spacecheetah

Your employment is a private contract between you and your employer. No one forced you to become a nurse or take this job. So on the one hand, if you're not happy with what you're making, you should do something else. On the other hand - I agree gender might very well play a role in what nurses are paid. A little perspective might be in order. I am in my 30s with some college and a high school diploma. I live in a city with lots of jobs, but TONS of colleges and a constant glut of fresh new grads willing to work for peanuts. Most of my office is comprised of revolving-door positions with a new 22-year-old woman every two years. (They like female new grads b/c they can pay them less. Of course they won't say that out loud.) I made $23K last year. My husband has 10 years in the military, Defense Information School, an infantry deployment and a Public Affairs deployment, plus nearly a decade running a unit Public Affairs office supervising a team of journalists and editing a paper. He is making $11 an hour loading trucks part-time at UPS. We are barely surviving. (And yes we have clean criminal records, stable work history, and don't do drugs.) I'm not complaining, ok? We're working on digging our way out of this hole and I don't need sympathy. My point is I can't imagine making $70K a year and complaining b/c someone else is making more. Actually - I can't imagine making $70K, full stop. It sounds like pure Heaven to me. We didn't make that much between the two of us last year. I take your point - at least I think so - that it upsets you that nursing is perceived to be of such little value that a sprinkler installer makes more. But there aren't a lot of other jobs that pay this well with a 2-year-degree, or even 4-year. (Engineering, math, hard science maybe.) I know several college grads in liberal arts/humanities working as receptionists and "sandwich artists." Have a good friend with two M.A.s (in English and Poetry - why?!?!) working as a PT admin asst making about what I make. However I agree with you that women devalue themselves and that quite possibly part of the reason nurses aren't paid more is because most nurses are women. I was researching RN and NP jobs in various cities on Indeed, Glassdoor, Payscale, etc., and inadvertently saw (on Payscale.com) the salary info broken down by gender. Females made significantly less for every single position I looked at. That's enough to make you hulk out a little bit.

Used to work in a drug testing lab. Because THC is stored in fat cells it can vary WIDELY from person to person when it comes to how long it takes the drug to leave your body. I am jumping on the "wait at least another month" bandwagon. I also think it's a great idea to go to an independent lab and have them test you before you let another prospective employer do it.

I had a reduction and found some of my old bras in the garage. Long story short, I now actually have a photo of my husband wearing one of the cups as a hat. (40G, and I'm so very glad they're smaller now.)

Loved this article. I'm not quite in nursing school yet but my intention is to go into mental health and ultimately become a PMHNP. Thanks for writing this.

In other words: I want to be a chef, but I want to delegate the shopping, chopping, mixing, stirring, and seasoning to the under-chefs. In other words, I basically want to wear a white hat and take things out of the oven. Oh, and design the menu. Because I'm kreaytyv. If the thought of wiping an occasional butt bothered me, or if I couldn't stand the sight or smell of blood/poop/pee/vomit/mucus, I don't think I'd be even considering nursing for a living.

This is a very eye-opening post for me. I'm but a lowly pre-nursing student, and Idk if I have a warped outsider's view of nursing, but I'm kind of shocked at the idea that coming in late, looking at cell phones while you should be working, or not pulling your weight is tolerated at all. When I imagine my future career as a nurse I've always imagined having to be constantly busy, alert, and hyper-professional. I've been in the workforce for nearly 20 years, from retail to food service to a decade or so in admin. My current position is very relaxed. But even working at a bookstore or a restaurant, I would have gotten written up for coming in late without calling or having my cell phone on the floor. And that's freakin' retail or food service! I cannot imagine going through all the time, energy, and stress of training for and pursuing a career in nursing, and then bleeping off to the point of being routinely late, putting on deo every day at the nurse's station, playing Candy Crush, and just generally being a lazy good-fer-nuthin. I have put a lot of thought and energy and stress into this already and I haven't applied to nursing school yet! I want to excel at what I do. Otherwise why do it? I encountered this for the first time in years when I was working retail for a few months over Christmas. At the company where I work FT, most of the young people are trying to break into the business, so they work hard. But at the bookstore, oh-em-jeez. I was frankly shocked at how much energy people would expend to keep from expending energy. Like, don't you realize it's less work to just do it than to avoid doing it? Whatever "it" is? I am anti-cell-phone-in-the-workplace, for what it's worth, at least when that workplace involves dealing with the public as health care providers.

Many of us have been there, in one way or another. My advice is apologize to the two people, but don't grovel. Then move on, with confidence. Don't let the blow to your self-confidence show. If one of your coworkers is negative toward you to the point that it affects getting your job done, approach that situation directly. Otherwise, ignore them. Eventually they will see what kind of person you truly are and it will blow over. If you work with people who are so unprofessional that they can NEVER get over one thing that one person said one time and continue to hold a nasty grudge forever and ever and make your life suck, find another job.

I agree that you need to take a deep breath and have some perspective. I'm 35 and starting pre-reqs. If I'm LUCKY I'll graduate at 38 with an ASN. My mom is starting pre-reqs and she's 54! Twenty-two is very young and there's no need for you to be freaking out and in such a rush. Try to relax and enjoy the ride. Good luck!

