Second degree / career change

[Nutritionturnednurse_tn]

Hi all. Newbie here, posting wise. Been pouring over posts for the past two months though. I'm 27 (ugh) I hold a bachelors degree in nutrition, and currently work a desk job (9-6) in the pharmaceutical industry. My heart is not in this. I don't foresee myself sitting behind a computer for 45 hours a week, for the rest of my working life. It's draining, with zero validation. I'm helping no one. Finding a job in the field of nutrition has proved exhausting and defeating. So, I'm heavily considering moving over to the nursing field. And I am struggling with the best path to get my rn. Do I do an accelerated program? Do I do an associates program? Do I do LPN and work making a decent hourly wage/flex sched while I bridge to rn? The price tags on the accelerated programs make me weary. I will obviously have to quit my full time job for both, as it is not flexible, AT ALL. Both the lpn program and the accelerated program are full time / days. So it would be impossible. I guess I'm just reaching out to get different people insights. I realize I'm not OLD. But 27 sounds scary to me! Thanks for any and all advice!

[Oldmahubbard]

3 minutes ago, Robin Verde said:

Not sure if this is helpful but, I had 2 degrees in non-nursing fields. When I decided to go into nursing, I had to take all of my nursing related pre-reqs (biology, etc). I thought that if I got my ADN at a CC and then passed the NCLEX I could get a nursing job. Unfortunately, in my area (Philadelphia metro area) it's pretty saturated and there is no shortage. So when I went to a job fair, NOT ONE, employer would take my resume because I didn't have a BSN. After 6 months I enrolled in an online RN to BSN program (the cheapest I could find at the time - UTA). Once I got my degree, I was still having an issue. Due to aforementioned saturation, I was still not able to find a job because most of the jobs wanted 1+ years of experience. I tried to get into nursing residency programs but I was competing with college students that did their clinicals at the places offering the residency programs. It took a while but I finally found something.

So to make a long story even longer, those that I graduated CC with found immediate success by being CNAs in hospitals and then getting hired as nurses at those hospitals right after they passed the NCLEX. I don't suggest you skip the BSN. Not one employer cared that I had BS degrees, they weren't BSs in Nursing and therefore I was passed over. Additionally, in nursing school one of my professors told us about a nurse that had a BS in another field, switched to nursing, got an MSN and a PhD. Her facility then told her that she had to go back to school and get her BSN. It didn't matter that she was a DOCTOR IN NURSING, BSN is the keyword at the moment.

I hope that helped a little.

Death knell for nursing. Like teaching where there are 100+ applicants for every job.

[e_monpepper]

On 9/21/2019 at 5:06 PM, Robin Verde said:

Not sure if this is helpful but, I had 2 degrees in non-nursing fields. When I decided to go into nursing, I had to take all of my nursing related pre-reqs (biology, etc). I thought that if I got my ADN at a CC and then passed the NCLEX I could get a nursing job. Unfortunately, in my area (Philadelphia metro area) it's pretty saturated and there is no shortage. So when I went to a job fair, NOT ONE, employer would take my resume because I didn't have a BSN. After 6 months I enrolled in an online RN to BSN program (the cheapest I could find at the time - UTA). Once I got my degree, I was still having an issue. Due to aforementioned saturation, I was still not able to find a job because most of the jobs wanted 1+ years of experience. I tried to get into nursing residency programs but I was competing with college students that did their clinicals at the places offering the residency programs. It took a while but I finally found something.

So to make a long story even longer, those that I graduated CC with found immediate success by being CNAs in hospitals and then getting hired as nurses at those hospitals right after they passed the NCLEX. I don't suggest you skip the BSN. Not one employer cared that I had BS degrees, they weren't BSs in Nursing and therefore I was passed over. Additionally, in nursing school one of my professors told us about a nurse that had a BS in another field, switched to nursing, got an MSN and a PhD. Her facility then told her that she had to go back to school and get her BSN. It didn't matter that she was a DOCTOR IN NURSING, BSN is the keyword at the moment.

I hope that helped a little.

Thank you for the advice. This is helpful as I'm trying to find my best pathway in CA. This is exactly what has been worrying me and that's why I'm unsure about getting my RN through an MSN program and most nurses have been supportive, but I feel like you actually gave me a much needed wake up call. Do you know why employers prefer the BSN over an MSN, like I can think of experience as a key factor as you mentioned.

[Oldmahubbard]

I think an MSN without any experience doesn't mean much.

[Robin Verde, ADN, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, Oldmahubbard said:

I think an MSN without any experience doesn't mean much.

I have to agree. I want to say that a BSN is important because for any hospital that wants magnet status they need a certain amount of nurses that are BSN educated. They don't want to hire non-BSNs because then the nurse is forced to pay for it on their own and the company doesn't have to shell out the money. Just a personal feeling, nothing based on reality.

[e_monpepper]

16 hours ago, Robin Verde said:

They don't want to hire non-BSNs because then the nurse is forced to pay for it on their own and the company doesn't have to shell out the money. Just a personal feeling, nothing based on reality.

Hi, do you mind expanding on this more?

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I would not do the LPN route. I had a BS Biology and did the ADN program instead of a ABSN program. Glad I did. Got lots of clinical time and had no problem finding a job. My organization gave tuition reimbursement, $10K for my ADN (2 year commitment) and then after 3 years, there was tuition help to get my BSN $5K per calendar year, (ended up costing me very little).

I did local comm college and state university program (one that had brick and mortar programs as well as online). It was a great experience. Working 3-12s gave me plenty of time to do my schoolwork

[callinshotz, LVN, RN]

What is your end goal? For me, I want to be an NP. So I am doing a post bacc RN-MSN program through Texas Women’s University. I already have a premed degree and don’t want another bachelors when I don’t plan on being a floor nurse for very long. I would not do that program if you don’t have a degree or all the requirements because it can be cheaper to go the rn to bsn route first. If you do want to end at floor nursing then just do the adn which is 2 years and rn-bsn program which is about 2-3 semesters and then be done. Don’t screw around with Mepns. At least I wouldn’t. It’s expensive and for what. The equivalent of an ADN from what I’ve been told on here. You can get that for $1500 a semester and a cc with books!! Be smart about it and know that it will take some time.

TIP*** some cc nursing school have a concurrent agreement which allows you to automatically be accepted into an rn to bsn program so you can start your courses after graduation and do not have to wait until after you pass boards. In Texas, TWU has a concurrent agreement with a lot of schools which also includes their rn to msn program. So you will automatically be accepted and can start courses after graduation. Make sure you look into that.

[Golden_RN, MSN]

I'm curious as to why you don't become a registered dietician? You could be working 1:1 as part of a health care team, work in hospital/health care environment and work directly with clients. It seems like the logical next step, rather than starting from scratch on a nursing degree.