OOOOk. So I've been "browsing" through this site for quite a bit now and it's starting to annoy me that one day I'm dead serious about studying to become a nurse and another day I start doubting my choice. My class registration date is tomorrow and I'm planning on taking pre-req classes for the nursing program at my community college. I think I'm dreading the nursing school more than the career itself because I can see myself as a nurse even after doing numerous researches on nursing and knowing what it takes to work as a nurse. I know it's not a pretty job, but I still can see myself as a nurse. The problem is, I do not want to go through nursing school. UHHHHGGGG!!!!! :rotfl: It's not because it's nursing, but it's because it's SCHOOL! Writing papers and doing research projects! I don't mind reading and taking tests though. I would love to learn about the human body, diseases, etc and take notes and study them, but I hate writing with a passion. Now don't tell me "Well, other career is no different, you still have to study your butt of" because NO it will not be the same as nursing school. Nothing is LIKE nursing school and I do know that other careers need dedication and hard work in school. Also, nursing school will take so much of my time, sitting through lectures and doing labs and clinicals. I also need to work while going to school and it's tiring me out already just typing about it. Ok, I'm starting to worry as I'm making this thread. Will I like dealing with sick people all the time and sticking needles into them and seeing blood? But I would love to assess people and give them what they need. Uhhg. I've thought about other careers, but nothing beats the nursing salary and job security. I'm sorry, but I have to think about these things too. I need money to live, sadly. I am a compasionate person who cries when I see a person in horrible condition, but will this help me get through nursing school? I'm not going into nursing to make it my lasting career. I'm going in just for a couple of years and then I'm going to start looking into starting a business. I don't know. I don't know if I will even enjoy nursing. Maybe if I was going into a different career I won't consider dropping out of it in a couple of years to start something else. See what I do? How I go from nursing to something else? Well, my ultimate goal is to start a business I want to be my own boss. If I was your family member and just told you all this, what would you say to me? I've actually asked my parents to suggest a different career for me, but that did not work out. Do you guys have any suggestions for me? Seriously, if there was something else that pays as much as nursing right after school, I would go into it. If I like the career. Just throw out a couple of other careers and if I don't find them appealing, I'm going into nursing! :balloons:
I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that I will like nurisng school and both of the schools which I'm planning on applying to in a year after my pre-reqs don't look at the GPA. One's lottery and the other one is by point systerm which I'm sure I will score high on. I do have a high GPA and I'm going to keep it that way.
Apply for a job working in a hospital as a CNA or unit secretary and take the time to make sure this is what you want. This is what I did. I took a job as a unit secretary and it helped me so much. Although I love the nursing field, I realized that I don't want to do nursing at this time in my life. I've spent the last few years pondering it and applying to school, getting in and giving up my spots. I also took all the pre-requisites but those classes are still useful for obtaining my bachelor's degree. Nursing is a good field if you can handle it, but by the sounds of it, you do not really want to do it. I remember the day I came it and the smell was horrible from a patient that had C-diff I believe. That pretty much opened my eyes that I don't really want to deal with that stuff. What I also realized is I don't want to work holidays and weekends now. So I have since quit my job and am moving on. Some days I feel like I regret it, but deep in my heart I know this isn't for me.
Working at the hospital helped to realize that I do want to work with people so I am going to pursue Social Work. The pay isn't as good in most places but that's ok for me. I just accepted a position with the federal government and after school can try to obtain a social work position with an agency and stay with the government where the pay is pretty decent.
There are so many areas you could go into within the medical field. Instead of saying what your parents want you to do, you need to figure out what it really is YOU want to do and make a decision based on that. There are many things you could go to school for that would help you down the line of owning your own business.
Please do no take a nursing spot from someone who truly wants to be a nurse. The spots are too hard to come by these days.
Oh, and I also envy the fact that my friends (except those who are studying to become doctors) won't have to deal with bodily fluids, smells, etc and not work around ill patients. That's not very pretty :uhoh21: Nursing will allow me to make over 50k a year right out of school where I live so I'm grabbing onto that and heading in to nursing. Hopefully I won't give up while in school and hopefully I will really really like nursing afterall. I don't hate nursing completely right now so I guess that is a plus. I love the medical side of things, but again nursing is not a pretty career and I'm sure you guys would agree with me on this one.
