speechie123

Hello, I wanted to know everyone's thoughts on the accelerated nurse practitioner programs for non-nursing degrees. I am currently 20 years old and will be graduating this fall with my undergrad in Speech-Language Pathology. I have been accepted into graduate school for SLP, which would begin this fall (August 2015). However, I have recently become very hesitant to accept the grad school offer because I don't think speech pathology is for me. I have never throughly enjoyed it, and I don't want to invest more time and money into a program that I am not extremely passionate about. In the mist of my reluctancy to go to grad school, I started researching other graduate program options. I know I want to do something that I do not have to get a whole, separate Bachelor's degree in, and I recently came across AMPNN programs. I know my end-all goal is wanting to become a nurse practitioner, and I am fairly certain I would like to specialize in family NP or Peds. Therefore, I do not want to become a RN, work for awhile, and then apply to the graduate program for NP. I am afraid I would get too comfortable working as a nurse, or potentially starting a family, etc., to go back to earn my Master's in NP. This is where you guys come in. I want to know if you think doing the accelerated program would back fire in the end. I am afraid that upon graduation for the accelerated degree, I won't be able to find a job because of preference over people who have had years of experience as an RN. I realize I would most likely not get my dream job right away, but I feel like once I land a job, they will become easier to find in the future. I just don't want to invest all this time, money, and effort into the accelerated program, graduate with thousands of dollars in debt, and not be able to get hired because I lack the experience. However, I know that nurse practitioners are the future of the health field, and this is something I am actually very eager to pursue. Any insight from prospective students trying to apply to the accelerated programs right now, current RNs, current nurse practitioners, ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.