jhinds12

I started off in law enforcement, and now I am currently a mental health tech on a psychiatric unit and a nursing student. I realized I wanted to be a nurse when I realized there was such a stigma about mental illness and substance abuse. I wanted to help people struggling with these problems. So I left law enforcement and got the job I do now, and I got myself into a nursing program. Nursing school is very hard, it consumes your life literally a lot of people will tell you that. Therefor you really have to want to do it and be passionate about nursing in order to survive nursing school cause it will test you. Follow your heart and follow your gut. Maybe take a year off from school and just work and give yourself time to decide what you want to do.

I have researched MedTech, and while going to a school that offered a Bachelors program would be ideal...I don't have that time frame. I am 23 and still on my dad's insurance I have a couple years left before I legally have to find my own. That is one of the nice things about Med Tech is that I can be done with my PN in 15 months and have an Associates Degree as a PN, unlike Ivy Tech they offer an Associates Degree vs just a Diploma. The Indianapolis campus is accredited the same as Ivy Tech, they have the exact same accreditations for their PN program. A negative is the cost, they are obviously pricey....however with them offering and Associates Degree vs a diploma, free tutoring, small classes, and they have the Kaplan Review as part of their program, along with Nutrition classes and Med terms (which Ivy Tech dosent include in their program) from what I have read online it seems like a good program. Plus Ivy Tech in Columbus (the campus I am currently at) so far has a 33% success rating for their PN program. Where as Med Techs is higher at 70%. Plus as of last year all of their PN students, on the first attempt, passed their NCLEX.

Maybe it was just the Columbus campus then, our ATI average score for our class was never that high...we didn't even come close. We were all scoring around 40-50% on them, every time. I just think it looks bad that we started with 15 and then only 3 will graduate on time and that is if all three of them make it threw the final semester.

I live in Indiana and I know that typically nursing homes will pay LPNs more than hospitals will. I have a friend that works as an LPN in a nursing home and he makes $21 an hr where as the hospital that I work at only pays $17 for LPNs. I know his nursing home for RNS only pays $23-24 so not much difference, but the hospital that I work at on the other hand pays around $28 an hour. This can vary drastically though depending on what state you live in and where you are working. Experience obviously plays a role into it as well, just like it would for any job.

Personally I love Littmann, I currently have their light weight model and I am in nursing school. However, I am looking into getting a new one as well. Littmann is expensive, but it is like the old saying goes...you get what you pay for.

PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! Hi everyone! My name is Jessica and I am currently 23, single mother, and working at my local hospital as a mental health tech. I have been interested in nursing for a while now and was accepted into Ivy Tech of Columbus campus PN program, I was very excited when I found out, this was this year by the way, however once I started the program it was not what I had thought/hoped it would be. Ivy Tech is just not a good school in my opinion, at least from my experience. We started off with 15 PN students, after just the first semester of classes 7 out of the 15 failed Fundamentals. Later on after the second semester we now only have 3 students on track to graduate on time. This is insane to me! I feel like that is a horrible statistic to start off with 15 students and then after two semesters only have 3 on track to graduate on time. Again this is at the Columbus campus, so it may be different at other campuses. After thinking about something's and considering my future, I looked into MedTech College in Indianapolis. So far so good, I have met with an admissions advisor and a financial aid advisor. I really like the atmosphere that MedTech offers as well as the free tutoring. Only down fall is that they are expensive compared to Ivy Tech, but you get what you pay for. The Indianapolis campus is accredited for their PN program so their credits will transfer for those individuals wanting to further their education...you can find their accreditations on their website. I just wanted to see what other people think about the two schools and what their experiences have been. Thanks for your help!