Where do I begin?

[Meg88]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Megan, and I would like to go to nursing school and don't know where to begin. I would like to be a RN or Nurse Practitioner.

Let me start out with a little history, a history that I'm not all too proud of. I graduated from High school, and went to community college for Photography, well, I started working with some real estate people, and ended up getting my real estate license, and doing well for myself, I REALLY messed up my college career, I was making three times what I would have ever made being a photographer, What can I say, I was a dumb kid. Then as we all know, the bottom fell out of the market and everything went down the tubes.

After that I kind of went down with it. I found myself bored, and a 20-something year old bored girl is not usually a good thing. I fell in with the party crowd and screwed things up for myself pretty bad, got myself in a bit of financial trouble. So I slapped myself in the head, pulled my act together, and got myself out of what I got into.

In the meantime, my best friend ended up passing away from Renal failure just after Christmas. I used to stop by and do for her whatever I could. She struggled for so long, she had 2 transplants, one rejected, and the other just "didn't work" there were days when I begged her not to give up. She fought for 5 years, before passing away. The night she passed away she said to me that she knew this night would be her last, and that not to worry, she was ready to go. She wanted to thank me for everything I did.

In my eyes I didn't really do much, I drove her to an occasional dialysis, ran an errand here and there, and used to bring her dinner once and a while, and I knew if she was alone I would call her and ask her if she had taken her meds. For me, the little that I did do was one of the most rewarding things of my life. Then I started thinking of going back to school for nursing.

I have a few problems though. I was a dumb kid. I've been out of high school 10 years, I screwed up in high school, I had the philosophy of, who cares what it is, as long as its passing, just get me out of here! In college once I started making money in real estate I just stopped going to class. Most colleges want your High school transcripts no matter what. Which scares me to death, I really really screwed up in High school, I didn't take it seriously... I KNOW i can do it. I knew in high school I could do it, I just didn't care.

Should I start at community college? Then again, most community college credits don't transfer to higher schools, I want my BSN, perhaps go all the way for my Masters. How do I go back to school with a rocky college history, not so hot grades, and bad credit???

Its awful to say, but it took loosing my best friend to knock me back to the real world.

Any help / advice you may have I would greatly appreciate!

Thanks!

- Meg

:uhoh21:

[eldragon]

I feel your pain, as I did many of the same things. I worked for ten years making tons of money also, and had no reason to even think about going to college.

But I did go back, in my forties. Yes, my high school transcripts were embarrassing for me to look at too. I can't believe how many days I skipped my senior year! But I got in a community college without an issue and if you score well on an entrance test, you will too.

You can get your BSN by starting at a community college. Nursing degrees can be had in many ways. You can start with your LPN, go to ADN, go on to BSN and Nurse Practitioner if you like. It's up to you and your grades.

Life is a learning experience. Some of us choose family over career. Some of us choose a career we don't want twenty years down the road. There is no right way or wrong way. Just go for it.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Do what you can afford first - like community college. Once you have your RN license you can work and continue to go to school. Many schools offer internet courses that are a boon to people who work. It doesn't matter what you were, it matters who you are and what you want to become.

[momandstudent]

Hey, we are all human. You have made mistakes, cleaned them up, and now you're ready to move on and up. Good for you-you are still young and can accomplish anything you put your mind to. My recommendations are to apply to a ccommunity college. Like another poster stated, go for your LPN (LVN) or ADN first. Start off with the classes that you think you will do great in. This will give you a high GPA right away which will not only look good for school officials but it will make you feel great about yourself. Having good grades right away will help you maintain the "Can Do" attitude that you will need to follow through your schooling. If you need, take the first few classes slow or if you think you can jump in head first-by all means, go for it!!! Good luck to you. Remember, if we all lived perfect lives all the time, how could we call ourselves human?

[Vito Andolini]

The reason you're choosing Nursing is because of your friend. I'd say this - try to be absolutely certain that you really want to be a Nurse. Try doing volunteer work for a while in hospitals and nursing homes so you get a better feel for what they're like. Maybe try working as a clerk/ward secretary? Or do some career exploration in the health field that will cause you to be aware that there are lots of jobs in the field that are not Nursing, yet still help people who are sick and suffering.

The obvious answer to your transcript trouble is to go to community college. you can become an RN there or perhaps a Respiratory therapist, medical transcriber/coder, may be an OR technician (scrub assistant in surgery).

I think you need to do some exploring before embarking on becoming an RN. I am not at all sure that you know much of what an RN does or what it's like. I just would encourage to really explore the field before spending the time and money. I'm not saying not to do it, only to really research it first.

What will you do when the real estate market comes back, as I believe it will? If you can make easier and better money doing that, do it. Nursing is dirty, draining, has terrible hours and lots of really mean, nasty people in it. Sure it has lots of good points but I personally think the hard aspects outweight the rewarding aspects most days. I guess you could do real estate full time and work only a day or 2 per month in Nursing or vice versa when real estate isn't going well.

I wish you lots of luck.

[TiffanyLovesPink]

Hi!

I can very much relate to your situation. I also went to community college for a degree but found work to be my first priority and ended up flunking out of most of my classes. I even received an acidemic suspension because my grades were so bad. So after 7 years working a job I originally thought was great... I have found that it goes no where. After deciding to become an RN I decided to head back to community college and give it another shot. The community college I was attending required a 2.7 GPA to even request admissions to the RN program... and with my previous grade history... it was going to be a long time before I could raise it that much, even if I got all A's. So after some research I found a community college that is only an hour away and has no GPA requirements for the RN program. I was able to apply for the RN program in which I am now waitlisted, any decent grades I did have where transfered as a "T" and with all the A's I got last semester... I am a 4.0 GPA student at this school! I found out this school also has a program that allows me to seamlessly enter Rutgers College BSN or MSN program if I finish the RN program with a 3.0 or higher. So that's what I am striving for.... with a little research I'm sure you can find a simialar program close to you that will really help you out of your rut.

Best of luck!

[MurseMikeD]

You can get a fresh start at community college, complete your prerequisites, and transfer to a 4-year for your BSN. They'll only want to see your community college transcripts for your pre-reqs.