Questions on post High School Graduation

Published

  1. When did you start your Nursing journey?

    • 4
      right after high school (pre reqs)
    • 1
      after I started a career
    • 0
      After beginning a family
    • 0
      other

5 members have participated

Hi Guys,

So I'm in high school(Sophomore)

I have dreams of being in the Nursing Field

I live in Massachusetts

My parents are very supportive and I have A's and B's and maybe a C

I'm kind of a lazy person but its easy for me to break out of the habit when I plan carefully and I put up a certain schedule.

few questions I have..:

What should I do after high school?:

Do I look into Universities to take pre-reqs classes

What kind of job should I get before starting my journey? Like CNA?

Should I live on campus? ( I plan to stay in state or at least in the New England area)

What are the classes like?

What is the competition like to get into the actual BSN program after pre-reqs?

How hard is Nursing School?

Everyone gives me these scary stories as if I'm not capable of succeeding, I understanding its to open my eyes and I know it won't be easy but this is something I realllly want.

I've looked online a lot and all I see are stories of people who already have families that are going back to school. I haven't seen any stories of young people post high school .

you guys can tell stories and things give as much details as possible. I understand not all programs are the same but I still Want to hear everyone's stories and advice.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.

I went straight from high school into my BSN.

After high school if you know you want to do nursing then yeah. Gear schooling towards that. What type of schooling depends on what you can afford and what your ultimate goal is.

Do you want just RN? BSN, RN for more job potential? There are 3 ways of getting your RN license plus there's LPN. So first you need to know what you want.

Also do you ultimately want to be a nurse practitioner? CRNA? Midwife?

If you qualify for scholarships then go to a school where you get the most bang for your buck. I qualified for free rides from several schools but went with one where I could get my BSN.

If you're doing loans I'd say go to a small community college for pre-reqs (these vary depending on the nursing program) then go to a nursing program.

Nursing programs are pretty competitive. You need a good GPA and good scores on entry exams to be competitive.

Nursing school itself is unlike any other. It takes over your life while you're there. Seriously. You can browse this forum and find plenty of insight into school itself.

Basically there isn't a "right" way or "wrong" way to become a nurse. We cannot tell you which way is "best". It depends on so many variables.

Good luck

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I know I might want to be a Labor and Delivery Nurse, I know this probably might change. for right now I don't know about being a Midwife or Nurse Practitioner.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.

It may very well change. I went into nursing school thinking labor and delivery or pediatrics. I couldn't be farther from it working with elderly people with heart problems and COPD....in home health at that.

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.

Have you looked into taking PSEO pre-reqs? Ughhhh I'm only 19 but I'm so mad at myself for not knowing I wanted to be a nurse until AFTER going to school a whole year for business. If I knew I would have taken the pre-reqs to getting into nursing school and I'd probably be halfway through my BSN by now. You're lucky you have an idea of what you want to do and you're still in high school :) take advantage of it

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Its ironic because my High School is a health careers school, BUT we barely talk about any health careers. We have opportunities but they're so limited. There's High Schools in my area that give out CPR classes to gain your certificate my school doesn't even do that. I've basically been online researching tons of colleges in the New England area.. Next year we're eligible for AP lasses but they're limited and they're veryyy harddddd. its hard for a reason but I guess I'll have to change my habits.

Thank you!

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Specializes in Pedi.

You should enter a BSN program right away. Getting a job in Massachusetts without a BSN is next to impossible. The following schools in Massachusetts have traditional BSN programs that you enter directly out of high school: Boston College, Northeastern University, Curry College, Endicott College, Simmons College, Regis College, UMass Boston, UMass Lowell, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Amherst, Salem State, Fitchburg State, Worcester State. There might be more that I'm missing. There are plenty of schools in the rest of New England with similar programs- off the top of my head, URI, UConn, Quinnipiac, Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, UNH, UVM, UNE, St. Joseph's College.

I went to BC and there was no "competition" to get into the program after pre-reqs because I entered the university as a nursing major and what other schools would consider "pre-reqs" were built into the program. That's how I *think* most schools in MA do it. I know UMass Boston you do have to apply for the program your junior year.

CNA is something you can do while in school, I don't see any reason to post-pone schooling for this. If you go to Northeastern, your co-ops will be CNA positions at the beginning. After you finish your first semester of clinical, most hospitals will hire you into an aide role without having an official CNA.

I think all college kids should live on campus, it's part of the experience of college.

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