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Thank you for your comment. From my time experiencing "floor nursing" I just don't feel that I would be fulfilled. There tends to be a fair bit of down time and I personally want to be challenged. I really enjoy looking at the whole "clinical picture" of my patients (why they're here, why their labs are high/low, looking at everything I can in their history to understand their conditions) rather than being task oriented which is what i notice from a lot of the nurses on our floor. Perhaps it's the floor I am on or the hospital but I really want to be somewhere where I feel like I am constantly learning and feel fulfilled. I appreciate your input and you do bring up a good point about leaving my support system and making such a big jump. One of my fears is that if I do med-surge or tele (something along these lines) that I will be "stuck" and won't be able to move to ICU or something else if I wanted to.

Hi all, I am a nursing student in my senior year (Graduate May 17 w/ BSN) and am starting to look up nursing residency programs as most deadlines are in December. My heart lies in ICU nursing, and I am totally willing to relocate anywhere in the US to get a residency program in the ICU setting. My question is, is an out-of-state candidate really desirable? I live in a state that most residency programs are not offered in the ICU setting. I see in a lot of threads that once past the phone interviews students have an in-person interview. Obviously I cannot afford to fly out to multiple states if I end up being chosen for interviews. My question is, should i put all my "eggs" in one basket and choose one hospital that is my most desirable institution to work at and fly out there for the interview? I have already secured a position at the hospital I am working after graduation but the floor is not where I want to end up. My resume so far is not extremely competitive, I don't hold any leadership positions. I'm hoping I have my senior practicum in the ICU but there is no guarantee. -4.0 GPA (which I know doesn't really hold much weight in the real world) -Internship on general floor -PCT position on same floor -Additional work experience that doesn't really relate to nursing -Some volunteer work Thanks for all your help in advance!