What's your long term goal?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I'm just curious what most of you are aiming for. Is it a diploma, associate's, bachelor's, master's, phd? I'm applying to diploma and associate's programs first because I want to be able to work sooner. But I definitely want to pursue a BSN after that, and then hopefully a Master's (I'm thinking Nurse Practitioner.) I know it's so early and I will undoubtedly experience things along the way that will shape me, but that's my plan for now. How about you? Anyone else thinking that far ahead? I even have the schools planned out and everything LOL.

my "life plan" before i started college was that i would get into the college i currently attend as it has a very good nursing program for a state school, then come spring semester of my senior year i would get my mentorship(preceptorship) placement at children’s in boston, and everything would go just like that. well a year until mentorship and we are starting proposals soon. this all got me thinking about my "life plan" and i still have a huge desire to be placed in a pediatric setting but there are limited placements available at the hospital i want to be placed at. so i put down i want to still try for my chance at my first plan but just getting into pediatrics would be awesome as a lot of students want to specialize in that area of nursing for mentorship. oh and on top of mentorship to graduate with a bsn in the spring of 2010.

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I have just recently completed my interview for the nursing program that starts at my school Fall 2009. I hope to get my ADN and graduate after Spring quarter 2011. I want to get a job in our local hospital's ER. After getting some experience, I'd be interested in trying Forensic, Psychiatric, or Hospice Nursing. I may find other areas that I am interested in, depending on what I am exposed to in the ER.

I am already 40 and not really interested in management or the like, so I may stick with my ADN. But who really knows what will happen? I thought that I'd love teaching middle school and do that until retirement, but here I am in an entirely different field! People grow and change and life can throw curve balls...

Best wishes in all your dreams coming true!!:redbeathe

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Specializes in Maternity & Well Baby Nursery.

I graduated from my ADN program May of 2008, passed the NCLEX in June, hired in July and began my RN to BSN program this past January. I hope to have my BSN completed by Jan 2011 and begin my MSN-NP in the fall of 2011. I want to practice in Maternal-child health but the emphasis in women's health.

I was advised to wait until I had a year of nursing under my belt. I wanted to start my BSN fall of 2008, so I compromised. :) I'm glad I did. I didn't realize that I was going to be full time for 14 weeks of orientation. (I'm a maternity nurse/well baby nursery). I needed that time to get oriented not just to my job but a new way of thinking and managing my life.

The advice I would offer is: don't wait too long to get your degrees. I've met many nurses who have shared with me that they said to themselves, "Oh, I've got plenty of time" and then next thing they know is 10 years or so have gone by and they aren't ready to go any further. Another consideration is that some hospitals are going for magnet status which basically means no LPN's are being hired by their facility and they are looking for BSN more than ADN.

My own facility is looking to achieving magnet status at some point in the next few years, when the last of the LPNs have retired and they aren't hiring new ones.

Good luck to all of you on your future ventures!

Cherry

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Specializes in med surg, geriatric, clinical, pool.

Personally I thought I would follow all of those steps too, but things happened and not for my good either. So my advice is not to get so excited because when the wall comes tumbling down so will your desires. You will get kicked in the teeth so many times you will sit and wonder "why me?" Is this why I went into nursing? Just read some of these horror stories on here and soon you will get the picture.

Not trying to rain on your parade, just telling it like it is! I never met so many back stabbing women in my life as when I started the nursing program! And if you think for one minute you are going to change things or make it better, you are dreaming.

You sound very young and like you have not been around much. The medical field is only for those who can make it as a total bi**h and don't mind being one either! I was totally green too and had all of these fine dreams just ripped right out of my heart and the strange thing is, that these women who were so mean and arrogant to me didn't even know me! Just watch your back and don't make waves. The less you say the better.

Just take one day-at-a-time.

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I think that you keep reaching for the stars professionally, even though it may be one step at a time. It may take years to reach the next rung, but you keep on going. I started out as a nursing assistant, then became a LPN. I then became an RN after 25 years. Now I am a nurse practitioner. My next step? A nursing educator. We need more nurses, but have not enough instructors to see them through. It may take me a while to get there ($$$$$), but at 55, I'm not in a huge hurry. The kids are finally grown and gone. It's just me. Have to pay off divorce debt first. Then..... watch out!!!!

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I'm working on Pre-Reqs so I can try to get into my school's BSN Program for Fall 2010. After that, I hope to get my master's so I can be an NP.:p

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I already earned a bachelor's (BA magna cum laude w/disciplinary honors in History). Decided my passion was in healthcare, not becoming a history professor (much to many of my professor's dismay).

Since I am ineligible for federal aid and NEED to work to maintain health insurance I have chosen to do the ADN-BSN-MSN route. If I didn't need to work I would do direct entry MSN and if I still needed to work but could get federal aid I would do BSN-MSN, but since neither works this is the best path for me. My plans are to get my ADN in fall 2011, do a BSN online and start my MSN in fall 2013. I am aspiring to be a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner---if that doesn't pan out either Family Nurse Practitioner or Nursing Leadership (Nurse Manager).

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Right now I'm in the last year of pre-reqs for my BSN program. So right now I just want to make it to the nursing classes, make it through them lol. Then work for three or four years before going back for my Master's (I'll be 22 when I graduate with my bachelor's). I want to either work in the women's health section like maternal/child, ob/gyn, pediatrics or rehabilitation like physical/occupational therapy nursing.

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I am also in my last year of pre-requisites. My plan is to GET IN to nursing school first. But after that I am hoping to complete a Masters degree certifying me as a pediatric nurse practitioner. I am extremely excited about this!!!

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Oh and I also think that I'd like to teach nursing somewhere down the line but not for about five or six years after I get my master's.

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I'm thinking the same thing. I have two small children (one of whom is special needs) and I can't go full time to school since I still have to work full time. I'm aiming for doctorate since by the time I get anywhere close to being an ANP that will be the requirement.

There is a college in our area that has a combined BS/MS program and I'm hoping I can figure out how to manage that by the time I finish the Associates program. Even if I don't, I guess slow and steady wins the race. I'll get there eventually, even if I'm retirement age by the time I get there.

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I am also in my last year of pre-requisites. My plan is to GET IN to nursing school first. But after that I am hoping to complete a Masters degree certifying me as a pediatric nurse practitioner. I am extremely excited about this!!!

I worked 10 years with a doctor who was internal medicine and pediatrics and loved the peds. Ever since I started thinking about becoming an NP I thought it would be in peds... but the past two years I'm been working off and on with a cardiologist and I'm really starting to like that too. Guess I won't know for sure until I get there. (I'm sure I'll change my mind a couple more times between now and then.)

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