences. When I spoke to an admissions counselor at SMU they said they were open to receiving the written reviews instead of grades. (Columbia in NYC was too, and I have several Bennington classmates attending grad school there, but I don't want to go from zero nursing experience to a Doctorate. Simmons College in Boston was also fine with my undergrad grading system being different, but I want to get out of the Boston area forever!). It's also difficult given the job market to decide on what kind of degree to go for. I was initially thinking the direct entry MSN route might be better, but some older RNs strongly recommended getting a BSN and work experience first. I want to get actual bedside nursing experience before specializing anyway. Any advice? Experience at Samuel Merritt? Recommendations for other schools to check out?

I worked as a CNA while I was an undergrad (studying psychology and political economy). It wasn't an easy job but it was great experience. I switched from a med/surg floor to float so I got to work in every unit at some point. I feel like I know what I'm getting into by pursuing nursing. Lifting patients seemed intimidating at first (I'm also petite), but overall it wasn't too bad. The other CNAs and RNs usually just asked for help, it wasn't a big deal. I'm not sure how much it will help my applications when I get to that point, but I'm sure it won't hurt. Further, I noticed that nurses who had been CNAs tended to be much better nurses and worked better with everyone in general.

There need to be more compassionate nurses who care about patient well being, especially in facilities like the one you're working at. I would definitely take heed of Emergent's advice, it's really important to be positive about your current work situation in interviews. Empathize the skills you've gained from it, explain how you have helped identify and resolve helped identify a patient having problems and reported it to the appropriate supervising nurse. Also, work on letting go of your anger and resentment and channel it into something positive (like reporting her!). I also just recently got out of an awful, badly paid work situation that I had been stuck at for over 2 years (dog walking). I went to so many interviews and tried so many different fields. It was so hard just even getting the will to go to work most days. The worst part was going on interviews and people would be like 'oh, you have my dream job!' and wouldn't take me seriously. I couldn't just quit though, because I have zero savings and had no way to pay bills. Ultimately I ended up calling up my old staffing agency and taking the first temp job they offered (not ideal, but it paid well and got me some really great experience). I'm so grateful that I was able to get out of the job when I did because I was about to have a complete nervous breakdown. Being stuck at a bad job is miserable and can ruin your life. Even though I HATED dog walking (not the dogs though, they were mostly lovely), when I interviewed I still tried to give it a positive spin and emphasize the administrative, scheduling, and customer service aspects of it. I ended up getting an interview at an eating disorder treatment facility. I didn't accept the job offer because it wasn't enough money and I had decided to move anyway. But still, I don't doubt being able to talk about the positive aspects of the job (or at least act well enough about it), helped me get an offer after being stuck in an unrelated field for so long. It might be worth it for your mental health to take a job in a different field for now while you wait for a better CNA opportunity to open up. Good luck and hang in there!

The main thing that irks me about Simmons is that they don't give a BSN in addition to the MSN. That said, my friend who is in the Simmons direct entry MSN program has really liked it for the most part. Her clinical rotations have been really great (Children's Hospital, BMC, etc). It's been a lot of work though! They also have some annoying course aspects like having to practice on this robot doll things that simulate actual bedside experience (eg: baby dolls that turn blue if they're not getting enough Oxygen and you have to figure out why). Northeastern sounded like a mess. I don't have any direct experience with them. I've also heard MGH isn't that great. Nurses I worked with when I was a CNA recommended UMass schools over MGH.

Hello! I live on the East Coast and my best friend from college moved out to Oakland, CA to attend Mills and recommended checking out Samuel Merritt for nursing. The courses sound great, I REALLY like that they value your work experience (I've worked as a PCA and as a CNA/mental health worker for about 3 years, all paid work experience), my math and science GPA is decent since I took the courses at other colleges that assigned GPAs (3.75?), and when I spoke to an admissions counselor at SMU they said they were open to receiving the written reviews instead of grades. (Columbia in NYC was too, and I have several Bennington classmates attending grad school there, but I don't want to go from zero nursing experience to a Doctorate). The caveat is I don't have an undergrad GPA. My undergraduate school (Bennington College in Bennington, VT) offered grades but the professors I took courses with to be against assigning grades, and I'm pretty anti grade in general (it's a major reason why I went there) so I got long form academic performance reviews instead of grades. Other alumni have gone on to med school and other grad programs so it's not some totally weird, unregulated and unrecognized hippie thing. My undergrad major was psychology and political economy. I'm really interested in community mental healthcare and providing care to underserved communities. I eventually want to become an NP but I really want to get a few years of solid RN experience first. Any advice? Experience at Samuel Merritt? Recommendations for other schools to check out?