i have been surfing this site for about a month now :typing, which is when i decided to go back to school to pursue an aas degree which would prepare me to take the nclex-rn and become an rn . i am 33 years old, married, and have two beautiful boys 5 and 3. i currently have a good job with a 55k/year salary with great benefits, but i am not happy. there is no challenge and i have basically have gone as far as i can go position and salary wise. my main wish is to have more time with my boys and husband, as well as have a challenging and meaningful job that can make a difference.
here is what i know:
i am a hard worker
i love math and sciences
i am a great test taker and ace basically any test i take
i love a challenge and competition
i am very much a people person and can talk to anyone from toddlers to a 90 year old senior :bowingpur (i love the knowledge and wisdom
here is what i don't know:
i don't know how to deal with death (my mom died of cancer at 33, when i was 12. i am terrified of dying and leaving my family)
can i work full time during the 5 semester course? or would a 20 hr/week job be better?
how hard is the school? will i be completely cut off from my family while in school?
how are the 12 hr shifts? (this is what i want the most 3 days on 4 days off to be with my family)
how long will it take me to get back to the 55k that i am making now?
do you think i could make a good nurse from the little i talked about me?
sorry about the long post, but i do not take any major change lightly and want to do my research before giving up my career.
I was 33 when I changed careers to nursing. I spent 14 years in corporate america, working for a very established telecommunications company, and I, too, had gone as far as I could go. I was also making 55K a year, working 40 hours a week, M-F.
During my time with my previous employer, I took advantage of the great benefits to get my Associates Degree. They paid for it, then I started applying to schools for my BSN. I was accepted, and my company gave me a 6 month non paid educational leave of absence for the first semester of nursing school to see if I "liked" it. I came back after the first semester was over, and worked the summer. Then I was offered a buyout to leave the company, and I jumped on the chance.
I am a single mother of a soon to be 13 year old son, who was 10 at the time I started this journey. I also own a house and two cars, so I had great financial responsibility.
For the next two years, I got through nursing school, passing my tests, doing my clinicals, and maintaining my household with savings from my previous career, along with student loans, grants, and scholarships. I even took a job as a Nurse Intern to have "something to do" during breaks and the summer.
Fastfoward to May of this year. I graduated with my BSN, and had been looking for a RN job since February. The hospital I worked at as an Nurse Intern canceled my position because I was only "prn" and they were not hiring new grads due to preceptor issues. I went on 4 interviews for RN jobs and still didnt have a RN job lined up by the time I graduated.
My savings ran out in mid-May. I "thought" I would have had a RN job lined up by the time I graduated, but due to the ecomony, hospitals are not hiring new grads in abundance like the did last year. Since it cost so much to precept a new grad and the hospitals are cutting costs, they only hired so many from the May graduating class.
Since my savings have run out, I am now 2 months behind on my house payment, where I've never been behind in all 10 years I've own my house. I was one month behind on my car payment, but thanks to friends and family, I was given the money for that car payment. My son's father helped out as much as he could. I have pawned jewelry that is precious to me. My church had to assist me with my utilities to avoid disconnect. My friend loaned me $200 to take the NCLEX. The phone company and my insurance company worked with me and gave me "credits" to keep my services on. I had to go apply for foodstamps and state assistance.
But here's where my story turns around. I had one month straight to focus and study for NCLEX. I walked in there and passed my test with 75 questions in a little less than 2 hours. I am officially a RN! I applied for a position for the ICU at a Level One teaching hospital and I GOT THE JOB! Finally! I go for Occupational Health on July 27, then I start on Aug 3. Glory be to God!
The mortgage company has agreed to work with me. All my creditors are aware of my situation and are currently working with me. This has been a real humbling experience and I think it prepared me well for the patient population I will be working with.
Yes, it was times I cried, through a pity party for myself, was angry, regretted going to nursing school, all that. But nothing compared to the time I found out I passed my boards and I got a job in an ICU with great pay and bennies, I may add.
And yes, I will be going back to that 55K I left originally.
And I couldnt have done it without GOD! Glory goes to Him!
So, I want you to see it from ALL angles. If I can do it, YOU can too!
Be encouraged and be blessed! Good luck on your future nursing journey!
:crying2:Your story literally have me in tears.. I can honestly say that I understand the financial hardship you have experienced. Without Him, you could not have made it, but you did, and you have given me more reason to go for it. I know through Him I can do all things, and you have proven that to be. Congrats on your new career... Please keep me posted... You did it!
:crying2:Your story literally have me in tears.. I can honestly say that I understand the financial hardship you have experienced. Without Him, you could not have made it, but you did, and you have given me more reason to go for it. I know through Him I can do all things, and you have proven that to be. Congrats on your new career... Please keep me posted... You did it!
I just want to be used by God to be a testimony to others who are traveling down the same path as I have. YOU CAN DO IT! Will it be hard? YES! But with the grace of God and your hard work and determination, you can make it. You have to stay up in prayer and understand anything that's worth having is worth fighting for.
I did it in my early 30's and as a single mother. If it wasnt for God, I don't know where I'd be. He is the one that have opened doors for me to even attend nursing school. It was His grace that I passed my tests in nursing school and I passed NCLEX. And I think he "tested" me to keep me humble.
Rainy days don't last long. I'm happy to say I made it through that storm and I can be a testimony for others.
