What Should My Next Step Be After C.N.A?

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Greeting Allnurses Members!

I am currently a freshman at a state university in California! In my last year of high school, I was in a regional occupation program (R.O.P) to take a class in C.N.A/Home Health Aide. After I passed my Red Cross Exam, I got hired at a skilled nursing center. There, I deal with residents from age 14 - 102 years old with colostomy/catheter bags, GT, tracheotomy and more . I work on-call with part-time hours (16 - 24 hours; 8 hours shift). I enjoy working with my residents and realized I will miss this workplace if I resign, but I don't want to be a C.N.A longterm. After working there for almost 5 months (I got hired in July), I was not sure if I want to continue to pursue a BSN degree. The RN and LVN at my workplace are extremely caring and some are fun to work with (they tease me because I am the youngest worker), but after observing their duties I realized I want to do more (I personally think they have limited scope of practice). There are so many science things to learn out there and I want to learn as much as possible because I find it very interesting. I want to gain as much knowledge and skills as I can so I can apply it to my future clinical career to help people out in a health field! I am constantly changing my mind because I know there are different nurse specialists out there and their wages range from 5-6 figures (although I am not interested in the amount). I am also interested in becoming a physician, family practitioner to be specific or maybe in surgery! I am a type of person that loves to try and learn in different environment because I like to have different varieties and skills in my background. In another word, I am an adventure seeker and love to learn new things in my interested field.

So my question is: Should I continue to be a C.N.A for few more months or use my time wisely and go out to find a different extra curricular activity to do such as pre-med internship? How will it benefits me? There is a pre-med internship program in UC Davis that I have been eyeing on for a month already. But if I don't get accepted, what should I do? Should I start a research or volunteer with children to gain better communication skills with younger generation?

I would love to have different answers from you awesome people :)

P.S. Education is my priority; I try to get straight A's in my classes.

P.S.S Please tell me your sources! (Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Pre-med student, etc)

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