You obviously are still very immature. I see that you are 19 and obviously still have a lot of growing up to do. In my opinion, I think you should take 6 months to a year off from school and think about what you REALLY want to do.
I have been thinking about doing social work since yesterday and thought how nice it would be to work with children and help them have a role model :chuckle I've loved working with children and have lots of experience with it. I also would love to make the elderly feel loved. Taking care of people without the medical side of it sounds good to me. I don't think my mom would like this idea though. Even though she denies it, I know that she is looking forward to me making the bucks Makes me fraustrated.
I have another question. Would I be able to work as a social worker with a nursing degree ADN? Is there a way to combine both areas? Also, if I do become a nurse, where can I work besides the hospital? I know I can work in clinics and homes, but where else? And what kind of nursing specialties are out there except the ones that are in hospitals (med/surg, l&d, etc)? I've heard that there are nurses just for drawing out blood from donors and working in the skin care industry as laser and skin peel performers. Thanks.
I have been thinking about doing social work since yesterday and thought how nice it would be to work with children and help them have a role model :chuckle I've loved working with children and have lots of experience with it. I also would love to make the elderly feel loved. Taking care of people without the medical side of it sounds good to me. I don't think my mom would like this idea though. Even though she denies it, I know that she is looking forward to me making the bucks Makes me fraustrated.
I guess I don't understand. Are you going to school and going to make money for your mother? I know you are young, but it is YOUR life and you have to live it. No amount of money will make you happy if you do something for someone else. You act as if nursing pays alot of money, I mean it pays pretty decent, but you do have to work full-time and gain experience to get more. There are many other fields you could earn alot of money in.
I know Social Work doesn't pay as well, but it doesn't pay that bad either. You're idea of possibly doing both would be good to gain both experience but you're talking alot of school also.
you sound like nursing isn't what you really want and if that's the case, how do you think you can make it through a tough program and then graduate and be a good nurse if it's not in your heart?
Please do some research and see if you can find something else that you would really enjoy doing. You can make good money in other fields also such as the legal field. Trust me or you will be like me, a much older person still trying to find "what I want to be when I grow up".
For goodness sake. Why don't you drop the classes that you have enrolled in and sign up for business classes. You want your own business after all.
You have to decide what YOU want to do for the rest of your life. Not what your parents or anyone else thinks that you should do.
How are you going to decide what measures to take when a person is sick, you can't even make a solid decision for your own life. As far as the lottery system goes it could take years to get in. And the point system, most go by the grades you get in Sciences, English and Math. 4 points = A, 3 points = B etc.... You have to have a certain number of points to even be considered in the nursing program. Which again means you need some darn good grades. In most programs if you make anything below an 80 your out. Not all, but most.
I don't know what it is that you should choose for your career and neither do you. Go to college and talk to an advisor, take a test to find out what careers would be good for you. Then decide what it is that you really want to do. Don't just make some fly by night decision(thats what you have been doing, one day its business, next its nursing, then social work). You have no idea what you want and until you do maybe you should just get a job and work. Don't take classes and start out in some career that you are not going to like and then be miserable, just to have to go back to college again when your 30 or 40 because you didn't make an informed decision at 19 or 20.
If later once you get your head straight you decide that nursing is TRUELY what you want to do then I'll be the first one to help you out in any way that I can. Just please don't go into it for the wrong reasons. There are already enough bad, bitter nurses out there.
Listen up... I can understand where you're coming from, w/ the whole I don't know what I want to do..etc. etc!!! All I can tell you is that I began as an accounting major b/c all my siblings did accounting at cc, then off to temple university for accounting or actuarial science (numbers & probabilities/statistics for insurance companies). Loved actg in hs, 1st college actg class, hated professor turned me off to accounting. looked at other majors & decided, hey, I love ER (the show) & I think I'd enjoy it! Did the pre-req thing, 1st semster nursing clinicals...okay. moved out of state, new school sucks! nursing instructors out to get you...hated clinicals but was determined to basically say f-you to instructors & succeed to proved to them I could do it. Finished AAS program, passed boards & working... don't enjoy nursing... on several occasions ready to quit & walk out w/o other prospects. now 1.5 years later, still doing tele nursing don't really enjoy, just a paying job. ok pay, but seriously, for the work you do, not enough most days! You bust your ass & wait on some pt's that think they're at the Hilton. I'm looking to get into OR or maternity, b/c I'm not happy. I'm a few years older than you (I think), buying a house, & husband finishing school. So, I'm staying here, but I'm trying to find my niche before leaving nursing to further my AAs in animal management. There are so many avenues in nursing, I must be able to find my niche???