If you don't mind, can you tell me what literature you studied to pass the NCLEX and the HESI A2? I have to take the HESI and pass in order to enroll into the nursing program. Next month I will begin to take my basic and I'm doing those online except the AP classes. It seem like its always some sort of financial hardship that try to keep me from going back to school. I actually started out in the summer of last year and due to finance, I had to wait until the fall of this year, and I'm actually taking away from bills to pay for these classes...
I know in the end I will not have any regrets and I'm ready for all sacrifices to come with this journey. I have prayed and claim to be a nurse. But its just so hard with the economy and being a single parent. But you have inspired me in more ways you will ever ever know. Thanks a bunch for the support. This site has encourage me in more ways than one.
If you don't mind, can you tell me what literature you studied to pass the NCLEX and the HESI A2? I have to take the HESI and pass in order to enroll into the nursing program. Next month I will begin to take my basic and I'm doing those online except the AP classes. It seem like its always some sort of financial hardship that try to keep me from going back to school. I actually started out in the summer of last year and due to finance, I had to wait until the fall of this year, and I'm actually taking away from bills to pay for these classes...
I know in the end I will not have any regrets and I'm ready for all sacrifices to come with this journey. I have prayed and claim to be a nurse. But its just so hard with the economy and being a single parent. But you have inspired me in more ways you will ever ever know. Thanks a bunch for the support. This site has encourage me in more ways than one.
Aww, thanks! I used Kaplan and Saunders extensively to study for NCLEX. I really can't help you on Hesi, because I failed it TWICE! Our school uses Hesi as an exit exam. Although I failed it twice, I studied from Saunders and did improve about 120 points the second time around, but still didnt get the recommended 850.
But I passed NCLEX with 75 questions.
I know there are schalorships out there for nursing students. Also financial aid should be available as well. Yes, the economy sucks right now, but try not to let that get you down. Look at it this way, you'll just have to do this for 2 years and by the time you graduate, the economy will have turned around (hopefully).
Also, apply for foodstamps while you are in school. I didnt have this knowledge while I was in school, and I was shelling out over $200 a month on groceries for me and my son. When I went to apply for them last month, I was shocked at the amount they were willing to give me for just myself. They told me I could have gotten them while I was in school, but I had no idea.
When there is a will, there is a way. Good luck to you!:redbeathe
shoegalRN, RN
1,338 Posts
Here's my story, the good, the bad, and the ugly:
I was 33 when I changed careers to nursing. I spent 14 years in corporate america, working for a very established telecommunications company, and I, too, had gone as far as I could go. I was also making 55K a year, working 40 hours a week, M-F.
During my time with my previous employer, I took advantage of the great benefits to get my Associates Degree. They paid for it, then I started applying to schools for my BSN. I was accepted, and my company gave me a 6 month non paid educational leave of absence for the first semester of nursing school to see if I "liked" it. I came back after the first semester was over, and worked the summer. Then I was offered a buyout to leave the company, and I jumped on the chance.
I am a single mother of a soon to be 13 year old son, who was 10 at the time I started this journey. I also own a house and two cars, so I had great financial responsibility.
For the next two years, I got through nursing school, passing my tests, doing my clinicals, and maintaining my household with savings from my previous career, along with student loans, grants, and scholarships. I even took a job as a Nurse Intern to have "something to do" during breaks and the summer.
Fastfoward to May of this year. I graduated with my BSN, and had been looking for a RN job since February. The hospital I worked at as an Nurse Intern canceled my position because I was only "prn" and they were not hiring new grads due to preceptor issues. I went on 4 interviews for RN jobs and still didnt have a RN job lined up by the time I graduated.
My savings ran out in mid-May. I "thought" I would have had a RN job lined up by the time I graduated, but due to the ecomony, hospitals are not hiring new grads in abundance like the did last year. Since it cost so much to precept a new grad and the hospitals are cutting costs, they only hired so many from the May graduating class.
Since my savings have run out, I am now 2 months behind on my house payment, where I've never been behind in all 10 years I've own my house. I was one month behind on my car payment, but thanks to friends and family, I was given the money for that car payment. My son's father helped out as much as he could. I have pawned jewelry that is precious to me. My church had to assist me with my utilities to avoid disconnect. My friend loaned me $200 to take the NCLEX. The phone company and my insurance company worked with me and gave me "credits" to keep my services on. I had to go apply for foodstamps and state assistance.
But here's where my story turns around. I had one month straight to focus and study for NCLEX. I walked in there and passed my test with 75 questions in a little less than 2 hours. I am officially a RN! I applied for a position for the ICU at a Level One teaching hospital and I GOT THE JOB! Finally! I go for Occupational Health on July 27, then I start on Aug 3. Glory be to God!
The mortgage company has agreed to work with me. All my creditors are aware of my situation and are currently working with me. This has been a real humbling experience and I think it prepared me well for the patient population I will be working with.
Yes, it was times I cried, through a pity party for myself, was angry, regretted going to nursing school, all that. But nothing compared to the time I found out I passed my boards and I got a job in an ICU with great pay and bennies, I may add.
And yes, I will be going back to that 55K I left originally.
And I couldnt have done it without GOD! Glory goes to Him!
So, I want you to see it from ALL angles. If I can do it, YOU can too!
Be encouraged and be blessed! Good luck on your future nursing journey!