Nursing school

[HYENA 4]

there is a nursing JOB shortage right now. Regarding getting your BSN, all 4 years includes prerequisites. I'm going back after over 20 years to get my BSN. I was working in a BS in healthcare administration/MBA but some places prefer BSN to get beyond certain levels of leadership.

If you get in, don't worry about reputation of someone who is not you. Worrying about things you cannot control is a waste of time. In the US, people do their best and more often than not are judged based on their own merits (which is a big reason why we claimed independence from the UK long ago). If you get into a program and you want it bad enough, you'll pass. I learned when I went back to school it's not how smart you are, it's how much you want it that matters.

I looked for a job for over a year and that's with certifications and lots of experience. I suggest working at a Vetera's hospital as a janitor or secretary or whatever, then they'll pay you while you go to nursing school.

[HannahP 119]

Depends what you want. Your interests. Respiratory Therapist appears to be a cool job! Radiology or ultrasound tech, less pt involvement than a RN, but I think (never looked into it) the pay is decent! Since I work nights, no interaction between Physical /occupational therapists, but thats another avenue. I'm not trying to paint a doom/gloom picture of a RN, lol, just trying to be honest.But their is always downsides of every job.

I can tell you that rad-tech is just as competitive as RN. (My sister is trying to get into a program for rad-tech right now.) And they have fewer programs with fewer openings than RN schools.

I'll be graduating in May as a BSN. I've applied for 25+ new grad jobs. I was immediately declined for ten of those jobs and haven't heard back from the rest. The market actually seems to be getting better. I was looking at nurse tech/extern jobs and at this time last year, there were absolutely NONE. Now there are several dozen which kind of pisses me off but never mind that.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Yes rad tech is prob even harder to get in as I believe the class size is even smaller. The class I started with was around 240 nursing students, was the biggest the program ever had, and they are smaller now. Can't recall how many actually finished the program, I want to say around 150. Lot of failures in the 1st semester and 2nd and a few others 3rd and 4th. Job market still sucks in the DC area. Our PCU unit is short staffed, and it seems management doesn't care. Our manager doesnt hire new grads anyways! I'm done in May and can't wait to leave the DC area

[juliava 80]

Silvana, it seem like being on a waiting list for a nursing program is something very common here. I just spoke to someone here in NJ and she told me that she's been on that waiting list for 1 year and a half due to the fact that her school is very competitive.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Most schools are very competitive, there are a few schools were they are not some competitive, but they cost a lot!!! You can go onto the Virginia board of nursing http://www.dhp.state.va.us/nursing/ and find all the schools in the area

[sandinista! 1,816]

My first nursing degree was at a comm. college that offered graduates automatic entry into a RN to BSN program at one of the four year nursing schools in my area. So I did just that. It only took a year to get my BSN from there, as I had previously completed the majority of the supplemental coursework while I was waiting to get in to nursing school. I had a couple of years wait to get in to the comm college program, once my pre-reqs were done, because even though I had excellent grades, they did a lottery entry system, and it took a couple years for them to call my number. You have to be prepared for there to be a lot of delays, even when you have great grades. There's simply not enough spots for every applicant, anywhere. The comm college program had 100 slots each year, and there would be well over 1500 applicants, every single year. But it can work, if you stick with it, and want to do it bad enough. In every program too, regardless of whether it was a highly competitive program or a lottery entry, you lose people every term. Things happen, life happens, people don't do well enough on exams to pass their courses, or clinicals. I looked for a job the entire time I was finishing my BSN too, because I had my license that entire time. But found nothing. It took 10 months after my BSN was complete for me to find something. I couldn't be happier there, it's in a pediatrics office, which is exactly what i wanted to do, but I have a 30 mile commute there, and a 30 mile commute home at night. It was the closest to home job I could find though.

[HannahP 119]

Helps to do some research into school choices. In my area, at least, some schools rely heavily on GPA while others are more inclusive of non-traditional and students with a lot of experience as CNAs, LPNs, etc.

