Thinking about leaving nursing school

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First, I hope I do not offend anyone. I am here to get some insight. I am almost done with my first year in nursing school. Being an RN is a wonderful profession, if you enjoy what you do. I do not want to be a nurse, if I am going to hate my job. I am thinking about changing my major to psychology or sociology. I do not think it is right for me. I left high school unsure, and in college I switched back and forth between pre-nursing and psychology. This happened like 5 or 6 times. I am wondering why I went to nursing school in the first place. I had doubts at the beginning of the semester, but they went away. I appreciate everything I have learned because nursing school taught me to think differently. Now my doubts are back. I have been doing research, and I am still unsure. I know I want to understand people and the motives behind their behavior. I have a 3 month old and a newly wed. My husband supports whatever I decide to do. I would like advice from you all, please. Thank you.

P.s. I have more classes in psychology and sociology than my nursing school requires. I have a 3.3 in my nursing classes, and a 3.5 in my pre-requisites. I am doing good in my clinical. I am mud not interested in nursing school. I feel happy when I leave school and the hospital (like extremely excited)!!!!!!

Specializes in Emergency Department.

I'm of two thoughts on this... one is that since you're about 1/2 way to completion of your RN program and you haven't gone through all the rotations (including psych) I think you'll at least benefit some in completing the program. As others have said, it is sometimes easier to complete a program you're ambivalent about in the beginning than it is to leave and try to return later. You might even have to start over from the beginning if you were to choose that route.

On the other hand, you need to find a job where you wake up every morning thinking "Wow, I get to go to work!" I have been in jobs where that's been how I got up every morning. I've also had jobs where I got up every morning and while I didn't dread going to work, it clearly wasn't my life's passion. I went to work, earned some money and benefits, went home.

I went through nursing school with a very open mind. I didn't make my career choice until very late in the program, after I'd done my rotations and I was cruising toward preceptorship and graduation. While I couldn't see myself being a psych nurse, several of my classmates didn't either and found they really love that work and are now employed in that capacity. In my case, I became an ER nurse. I work a considerable distance from home due to the realities of being a new grad (at the time) so my sleep can be kind of abbreviated on some days, but I still wake up, still a bit tired, still looking forward to going to work. The last time I felt like this was when I was a working paramedic. Sure I was tired at times but I really enjoyed what I did and never got burnt-out. That's because I was having fun while I was at work. When you find your passion, you may be busy (sometimes horrifically so) but you'll never work a day in your life!

Find your passion. It may not be in nursing, or for that matter even in psych/social work. Just look for it, find it, and the rest will come.

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Nursing is not just bedside...in the hospital! While that is the MAJOR focus of nursing school, there are a wide variety of options when becoming a nurse that have nothing to do with Med-surge, ICU, or LnD.

Psychiatric nursing is a fantastic career for those interested in psychology! Case management is great for those interested in sociology! There is a huge demand for psychiatric nurse practitioners and this could be a great end-goal career!

There is also nursing education, which is great for people who are life long learners! Education would be a great field if you enjoy pathophysiology, pharmacology and nursing theory!

Then there is my field nursing research! Yes research, the class everyone hates in undergraduate (BSN) programs! I worked in the ICU, Med-Surge, and PCU, but when I started working in these areas I thought of ways we could implement best practice guidelines! I work with subjects who participate in clinical trials, and drug trials to see if we can improve patient outcomes. I work with inpatient and outpatient subjects! I work with a ton of people in psychometrics, these people have masters in psychology and run data analysis as well as cognitive testing (I work in Neurology).

All this to say! I always like to tell people nursing is a great career, because it opens so many doors to do things you don't traditionally think as nursing! To some administering medications, giving bed-baths, and developing care plans is their passion and it gives their life purpose. For others working with psychiatric patients and leading group therapy sessions is their passion. Still for others reading the latest data points about a new pharmacological drug is their passion!

Nursing looks a lot different from what is taught in school, mainly because there simply isn't enough time!

Hope this helps! Good Luck!

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Nursing school can at times be amazingly difficult and will take the wind out of your (nursing) sail. Regardless of your motivations I'm not putting forth an effort to encourage you to remain in nursing. If its for the money, the money is nice, but that's the wrong reason to attach yourself to a career. Regarding the choices on which you appear to have settled only you know which choice will make you happier.

Still regarding your choices, its very likely that there's no work in the psychology field with a bachelors degree. Look back in your introductory psychology course text; it is pretty clear that employment in the psychology field occurs at the masters level of education. Additionally, there appears to be no shortage of job seekers with psychology and sociology degrees.

Whichever path you choose remember there are always opportunities to make changes in your life. Good luck!

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There's never a good time to do nursing school and there's never a good time to have kids! I can tell you that my sister in law got married just after nursing school and it's like she played a country music record backwards, she was so happy again, just as a person, she got her life back, her dog back, her husband back, and her truck back. (well, her life and husband, but you get the idea). There's an expression, you learn how to be a nurse once you leave nursing school, I'd say finish what you started, quitting will make it tough for you to ever let go of "what if," but once you finish, you'll have many options as another person commented, a nurse with a passion for psych and a background that way is very valuable. It's tough to see past some of the entry level opportunities, bu there are some really cool jobs out there that people with nursing degrees do, but you might not call it a nursing job. You've got a supportive spouse, that's huge.