sounds like nursing is not what you want to do, all I can suggest is to go for something you REALLY want to do! Talk to you parents (most times they really do give good advice -I'm 24 & I'm always bouncing ideas off my parents, siblings, & husband). Honestly, if it's $$ you want, don't go for nursing... business & marketing is for you...go for it. some schools even have bachelor programs in business entreprenuership (i've checked). More important is to find out what you want to do... you need a product or service to have your own business (as another as previously posted). The only way to get either is to gain experience in that field. Don't waste you time, $$, & lots of energy & frustration on a career your not into. That's what I did, & it's not my career, it's my job (for the time being). I hope to find my niche, but I may return to school w/ my 138credits & get a BS in another major. 2 associates don't make a BS degree. more $$ could be made in pharm sales w/ a BS in marketing, sales, bio...much more $$ than nursing.
Ever consider picking up the career guides at borders or barnes & noble...they give lots of tests & asks lots of ?'s that make you further consider what you may want to pursue..based on you natural abilities & skills & your personal interests. Good luck:confused:
Listen up... I can understand where you're coming from, w/ the whole I don't know what I want to do..etc. etc!!! All I can tell you is that I began as an accounting major b/c all my siblings did accounting at cc, then off to temple university for accounting or actuarial science (numbers & probabilities/statistics for insurance companies). Loved actg in hs, 1st college actg class, hated professor turned me off to accounting. looked at other majors & decided, hey, I love ER (the show) & I think I'd enjoy it! Did the pre-req thing, 1st semster nursing clinicals...okay. moved out of state, new school sucks! nursing instructors out to get you...hated clinicals but was determined to basically say f-you to instructors & succeed to proved to them I could do it. Finished AAS program, passed boards & working... don't enjoy nursing... on several occasions ready to quit & walk out w/o other prospects. now 1.5 years later, still doing tele nursing don't really enjoy, just a paying job. ok pay, but seriously, for the work you do, not enough most days! You bust your ass & wait on some pt's that think they're at the Hilton. I'm looking to get into OR or maternity, b/c I'm not happy. I'm a few years older than you (I think), buying a house, & husband finishing school. So, I'm staying here, but I'm trying to find my niche before leaving nursing to further my AAs in animal management. There are so many avenues in nursing, I must be able to find my niche???
sounds like nursing is not what you want to do, all I can suggest is to go for something you REALLY want to do! Talk to you parents (most times they really do give good advice -I'm 24 & I'm always bouncing ideas off my parents, siblings, & husband). Honestly, if it's $$ you want, don't go for nursing... business & marketing is for you...go for it. some schools even have bachelor programs in business entreprenuership (i've checked). More important is to find out what you want to do... you need a product or service to have your own business (as another as previously posted). The only way to get either is to gain experience in that field. Don't waste you time, $$, & lots of energy & frustration on a career your not into. That's what I did, & it's not my career, it's my job (for the time being). I hope to find my niche, but I may return to school w/ my 138credits & get a BS in another major. 2 associates don't make a BS degree. more $$ could be made in pharm sales w/ a BS in marketing, sales, bio...much more $$ than nursing.