I've heard the coasts are both really bad in regards to new grad jobs. Nurse residency programs opening to take new grads and then closing a week later because they're flooded with applicants. I'm in one of the better areas of the nation, or so I've been told, but one of our major hospitals just laid off 120 RNs. So that's 120 nurses looking for jobs that have prior experience. Talk about getting hired off practicum but there are four other students doing practicum on my unit (it is a 50 bed unit) and another six that are doing a modified practicum/capstone from various colleges.

Talk to nurses who graduated four or five years ago and they'd graduate with something like a dozen job offers with sign-on bonuses on the table. Blech.

[Justine+David 218]

Yeah, the job market SUCKS for nurses right now. I am one of those last lucky btches who got my dream job with a bonus back in '08 (neonatal intensive care- <3 )

Never fear though--there are several reasons for the competition right now, namely that those with experience will nearly always get hired over new grads and with such a decent stable income, many nurses have not left the workforce or have returned the workforce than they would have otherwise due to the economy and spouse being laid off, 401(k) plan has lost a ton of value, etc etc.

However...these nurses can't work forever. And we're about to hit that baby boomer age retirement (actually I guess the first wave has already begun). Point being: we won't have enough nurses to fill the void as more and more people retire. The nursing shortage will be back with a vengeance...but for the moment, yeah, it sucks to be a new grad.

[Flames9_RN 358]

I see ur in VA, too! Ya 2008 was the last big yr in the DC area. I was chatting with 1 gal that graduated in 2004, she had 4 interviews in 1 day, and by the time she got home, she had 4 messages on her answering machine offering her a job!! It all goes in cycles!!

[SpelaD 4]

I wish I was that lucky...

[tallcoolone 102]

Yeah, the job market SUCKS for nurses right now.

Job Market for RN's in Dallas Texas is strong. Lots of work and lots of hospitals hiring, It takes about 4 weeks to find a RN job at a hospital here....

[extremerecluse 32]

Job Market for RN's in Dallas Texas is strong. Lots of work and lots of hospitals hiring, It takes about 4 weeks to find a RN job at a hospital here....

I was in nursing school at a comm college. My instructor told me that I did not belong in the program and that there were more deserving students waiting to take my place. She ended up sexually assaulting me on the floor in front of staff, patients and my fellow students. It was my word against hers. I already had a good job and retiring in five years. Life sucks, especially in the nursing field.

[extremerecluse 32]

there is a nursing JOB shortage right now. Regarding getting your BSN, all 4 years includes prerequisites. I'm going back after over 20 years to get my BSN. I was working in a BS in healthcare administration/MBA but some places prefer BSN to get beyond certain levels of leadership.

If you get in, don't worry about reputation of someone who is not you. Worrying about things you cannot control is a waste of time. In the US, people do their best and more often than not are judged based on their own merits (which is a big reason why we claimed independence from the UK long ago). If you get into a program and you want it bad enough, you'll pass. I learned when I went back to school it's not how smart you are, it's how much you want it that matters.

I looked for a job for over a year and that's with certifications and lots of experience. I suggest working at a Vetera's hospital as a janitor or secretary or whatever, then they'll pay you while you go to nursing school.

I was told by my first clinical instructor(msn) that nurses "eat their young", speaking of the political games they all play with each other. I am convinced through my own personal experience that she was 100% correct. I told the dean of my school, during the assault investigation that she was running a zoo and one of her animals bit me. She offered to switch my class and instructor, but I had seen enough. I had 8 years experience as a paramedic too. I never studied. All the exam questions were common sense questions. The instructor who sexually assaulted me during clinical warned all of us that the first med-surg exam was going to be the hardest of them all. She was counting on at least 1/2 of us failing to include me. The day that I quit she asked me how I did on the exam. I told her I achieved a 40%. I could see the jubilation all over her face. Later on I know she did some snooping and discovered that I was the only student in all the classes to ACE the test.

[Krikit 1,164]

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