To accept or not to accept.. ??

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello all! I am desperately in need of some advice!I am a 21 year old male in Birmingham,Al that got accepted into a ADN program set to start in as little as 2 weeks! May 26 to be exact! Mom wrote a check for the tuition Thursday and everything!! My delimma is eventually I want go either the PA route. I also thought about CRNA. I'm wondering if I am leaning more towards PA would I need to go into my ADN program or do I need to give up my spot if my eventual goal is PA SCHOOL? I have several questions. 1) which career in you all's expert opinion is better? (pay, benefits, personal life/work life ratio) and number 2) which if you had the choice would u do? PA or CRNA? And 3) is it possible to be both a PA and a RN? Can I go through my ADN program and then follow up with my PA degree ?? And in terms of job prospects.. Which is better? Also would just getting my NP be just as good or better than the PA degree? Or vice versa? Help me!

Thanks in advance for your advice!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Geriatrics, LTC.

As far as jobs, PA is probably your best bet, money-wise and numbers wise. The RN program will have many of the courses you will need for PA. You could get your RN and work as a nurse getting experience and making money while you work on your PA. As far as personal life, not sure. It always depends on where you work, if you have to work weekends, is it in an office etc.

How's your $$ situation now? Do you need to start making bucks or can you wait? Going straight for the PA may be best in that case. It's up to you and your individual situation.

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my advice would be to accept the spot in the adn program, finish it successfully, then bridge into a bsn program which usually takes one whole school year. after completing the bsn then you can make the decision of going to pa or crna school which both are advanced level degree's but very different. i personally would choose crna which is much more responsibility, liability, and more competitive to get into than pa school. my advice would be instead of pa stick with nursing whether that means doing nurse practitioner which is in many ways comparable to physician assistant. as far as pay is concerned crna earning potential surpasses all the others. so, at the end of the day the final decision is yours!!!

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Hospice, Mgmt, DON.

Why don't your go ADN then on to NP school...it give you all of the freedom/and the scope of practice of PA and acturally more training and a broader range....along the way, if you need to practice while you are in school, you can as a RN with the 2 year degree...you can do nothing with 2 years into the PA degree...while you are still getting your Masters/ARNP...or Masters/CRNA....

I think it gives you more bang for your buck...

GOOD LUCK

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