Should I quit nursing school?

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This is a long story, but I'll try to condense it as much as possible.

I'm a nineteen year old female, currently in my third semester of a four semester program. I'm supposed to graduate in December.

Psychology has always been my passion, but I was discouraged from pursuing it by those saying it's hard to get a job in and you have to have so much education for it and yadda yadda, so I strayed away.

Now, I can't really tell you what brought me to my decision to start nursing school to begin with. I'd had a slight interest in the medical field for most of my life, but nursing didn't come to mind until about a year before I started the program. My cousin was doing it and I knew it only took two years and I'd be making good money, plus I liked helping people. So I started busting my behind to get the grades, got my prerequisites out of the way and came out with 92 admission points. The semester I was accepted into let everyone with 76+ in.

When I got my acceptance letter, I found I wasn't as excited as I felt like I should've been. It was just kind of like "awesome, I got accepted", but whatever. I went to the orientation, got everything set up and was ready.

The semester before the program, I was sitting in my nurse assistant class, texting my cousin "I don't think this is what I want." She said I could still drop out of the program, but I was like "I've worked so hard to get in and maybe it won't be as bad once I start".

First semester: wasn't too bad. I failed two of five tests, stressed myself out hardcore, had a mental breakdown doing paperwork the night before my first clinical, but I pushed on.

Second semester: even better, failed nothing, did good in clinical, but began really feeling miserable. I was always finding myself feeling really regretful that I didn't pursue my passion for psychology, but continued to convince myself it wouldn't be worth it. So again I kept pushing on.

Two weeks before third semester starts, I see a girl posting on Facebook about how happy she is to be working towards a career in something she really wanted and I just lost it. I had a full on mental breakdown because I truly realized that this is not what I want to do with the rest of my life. It's not that I'm grossed out by it: I can do aide work and clean up feces, urine, vomit no problem. I'm just truly not interested anymore. My heart is not in this.

There are tons of reasons I can tell you why I don't want to do this, but I won't bore you. But I've become increasingly anxious and depressed over the past year in this program and finally had to start on Zoloft because I feel like I can't function anymore. The only real reason I don't want to drop is because I am so far and it'll give me something to fall back on if I do get the degree.

But right now, I'm failing both nursing classes with a 64 and a 76 where a 77 is a passing grade. I don't want to stick it out, fail, and have it affect my GPA but I don't want to feel like a failure or disappointment to my family.

And as I typed this out, I realize my mind is already made up. I want to withdraw with a W grade, transfer and begin on my psychology degree. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice for me? Sorry for the incredibly long post, I'm just at my wits end and I'm miserable. We've been out for the past week due to snow and I'm DREADING going back and having to go to clinical. Thinking about it just makes me depressed...

I've set up an appointment with my advisor, the dean of the program. I guess we'll see how it goes. Thanks everyone.

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Specializes in NICU.

Not to try to discourage you, but nurses work in mental health. Psychology has a wide range of areas to work in. What area of psychology would you want to work in? Getting your nursing degree will allow you to get experience in the mental health sector and give you an idea if it is truly your passion, if it is not then at least you have your nursing degree to pursue another area of nursing that you are passionate about.

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We had a guy in my nursing program with a very similar story, he ended up taking a LOA for this semester and he's been much happier.

Maybe you could try that while thinking it over if you want to continue or not?

If you do, maybe go into psych nursing since you like psychology so much.

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Only you know what you really want to do and whether you can get a job with only a degree in psychology. If it were me, I would stick with the nursing, get a nursing license, then pursue psychology as an avocation. You might truly enjoy being a psych nurse but you wont' know if you don't give it a try.

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Not to try to discourage you, but nurses work in mental health. Psychology has a wide range of areas to work in. What area of psychology would you want to work in? Getting your nursing degree will allow you to get experience in the mental health sector and give you an idea if it is truly your passion, if it is not then at least you have your nursing degree to pursue another area of nursing that you are passionate about.

This is the wise course of action.

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I had thought about doing psychiatric nursing, but I don't like nursing period. I don't like the thought of simply passing meds and charting all day. I want to get my PhD in psychology and counsel people in a one on one setting and help them through their troubles. I've been through my behavioral health nursing class and did my rotations and didn't like it.

Plus, nursing school is making me so incredibly miserable that it's affecting my life. I'm ten times more anxious, panicky, and depressed than I ever was before I started. Plus, I've discovered that I have a ridiculous fear of giving shots, starting IVs, catheters - ALL the skills a nurse is supposed to perform. I know how ridiculous that sounds, like why didn't I think about that beforehand? I did, but I didn't think it would bother me like it does. And even if I found a nursing job where all of that isn't necessary, I do have to do it in clinical and I'm just not comfortable with it at all.

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I don't think we have the LOA option. ): I've never heard of it. And even still, I've thought about whether I want to continue since I started and I really don't.

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Omg this breaks my heart it really does. Is there something in nursing school that is dwindling your confidence ? Making you second guess yourself perhaps? If not, if I were you I would drop it. No profession is worth your health and sanity. Only you could determine if this is really for you.

I actually have a friend who wants to be a psychologist but also heard of the discouragement too. She is pursuing the occupational therapy field where you work one on one in people's homes. Maybe after talking to your dean you can find if there are other options within the field that you can do with the nursing degree first. But that also means sticking it out for clinical and preceptorship. However, if you really don't like nursing I think it's best you find out other options outside of the field that will truly make you HAPPY. I mean You can stick it out since you are in third semester but that begs the question-is it worth it?

I have met nurses in my clinical tell me to "run away " or express their discern for their job. I suggested a male nurse to do CRNA ..he said "why go deeper into a field I don't like ?" he also expressed how he used to be happier before he entered the profession and now he's all "dark" . He even told me i should close my ears so i wont hear what else he had to say to the other nurse asking "why do you want to do this" and it's sad when people just "stick it out " for the rest of their lives. Only you know the answer to that ...talk to your family ..the Dean and then make your decision from there. Follow your heart don't let people discourage you honey. I hope you find your peace. Good luck.

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No nothing is necessarily dwindling my confidence, I just don't like the field. I like the mental aspect of healthcare more than the physical. I love knowing why people act and think the way that they do and want to be able to counsel them through mental illness. It does make it a lot harder that I'm terrified to do any of the schools. I nearly had a panic attack giving an injection the other day. It just isn't worth it to me. Thank you for your words of encouragement!

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And I've also had nurses tell me to quit. I've heard very few nurses say they actually like their job.

I had one nurse tell me there's too much "bureaucracy" and paperwork and you can't do your job like you should be able to.

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Psychiatric nurse practitioners are in high demand, counsel patients and can write prescriptions. It's an MSN level and you could be doing what you want to do in less time than a PhD in psychology.

Food for thought.

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