I have problems with anxiety too but they are not "crippling" (anymore) and if they were I wouldn't be pursuing nursing school. My anxiety is more internally focused though (health anxiety/hypochondria) and I have it well under control. I don't have the social or self-confidence issues you have. Even still it was enough to keep me from pursuing nursing for five (count 'em 5) years because I was not ready, my anxiety was not controlled. I did the research and realized that even people who are mentally healthy become anxious (including hypochondriac) in nursing school and beyond. I knew it wasn't smart for me to start the program until I was mentally ready. I think you have to be brutally honest with yourself about what you are capable of doing, and get yourself in a healthy head space before you pursue this. It would suck to sabotage yourself and make it that much harder to get into a program later when you ARE ready. Nursing aside, you need to get these problems under control for your overall quality of life. Trust me, life can be very different and so much better. And no, it doesn't always require medication but sometimes it does. I don't take any myself but you need to see a professional if you're not already. Best of luck to you.

I'm taking A&P 1 this summer in a 5 week course and I'm dreading it. It's my only class that semester (obviously!) but it's 5 hours a day 4 days a week and I work 30 hrs/week so I know it will be super intense. I'm taking A&P 2 in the Fall with Micro and Lifespan Psych. I think it will be fine since it's a regular semester. It depends on the person, I think, their abilities, study habits, time management skills, and extracurricular responsibilities.

I think this is a really good idea and I'm glad you brought it up b/c it's something I'll consider for myself later. Like you I'm working on pre-reqs and hoping to be in a program Fall 2016. My husband has a 4WD vehicle and he's able to get places when I can't, so great idea. However I do agree this may be a bit premature. I won't be able to consider a new vehicle at all until I'm making an RN's salary as opposed to the crappy one I make now. If you can afford it, I guess there's no harm in it, though.

I am only a lowly pre-nursing student but I've been in the workforce for almost 20 years and I have to say this is something I see more and more of everywhere: young people with little to no experience who are lazy, entitled, and will do ANYTHING to get out of pulling their weight. This is not all young people, of course. Some are hard workers. But I remember being young and new to the workforce and feeling I had to prove myself, feeling a sense of pride that would not allow me to be lazy or shirk my duties. I see less and less of that in young people. There seems to be no shame about getting out of doing their jobs; they almost take pride in it. I've been in the same admin position for 6 years in live music so I see a lot of young people trying hard to prove themselves and others who feel like we owe them cookies and hugs just for showing up. I took a second job in retail last year when my husband got laid off and I couldn't believe the lack of work ethic and professionalism. I worked at several stores in the district, too, and it wasn't just mine. The upside to this is I got offered a FT supervisory position within 3 months. :-) I fully expect when I start a new job to have to humble myself, work my ass off, keep my mouth shut unless it's to ask questions, do the grunt work, and prove myself. Respect is earned. I don't expect new hires to know everything, but I do expect them to be respectful, work hard, and prove themselves. I would imagine that goes double for a job like nursing where mistakes can have grave repercussions.

This thread has been interesting and helpful for me. I'm a pre-nursing student who really wants to go into psych. I'm a "non-traditional" student (35 now, will be 38 when I graduate, if all goes well). I have a few years experience in high-paced, stressful, multitasking jobs like retail and waiting tables, and I've been very successful in working circles around others. However those are not jobs where people's lives are at stake. I also have a history of health anxiety (hypochondria) that I know will make nursing school difficult and has kept me from going for about 5 years. I didn't feel I was capable of doing it without anxiety getting the better of me. I firmly feel I am in a strong and healthy enough place now to push through and excel in school. I'm a good student, a hard worker, and when I'm committed to something I do it. I do worry about being over-analytical and anxious on behalf of my patients but I know the only way to conquer this is to continue to manage my anxiety in a healthy way, ask lots of questions (something I have no problem doing), and accept that it will take time and effort to become comfortable with the complexity and gravity of an RN's responsibilities. Thanks to all of you who have shared your opinion on this thread.

I'm working on pre-reqs at Collin and planning to apply in January for Fall 2016. I just wanted to say congrats and good luck to all of you. Reading this thread has made me feel so excited for y'all. I hope I'm on a thread just like this next year getting good news. The information in this post has been very helpful as well. :-)

Hey guys! I have to finish my pre-reqs this coming fall in order to apply in January for the ADN program starting Fall of 2016. The only way I can do this is by taking Biology in a 5 week summer 1 course, followed by A&P in a 5 week summer 2 course. Then I would take A&P II and Micro in the fall. The Bio course I know will be hard enough, but I particularly remember my mom taking A&P and how much studying it took for her to make an A. The summer course is 5 hours of class/lab 4 days a week. I would also be working about 30 hours a week. I have no kids and a very supportive husband. The alternative to these 10 grueling weeks is waiting another year to apply to the program. I'm 35 and I don't want to wait any longer if I can help it. I know I can do this, but I don't want to just pass. I want to make As. I'm typically an A student, and I know I'm capable of an A if I apply myself. Anyone else do A&P in an accelerated course? Any thoughts and opinions are welcome. Thanks in advance.