Thinking of Nursing School

[funky917]

I graduate with a BS in Sociology a year and half a go and still have yet to find a job I can even support myself. I'm currently working with a non-profit human support agency working with mentally ill and developmentally disabled people. I love my job, but it just doesn't pay enough. I want to take it to a new level and I figured nursing would be that medium. I'm very hesitant to make the jump though.

I plan on going to Southwestern Illinois College to get my prereqs and raise my GPA (which isn't all that great to begin with). But the problem I have with dropped everything is that I would lose my health insurace through my company and right now have no real options to replace it. And another thing, I would hate to quit my job just to be rejected from nursing school.

I have an RN friend who pretty much ripped me by warning me how difficult and stressful nursing school can be, and I'm fully ready to make the commitment to better my life and career. I just hope I don't risk it all for nothing.

Any advice would be fantastic!

[thenameismac]

When you are going for something you want really bad then you have to be willing to sacrifice things like health insurance. You shouldn't drop everything just yet though. Take it slow. You may decide that after taking Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology that maybe nursing just isn't for you. And because you can take those in the evenings or weekends when you don't have to work you won't have to sacrifice anything. What does nursing really mean to you? When the reading gets to be a bit much, when the clinicals become a bit stressful, when instructors are just unreasonable and/or when your classmates are seemingly against you, you need that determination to keep you going. Just something to think about.

[funky917]

The idea of going into nursing had always been in the back of my mind since I was a junior in highschool trying to figure out my life. It wasn't until about 7 months ago that I really starting thinking about it again. 7 months ago my mom died of lung cancer and I spent the majority of my time helping my mother (taking her to chemo, etc.) and even the past couple weeks we spent in the hospital I felt this comfort that everyone that worked with my mother was doing everything they could to help. Even when we got word that she had a few days left, everyone still took great care of her. I was incredibly thankful for the nurses who helped her. Regardless of how difficult a time it was, I just knew I felt a draw to the profession as a whole. I knew this is something I wanted to do someday.

[thenameismac]

That's how a lot of people realize they want to be a nurse. I say go for it. Reach for the moon. The sky is the limit. If this is what you really want to do then don't let anyone tell you any different.