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Oh for goodness sake. Why continue to invest time, energy & $ into something that you really don't want to do? That's a definition of self-destructive behavior. There are so many other directions in which you can go, including a plethora of other types of health care professions that offer equivalent starting salaries and much better career progression than nursing.

Good luck & best wishes ... whatever you choose to do.

What type of careers do you suggest that have the same starting salaries and career progression? I am a pre nursing student and every day I'm wondering if this will be a mistake. I love learning and I love medicine but I'm more interested in the 'diagnose & treat' part of medicine then the actual caring and helping with activities. The only reasons I want to be a nurse is the variety and I'm very interested in NICU, L&D, or OR. And potentially ER & ICU. I also like that I can do travel nursing or can advance and become a midwife, practitioner, or anesthetist. I'm very lost in my career path and search and have been trying to expose myself to other options.

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Do not quit nursing school! Do not listen to anyone on here who tells you to. Trust me, i work with a nurse who became a np and now just received her marriage and family therapist license. She works here at a cancer center where she deals with the many issues of our patients. You have so much more to gain by finishing what you started. You already put in the many years of pre-reqs and 1 year of nursing school. You will regret it if you drop out!!!

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What type of careers do you suggest that have the same starting salaries and career progression? I am a pre nursing student and every day I'm wondering if this will be a mistake. I love learning and I love medicine but I'm more interested in the 'diagnose & treat' part of medicine then the actual caring and helping with activities. The only reasons I want to be a nurse is the variety and I'm very interested in NICU, L&D, or OR. And potentially ER & ICU. I also like that I can do travel nursing or can advance and become a midwife, practitioner, or anesthetist. I'm very lost in my career path and search and have been trying to expose myself to other options.

Nurses do not diagnose. That is one thing that was drilled into us in school. You document and report your assessment. If you want to diagnose, you'd have to go farther than a bachelor's. Or go into medicine rather than nursing. Maybe find work in a lab setting if you're not interested in actual patient care.

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

If this means anything to you, I went back to get my BSN in nursing because I couldn't bear the thought of having to get my MSN or PhD in psychology. There's a lot more than just finishing your undergrad for psych. You really have to carve out a serious path for yourself that is going to require a lot more school than you'll want to even deal with.

What is it that you don't like about nursing so far? It's just your first year so I doubt you've started your specialty topics yet. Like a PP said you might enjoy psychiatric nursing (or even forensic nursing!). It's a great path for people who dislike the acute care hustle. :) Good luck! Just realize that you are part of a distinct group of people that made it into nursing -- I wouldn't want to quit so fast if I were you, either.

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You are one year down. I would just tough it out and finish. A degree in psych and sociology will

lead you nowhere. You could always go back to school for something else once you are done. The good thing about nursing is that you do have options. And I would agree look into maybe psych nurse. You could always go back to school for psych NP which is in high demand!

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Nursing is not for everyone and if you hate it as a student you are probably going to be a crappy nurse. It's very simple: do what makes you happy, and nursing is obviously not it. You have made it clear you have not been committed to the idea and all you're doing is prolonging your time in school and wasting time and money. It certainly isn't going to get easier and if it doesn't move you, DON'T DO IT. No matter how great someone else twlls you nursing is for THEM, that won't make it so for you. Don't let other people convince you to stay in it-IT'S NOT FOR EVERYONE-and there's nothing worse than a nurse whose heart isn't in it.

There are plenty of jobs available for psych/sociology degrees-again don't let other people decide for you. Research things you enjoy and how to get jobs in that field, take a semester off and figure out what you want to do; time is the only thing you can't get back so don't waste it doing something you aren't passionate about!

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Specializes in General.

Leave nursing if that makes you happy. Focus your energy on what that you have more passion in it. Don't look back. And, never regret.

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Specializes in Critical care, Trauma.
I am not looking at the money because that will come. I am looking at the satisfaction I will get from doing what I am interested in. I would start off as a social worker, and go to grad school for with psychology or social work. I will decide as I go.

Its obviously your decision to make, but I would REALLY recommend that you have a firm plan in place before you make any changes in your school situation. And by that I mean know what schools you want to apply to, what their requirements are, what your whole timeline would potentially look like and what kind of GPA and experience is required. When I went to college right after high school I wanted to get a PhD in clinical psych it I had NO idea what that really meant. Did you know that PHD programs in clinical psych are harder to get into than medical school? Because they get hundreds of applicants for 7-10 spots, depending upon how many faculty are taking on a new grad student. My husband has two undergrads (first one in math, then later went back for psych) with 4.0 in both, excellent GRE scores and even a little research experience and was still denied from the 9 different PHD programs he applied to last year. The requirements are unreal. I never looked into that stuff the first time I went to school and had no idea how difficult it really is. Luckily I changed my mind about my plans before I faced down some major rejection because my GPA was crappy at that point in my life.

i went to nursing school specifically because I wanted to be a psychiatric nurse. I don't work in psych currently but I am able to provide care in my role on a post-surgical/oncology floor that usually has a lot off features of psychiatric care. I plan to eventually go on to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I had the amazing opportunity to shadow a couple psychiatrists (in psych, there is not much difference in scope of practice between the NP and the MD) a few years ago and it showed me that was exactly where I wanted to be.

I guess my other question would be, what interested you about nursing and what has turned you off in school? School and real world are very different. Have you done any shadowing? Any friends or family members in the field?

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