Ever consider picking up the career guides at borders or barnes & noble...they give lots of tests & asks lots of ?'s that make you further consider what you may want to pursue..based on you natural abilities & skills & your personal interests. Good luck:confused:
Thanks that really helped and your post almost made me cry You are older than me by five years but I did feel what you were telling me and I'm glad that I heard it from someone who is pretty close to my age and with nursing and school experience. It's too bad that an instructor turned you off from accounting which you seemd to love and I see that you're trying to find what it is that you like doing too and I hope you find it soon too. Right now even the thought of giving injections is making me sick and I'm thinking about going into culinary and see what doors open up for me from there. Maybe a personal chef for some wealthy family? And then opening my own restaurant? But whatever happens I figured I should do what I want to do with my life. Nursing is still in the back of my mind though. Wayyyy in the back. People who replied to my thread kept telling me to go into business, but just because I want to have my own business does not mean I want to work in the corporate world or as business anything It is true that I need a product to own a business and I'm really thinking hard about everything that everyone posted.
Sounds like it's a no brainer... you enjoy pastry & culinary stuff, so go for that. The school may be lil' pricey, but if you get good, solid training then you'll have a strong foundation when you want to branch off on your own. Have you ever thought about gettting a pt job in a bakery where you could bake & decorate. It may sound gay, but my sister worked in the bakery dept at ACME supermarket, she decorated the cakes. She was really good at it, so she'll always making yummy treats for family get-togethers.
You could start networking now... work pt in bakery, catering business, or at your culinary school. Talk to people in that field, esp if you have any close family friends ro relatives (good place to start). Even during school, try to market yourself & your skills, cater an event for you parents, make desserts for family & frieds, try to sell your desserts at your place of employment (I worked w/ a girl in the xray dept who made delicious home-made cheesecakes & sold then at work for $10 each. Start small & stick w/ it & soon you may have a small business that's too big for a home kitchen. Obviously, it's not that easy, but hope it gives you some idea of some place to begin. best of luck:p
Just my opinion but I think going ahead and taking the pre-reqs now isnt that bad of an idea. Alot of other degrees and such require the same or some of the pre-reqs you would be taking anyway. During that time not only would you be building for whatever degree you decide on in the end but it gives you a bit more time to think over what you really want to do. It is not like you are jumping right into nursing school with no way out, you still have plenty of time to decide. I would suggest shadowing a nurse also, you never know you may just end up liking nursing or even another area in the same field. There are so many options. If not like I mentioned already you should be able to apply your credits earned for your pre-reqs to another area.
Just my opinion but I think going ahead and taking the pre-reqs now isnt that bad of an idea. Alot of other degrees and such require the same or some of the pre-reqs you would be taking anyway. During that time not only would you be building for whatever degree you decide on in the end but it gives you a bit more time to think over what you really want to do. It is not like you are jumping right into nursing school with no way out, you still have plenty of time to decide. I would suggest shadowing a nurse also, you never know you may just end up liking nursing or even another area in the same field. There are so many options. If not like I mentioned already you should be able to apply your credits earned for your pre-reqs to another area.
That's what I ended up doing. I took all the pre-requistes and was for sure I was going to go for nursing, but I am not now and my courses are applying to a Bachelor's in Social Work. My A&P's and Micro classes all count toward the number of sciences I needed and I needed sociology and psych classes anyway. Now granted I could have taken easier science courses but I have always been interested in the workings of the body so I wanted A&P anyway and I think I enjoyed those classes more than I would have just regular Biology courses.
I also shadowed and worked as a unit secretary to help me decide it wasn't to be for me. I love the field of nursing though and someday maybe I might end up going back and trying again, but for now, I know I cannot do it.
You are older than me by five years 
but I did feel what you were telling me and I'm glad that I heard it from someone who is pretty close to my age and with nursing and school experience. It's too bad that an instructor turned you off from accounting which you seemd to love and I see that you're trying to find what it is that you like doing too and I hope you find it soon too. Right now even the thought of giving injections is making me sick and I'm thinking about going into culinary and see what doors open up for me from there. Maybe a personal chef for some wealthy family? And then opening my own restaurant? 
But whatever happens I figured I should do what I want to do with my life. Nursing is still in the back of my mind though. Wayyyy in the back. People who replied to my thread kept telling me to go into business, but just because I want to have my own business does not mean I want to work in the corporate world or as business anything
browsing
83 Posts
I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that I will like nurisng school and both of the schools which I'm planning on applying to in a year after my pre-reqs don't look at the GPA. One's lottery and the other one is by point systerm which I'm sure I will score high on. I do have a high GPA and I'm going to keep it that way.