What made you decide to be a nurse?

Welcome!! I love being on Allnurses. There are a lot of seasoned nurses who love to teach and be helpful! Your story about why you want to go into nursing is very heartwarming. We need more compassionate nurses. I went into nursing because my father died of pancreatic cancer. He was a very young man when he passed. This might sound corny, but I went into nursing because I want to dedicate my life to fighting cancer. I want to help oncology patients in their struggle with cancer and provide holistic care.

Hey and welcome! My reasons for wanting to enter the field are very similar to yours. I have grown up with a lot of family members who relied on home health due to strokes. My father had cancer in his prostate (removed), liver, and kidneys (reduced by 65% thus far due to therapy) and really wished I had been able to do more to help him when he was in the hospital. I also like the patient education part of being a nurse. I have noticed that there is so much ignorance in my community surrounding things like stroke, heart disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and even STDs. I would really love to help educate people and just help them when they are at their worst. I am trying to keep an open mind as far as specialty. I don't have any nursing horror stories per se'. I have never met a mean nurse but I have met a few ineffective ones if that makes any sense. I just got accepted into an LPN program today. My nursing journey has begun! You really sound like you would make a great nurse. I look forward to interacting with you more here! Good luck with getting into school as well! :)

I knew that I wanted to be a nurse every since I was in middle school and Psychology as my minor. I've always been fascinated with the human body, science, the health field, I used to watch the surgery shows, ER, Dr. G Medical Examiner, Health Discovery channel, etc. When I was in hs, I had an option to choose with earth science or human anatomy for my science elective and I chose HA. I also did the Medical Careers program in Votech in HS, did a CNA program after graduating hs, went to community for 2 1/2 years and did all of my prerequisites, and now I am currently in nursing school and I graduate next September :). Nursing also have many opportunities, I could be a traveling nurse in the states or other countries, work with children, geriatrics, adults, etc, work in a prison, nursing home, hospital, agency, etc. I can also make a decent living as well as work day, middle, or night shift, 3 12 hour shifts, just weekends, prn, etc.

I'm going to sound like the bad little hopeful that I am. My goal in going to nursing school is simple: get a job where I can afford to work part time while I go to school for something else.

Now I actually feel like I should explain myself behind that. I will be attending PN school (hopefully) starting in June. I am currently a CNA and actually like working in a nursing home. However, nursing is not the glorified job I thought it was going to be. I had plans on going straight from CNA to RN/BSN, but changed my mind when I actually got to college. I have kicked around a few other ideas, from being an agri teacher to being a psych LPN. I started seeing a counselor about a month ago and she has really taken a shine to me. We were talking about career options one day and she mentioned that she thinks I would make an excellent counselor. I looked into it and what all I would have to do to become an LPC. I talked it over with her at our next session and have since decided that this is what I am going to do. However, she pointed something out to me that I did not know. Around here, an LPC makes ~$40k/yr. That is what she would be able to offer me to work for her as soon as I get my license. However, if I were to have an RN license to go along with that, the offering is closer to $115k/yr. So, I figured a year in PN school, 6 years to get my LPC (I only have two years left for a BS in Psychology, 4 years in Graduate school), and another year to fast track my RN (I can take the pre-reqs I lack for RN school as electives during my studies for my BS), and I'll be making OMG money. So there's my reasoning.

Wow, I am glad to be talking with like-minded people online! Thank you all for your compliments too! You all sound very understanding, and I also wish you the best of luck!

I chose an LPN program that is 10 months long. My husband is in the military and it's tough trying to plan around moving and deployments all the time. So many unexpected things have happened to us in the past 10 years. I worked in banking/finance before we got married, and have been a SAHM ever since. I am glad I had the opportunity to stay at home with my kids, but they are 9 and 12 now. This program is what's best for me now, and I'm not going to let anything stop me from getting in. :)

Hello and welcome! I decided to go into nursing for similar reasons. I watched a few family members die and watched others struggle through illness and I just want to be able to help. I also like the teaching aspect as well as I'm really into science. I just want to make a difference even in one person's life! I have been in nursing school for 3 months nearly and start clinicals in January. Good luck to all