To school or not to school that is the question

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Hi All:

Just wanted to get some other peoples opinions on this one.

So, I am thinking about applying for the nursing program here at one of my local cc for the fall of 2010. Here is what I have been thinking about. I have zero experience in the healthcare industry and I know how tough the job market is out there right now. I am not concerned about selling myself as I have always been rather good at that. However, here is what I have been going back and forth with in my head. Do I go to school starting this fall or do I take a year off and get some job exp. I have been thinking about getting my emt cet and doing some emt work or ER tech.

My wife and I talked about it and we were going with if I got a good score on the hesi that I would just apply to school. Well, I have a 4.0 gpa and I scored a 95% overall on the hesi. I have a lot of family and friends that are nurses and they all say school is the choice. Seems that I am the only one that is torn between which direction to go.

Thanks for your opinions on this. : )

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Specializes in Peds OR as RN, Peds ENT as NP.

Go for it! If you are really worried about the healthcare experience (as I was) get a CNA license. Did you know you can challenge the board (at least in FL you can) and get your license without taking a class? I say if you apply and don't get in do the EMT thing and try again next year.

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Thanks CNA Sam. That is what my wife was saying too. I was thinking that it would be easier if I took the extra year and finished all the other classes. Our school doesn't make you take all the other classes as prereqs. However, I would imagine that if I got them out of the way so that I could just focus on the nursing courses that it would much easier. However, on the other hand it would take an additional year to finish. decisions, decisions... : )

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Specializes in Peds OR as RN, Peds ENT as NP.

Yes, it would be easier to get your prereqs done so you can apply to multiple schools. That extra year might be good then....

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Definetely get all the classes done ahead of time. No one wants to worry about an english class while taking Pharmacology, Patho, Research ect.

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By the time the program would begin the only classes that I would have left would be: microbiology, sociology, and a psych class. Everything else would be done. However, I still kind of agree with what you guys are saying. It would just be one less conern and worry on the mind. Everyone keeps telling me just how tough the nursnig classes are.

Thanks for your thoughts. : )

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Specializes in Home Care.

Get all the pre-reqs done before starting the nursing classes. You're going to have lots of homework with nursing classes and little time to work on the pre-reqs you've not completed.

I could have started the RN classes this semester but chose to wait until May to start so that I could complete my last pre-req...statistics.

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I'm agreeing with everyone else on this one. Definitely apply to the school. For the most part everyone is having a tough even getting accepted to a school and if you did well on the exam then go for it. I know that at the schools in my area you have to complete the same amount of pre-reqs whether for CNA or RN but the actual program are of course different. I say go for the RN.

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