Questions on MSN, specialties and Online degrees

[SWE3TLILSHORTY]

Sooo many questions... sooo confused... and no one to help me!!

I am an RN with an associates degree living in Los Angeles, California. I plan to move forward with my education and receive a masters degree. I am so confused on the differences between all the specialties!!

I did complete my preceptorship at an ICU which I enjoyed!! So I was thinking of becoming a critical care nurse. Then I got thrown off with everything else (Nurse Educator, Nurse Administrator, Nurse Practitioner,etc).

What are the differences between them??? Who earns more?? Is it harder to find a job as an educator or administrator? (I heard Nurse Administrator's have a hard time finding jobs). I've also heard that Nurse Practitioners are always overworked by the Dr.'s and they get paid less.

Is the critical care nurse post masters? Is that a degree or certificate??

I am so confused on all this!! Who does earn more? What are the pro's and con's?? Yes I have done my research on my own... but every site gives conflicting information/data. So I thought what better place to ask then allnurses!!

Please do give me your opinions... it's really important to me!!

I could not apply to UC's because they require 1 yr minimum experience which I don't have. Also, I couldn't get into the cal-state's because the deadline to apply was before I even passed my nclex. I don't want to wait a whole year just to apply plus another 5 years to receive my masters. So I thought about doing it online... like with Kaplan University for example. My teacher told me that it doesnt look good to be getting degrees from online. Is that true?? But it's Bachelors and Masters in like 3 years total!!

Has anyone received a degree from online?? Any problems??

Also, online only offers MSN in Nurse Educator or Nurse Administrator. Which one is a better pick?? I have no idea!! I love to teach but I like to manage and be a leader at the same time. Then from there, can I still go into critical care?? or NP??

Does anyone know of even better programs in California??

Thank you everyone for your time!!