Working, family and school...HELP!

[Asmyth12]

Hey everyone I am stuck between a rock and a hard place right now and would like some advice. I am a full time employee and supervisor over the department I work in which I have only been in this position for a year now but I have been employed with this company for five years. I work for a veterinary clinic that is very busy on a regular basis and the stress of the business and high overturn of employees has started to wear on me mentally and physically making it very difficult to balance, work, school and family life with my spouse, grandmother that lives with me and two boys under the age of 5. I have struggled over the past semester due to the stress and almost didn't make the minimum gpa for the semester. Starting in the Spring I will be in the home stretch of finishing my nursing pre-reqs required to apply for nursing school and all of the courses I have left are science courses which i'm sure you all understand to be difficult time consuming courses. I am looking for some advice on my work environment, I have started thinking about looking for a new job but I've had a few people tell me that's not a good idea as I have been here for so long and have an established relationship with the company and would have to start over new somewhere else. But at the same time I don't know what type of job I would need to look into that would still support my family financially and also the option of working part time and using financial aid as a means to budget into income to offset the loss of work hours. Any advice if anyone has had to go through this would be great!

[dt70]

I would speak to a local counselor (not psychiatrist) that would understand the dynamics of your location, and the experience to offer the best advice. Taking advantage of face-to-face conversation, would be ideal, I think.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Definitely time to prioritize. You and your hubby need to come to agreement on what is most important - and how get there. GPA is crucial. Poor grades are worse than no grade at all because they inflict lasting damage that will be very difficult to overcome.

Realistically, you may even have to consider waiting a while to go to nursing school - until your kiddos are a bit older and not so needy.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

You have a lot on your plate. You need to decide what is important. You won't get into nursing school if you are barely making the min. GPA. GPA is very important to get into nursing school. If a school looks at entire GPA then you realistically need at the very least a 3.2-3.3 to even be considered. And that a low estimate. Some places it is 3.7-3.8. I know at my school they look at a few classes. You need As in all of the classes they look at to get in. I have a friend who got 1 B and got in the LPN program.

Your kids are young, you are working full time, taking care of a family member, and going to school. Something has got to give. You can't quit your job as you need the income. You can't push your elderly family member out into the street. You can't get rid of your kids or will them to be older. School is probably going to have to go at this time. I waited until my son was in the 2nd grade. I could have never of gone to school when he was younger. They are still at that time where they need you a whole lot. My son is able to entertain himself now. Plus while he is in school during the day, I am in school. That way no time was really taken from him. He knew I needed to study but he can also get his own food and take care of himself. He can read a book or turn on video games. Your kids are not to that point yet. I would wait a few years until they are older. Then I would try school again.

[heartstrings_102]

My son is 5 and I am a single mother, who works full time and goes to school full time. I just applied for nursing school and find out next month if I get in. My advice is really to use your family as much as you can for support with your children; in the long run what you want to be is a nurse so it doesn't really matter how long you have been with the company because you don't plan on being there forever; if you can afford to cut hours and use financial aid, do it. That is what financial aid is there for.

Grades are everything when it comes to applying for the program, and as hard as it is to manage it is possible. Originally when I read the comments above I disagreed with the fact that some were saying to wait until they get older, because in my head something always pops up or gets in the way and you don't stop going or trying and look down the road saying 'I should have done it when I got the chance'. But, you also know yourself and your limits; do what you can, just don't give up if you are sure this is what you want.

In reality it comes down to prioritizing, and knowing that you have to put in a lot of work, a lot of sleepless nights, and you can't be afraid to ask for help. I would also suggest maybe splitting up the science courses so that you can focus on one or two at a time, it may put you back a semester but you can make sure you get the grades that you need to be competitive when applying to the program.