I currently work in medical device sales. I make well over $100k... and hate EVERY SINGLE DAY of my job. I am 39, no kids. I have wanted to go to nursing school since starting in the medical sales industry in my mid-20's. My (now) XH discouraged me from quitting such a "good" job... blah, blah, blah.
I have enough money saved to support my fixed bills for about a year at this point, and would have at least another year to save while I work on my pre-req's. I have a BS in Nutrition and Food Science and need to take the pre-req's, as it's been forever. I would be 40-41 before I could even start RN school. My undergrad GPA is just under a 3.0, which is well below par and I need to retake these classes to obtain the most competitive GPA possible for admission to RN school.
My question? Do people obtain loans to support themselves through school, etc? I just can't seem to wrap my mind around how I can quit my job and to go to school. My goal would be to obtain my RN and then work (at least PT) and finish my BSN. In the future, I'd actually like to be a NP.
How do you guys do it?!? I need help... inspiration. This is what I want to do.
I'm still in the very beginning phases of investigating nursing as a career. I'm planning to work full time for some portion and then switch to part time.
- Some schools I've looked at with the full time accelerated BSN have some tuition waived if you agree to work for their hospital for a period of time. That seemed somewhat tempting as it would seem you'd be guaranteed a job and experience after graduation. Of course drawback here is that it would be impossible to work part time at current job.
I also figure that since I'd be going to school part time, it'll take me a while to get through school and hopefully nursing job prospects will improve in the next 5-6 years.
Ultimately, I'd like a speciality/MSN and hopefully soon after the BSN and also have to figure how that meshes with the CNL option.
We are lucky as our mortgage is the only debt we have and we are currently working on reducing the amount of mortgage. I'm also making plans for how to cut costs/save more money.
I too am in the same boat, ie: losing good income, benefits, etc. And of course it all depends on where you live, but think about Nurse Management or Nursing Administration. These fields pay very well and you can still utilize your clinical skills. I have my BS in Health Care Administration and work in NYC at a very well paying job as an Administrator but am looking to be more then just an Admin but I also don't want to be a CEO of a hospital. I'm aiming to obtain my ABSN and eventually work in a hospital in Nursing Administration and again, these positions pay 80K+ depending on your location.
I didn't quit my job, I was laid off. After a few months of looking, I've decided to use this time instead on going back to school. I've always wanted to be in the medical field since high school, but changed my major to Information Tech & Informatics instead. I've applied to a couple of schools for the Spring 2011.
I believe a poster on the first page gave great advice to "pretend" what it's like to quit your job. If I was making over $100k in my previous job, I wouldn't have quit, even if I hated it. I was making half that at my previous job and didn't like coming in to work anymore. I sat at my desk one day and asked God "there's got to be something better for me?" Well, being laid-off was my ticket out. Of course, that realization didn't come immediately.
Since your GPA from your first degree is under 3.0, you may want to look into ASN RN programs. Or you can try anyways to look into Accelerated MSN or Accelerated BSN programs that accepts GPA's lower than 3.0.
I currently work in medical device sales. I make well over $100k... and hate EVERY SINGLE DAY of my job. I am 39, no kids. I have wanted to go to nursing school since starting in the medical sales industry in my mid-20's. My (now) XH discouraged me from quitting such a "good" job... blah, blah, blah.
I have enough money saved to support my fixed bills for about a year at this point, and would have at least another year to save while I work on my pre-req's. I have a BS in Nutrition and Food Science and need to take the pre-req's, as it's been forever. I would be 40-41 before I could even start RN school. My undergrad GPA is just under a 3.0, which is well below par and I need to retake these classes to obtain the most competitive GPA possible for admission to RN school.
My question? Do people obtain loans to support themselves through school, etc? I just can't seem to wrap my mind around how I can quit my job and to go to school. My goal would be to obtain my RN and then work (at least PT) and finish my BSN. In the future, I'd actually like to be a NP.
How do you guys do it?!? I need help... inspiration. This is what I want to do.
Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.
I was in a similar position. After graduation and starting work as an RN, I will be taking about a 40K/yr pay cut. People think I am nuts for doing it, but I feared that I would become nuts if I didn't. It's a personal choice. For me, I am at a point in my life where quality of life means much more to me than the high salary. Besides, when I went to school the first time, I strongly considered nursing, but chose business as I felt it would serve me better. Was I wrong!
I also initially wanted to go into the medical field. I entered college the first time with the intent of going to med school. Along the way though, I got disillusioned and decided that I shouldn't try to go to school for 8+ years for a career I wasn't sure about. So I switched to computers.
The funny thing was though, I was in a premed program for disadvantaged students and I got to talk to lots of med students, doctors and also med school advisors. They never ever mentioned nursing as a possible option. Physicians assistants were mentioned briefly but I feel like they should've mentioned nursing as another alternative. I really didn't know enough about nursing back then and didn't know about BSN's, MSNs or anything. Maybe I would've gone into nursing if I had known but I can't blame them as I never looked into it.
I am starting to get more excited about the idea but I do have prereqs and even if I decide not to do nursing, the prereqs may help me go eventually in another direction I have been thinking about, bioinformatics.
leenak
980 Posts
I'm still in the very beginning phases of investigating nursing as a career. I'm planning to work full time for some portion and then switch to part time.
I see there are a lot of options including:
1) Part time Clinical Nurse leader program
2) Part time BSN program
3) Full time Accelerated BSN
- Some schools I've looked at with the full time accelerated BSN have some tuition waived if you agree to work for their hospital for a period of time. That seemed somewhat tempting as it would seem you'd be guaranteed a job and experience after graduation. Of course drawback here is that it would be impossible to work part time at current job.
I also figure that since I'd be going to school part time, it'll take me a while to get through school and hopefully nursing job prospects will improve in the next 5-6 years.
Ultimately, I'd like a speciality/MSN and hopefully soon after the BSN and also have to figure how that meshes with the CNL option.
We are lucky as our mortgage is the only debt we have and we are currently working on reducing the amount of mortgage. I'm also making plans for how to cut costs/save more money.