Scared and Cant Decide

[Gemini1]

I am 25years old and am takeing my basics at the moment, I will be finish with them in Aug,2010 and I was thinking about pursueing a career in Radiology Tech and soon after I finish my basic and enter the program. I seen my sister in law have a baby last saturday and I loved it, the RN's were right there as she brought my niece into the world, it was so cool seeing everything. I was telling my husband that I would like to be a RN that is in the delivery room, he told me that the classes are very hard and that I will not have time for anything else and that I need to have a A-B avaerage in my basic classes, and that I should just stick with Radiology Tech. I wanted to know if someone could help me understand the work load and what classes you have to take, is there alot of math etc? I really would like to be a RN but Im scared that I might no be smart enough or can handle the classes and work load...please help.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hmm - your hubby sounds like a smart guy! He's pretty much correct on all counts. Math & sciences are required for RN education. Entry into nursing school is very competitive and right now, a 3.5 (on a 4 pt scale) GPA is expected for applicants to be considered. So you need to make high grades in your prerequisite classes. In most nursing schools, only about 1/3 to 1/2 of students that initially enroll actually make it all the way through to graduation.

It was undoubtedly a wonderful experience to see your niece's birth- but the reality of nursing is not always so positive. It's a tough profession - hard to get into and even harder to stay in over the long term. Take some time to explore a bit more - get to know some nurses and find out more about what they do and how they feel about it.

[tokyoROSE, BSN, RN]

First off, start looking at nursing schools in your area and see what their application process is. Your husband is right, nurses need to get good grades. Our school accepts applications with a 3.0 GPA or higher, but in reality there are only enough spots for those with a 3.5 GPA or higher. Most nursing pre-reqs are the same: biology (A&P), chemistry, math. At my school we only had to do one math class (thank god!). As for nursing school, work load is tough. But I think if you do well with the pre-reqs, you can make it through. That's the reason they set those up, to weed out the people who probably wouldn't make it through the program anyway. At my school, the RT program is competitive as well, and many of their prereqs are consistent with nursing's.