public VS.private-this is long post-please read

[sandrago]

hi ,i am new to this forum. i am pre-nursing student in new york. spring will be my last semester of nursing prerequisites(i am taking at a community college)i also hold a a.a.in liberal arts form a community college(mostly because for a long time i had no idea what i want)

i am originally from croatia and there i was a nurse -midwife for 5 years, but my nursing degree is not accepted here, because it is equivalent to diploma-vocational nursing(basically it is high school combined with nursing subjects and clinicals in the hospital.not to mention it was very hard ,intensive program during which you have to live in the dorm above the school , because you have lectures in the morning and clinical every day after school ,at that time i was 14,when i finished i was 18.after i started working i figured that nursing is not for me 300-500$ a month+ doing jobs of a cleaning lady ,nurse and a doctor ,just being stretched out too much.)

i thought that america is the "new land" and i can start fresh, maybe i can do something else?

somehow, all my friends are pre-nursing or nursing students and i could see that we have so much in common.

the times are different now .i am not 18 or 14 anymore and have changed as a person and i could see that there are many opportunities in nursing in us-so flexible!!!love it:redbeathe(not to mention i have 3 year old daughter)

after i got my a.a i started taking pre-req.and i loved it ,the classes, they are not so hard ,i know most of the stuff( not to mention we had to learn latin in nursing school ,before we took anatomy).

anyway,

i am applying to pace university, rutgers university, nyu and lehman college.

lehman college: great school, cheap, no loans, but probably will have to wait and start in the fall 2009(in the spring i am taking 3 sciences and have to raise my 3 year old )+have to take the pre-nursing exam(there is just no time for it),first you have to be accepted to lehman college in order to apply to nursing program( i sent my application in early january, but i doubt that cuny application center will send me reply by march 15th)

pace/nyu; have the pre-req. before clicnical start ,but just so expensive.......as a ptk member i would get 1,000per year(out of 29,000) per year

rutgers university: transportation to jersey + out of state tuition=not much different then pace/nyu

i also got 16,000 per year renewable scholarship at fairleigh dickinson university in teaneck,nj-then ,again i have to take one more semester of philosophy, american government and 3 more liberal arts classes to satisfy university requirements .i just want to take clinicals and be over with(also i have to find a way how to get there by public transportation-(g.w.bridge+route4)

i am 27 years old going to 28 this year(don't want to be in school forever,if i take lehman i will finish 2011, instead 2010)

here are my questions:

• public or private if you were in" my shoes"?:innerconf
  
• is there any chance to start at the private nursing school and then transfer to public(if i start at pace maybe i can transfer to lehman and just do the nln-test before i start lehman)

confused

please help ,

thank you

[SchoolRN,BSN]

When I was thinking about going back to school, I looked at 1. school reputation (both public & private) 2. proximity 3. When could I start. When I tried to make my decisions on those three areas, it was a fairly easy choice.

You also might consider is getting a job at a local hospital as an aide & seeing if they have any tuition reimbursement programs. Several of my friends are having their school completely paid for in return for working x number of years for that hospital. I don't know what you do now, but that can be an excellent way to get some of your education paid for.

The other thing you might do is make appointments & talk to the various admissions offices & see if there are other scholarships available that would make tuition more affordable. It never hurts to ask.

Just some things to think about. Good luck with whatever you decide.