Evelyn Said:

medical career possible?

We Answered:

Only you can decide if pursuing a medical doctor career is something you would be able to do realistically. You would need a 4 year bachelors degree in a pre-med curricula (physics, calculus, bio, chem etc) with top grades; do well in the MCAT exam, apply to med schools (4 years) which can range upwards of $200,000. Only 3% of those who apply get accepted, and yes, it is extremely hard going. Residency for peds is 3 years, for OB-GYN it is 4-5 years. That puts you at close to 30 years of age. The loans you pay like any other loan.

Is there a career or medical counselor at your CC? Talk to them.

As for nursing, you need to be a RN with a bachelors degree to get into a masters level nurse practitioner program. Since you are years away from this, who knows what the salary will be like at that point; but it will not be bad.

Why don't you take some science classes & see how you do & how you like it. You are in the CC--so you have some time before you need to transfer to the university.

Marshall Said:

Heavily leaning toward a RN career but..?

We Answered:

I finished a nursing program, as this is where my passion lays. However, I encourage everyone to look into a better field. Nursing has no shortage and there are literally NO jobs. I am in NYC and know BSN nurses who have been out of work for almost a year. When you DO find a job, 9 times out of 10, it will be abusive. Nurses have to deal with an incredible amount of stress, harassment, bullying, and degradation.

This is coming straight from the nurses mouth. If you have any level of self-respect, you will absolutely regret your decision to go into nursing. The suffering is tremendous and most nurses have conditioned themselves to accept the abuse. They are in flat out denial and will viciously defend their career. I am humble enough to say that I LOVE helping my patients, don't mind the dirty work, but I actually have a self esteem and realize that, in this field, human beings are treated well below their worth and it's not natural, nor healthy.

Here are a few fields that I have personally researched and very few people are aware of them. They are currently stable and will BOOM incredibly in the next few years as we have about 60,000,000 baby boomers retiring:

- Occupational Therapy Aide...go for your COTA (Certified Occupational Therapy Aide)- average salary $50,000-$65,000/year to start.

-Physical Therapy Aide- average salary $40,000-55,000/year...but they are needed a little more than COTAs because most people do not want to go to school for PTA. It's a little more difficult of a program and you usually don't go back for your Bachelors. You would make this your career. It has a HIGH rate of job satisfaction, though.

-Health Information Technologies- $50,000-$100,000/year (depending on how large your facility is and what state it's in). Ask yourself, HOW many people do you know that specialize in this? That's right, probably NONE. Why? It's a newer major that was created as health care expands/grows and systems are being updated. Being a computer major will not be enough. Hospitals and Health Care institutions have elaborate billing/coding/medical systems that are updated CONSTANTLY and they need someone who has the specific knowledge to handle them.

-Health Care Administration- $40,000-$85,000/year. This is the person that RUNS the show, per se. They have a vast knowledge of codes, laws, policies, and some payroll and human resource experience. They are the go-to people when there are questions to be asked...they are the jack of all trades. Desk job= LESS harassment, stress, bullying. But don't be fooled, you will have to put in effort and actually know your stuff...very rewarding once you do.

-Diagnostic Sonographer- $35,000-$75,000 This person is trained to look for cancerous masses, cysts, etc. Very rewarding career, works alongside doctor and saves that doctor a DRASTIC amount of money.

I'm just saying..keep your options open. Have a great day and feel free to message me if you would like!


EDIT: Pooky, I totally respect your answer! You are probably one of the few lucky ones that hasn't experienced the harsh reality of nursing..and I give you a thumbs up for that. If you don't mind me asking...what year did this BSN class graduate and in what state? That could make all the difference. Take Care

Velma Said:

What is involved in becoming and being a Registered Nurse?

We Answered:

im about to be going to nursing school next semester as this semester im doing my pre req classes and getting my general education out of the way... i can't tell you what life is like on the job but i know for one thing you need to be a strong person for when it comes to people passing away and talking with that patients family or letting someone know that they might have some deadly infection of some sort if you want to go to school to recieve an associates in science its 2 years full time and 2 additional for your bachelors... i will be doing the total 4 years and still considering a minor possibly in psychology or nutrition or pharmacy tech. i hope you find your calling in life but remember nursing isn't easy and each college has it's own entry exam into their program so study hard for science, math and reading!! your going to need it girl!! best of luck to you

Marsha Said:

A question about Registered Nurses and their schooling?

We Answered:

You can transfer to a college that offers a major in nursing - you shouldn't have to go to a nursing only school.

You don't need a Bachelor's degree to be an RN, only an AAS (Associates in Applied Science) in Nursing.

However, you do need a Bachelor's degree for a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing).

The main difference is the BSN nurse usually does more paperwork/office work and may get paid a little more (although not a lot more). The AAS degree usually doesn't require as many prerequisites for the nursing program, where as the BSN option usually requires chemistry and more general education classes such as literature.

If you get a degree in pre-nursing (as in, you do NOT go through a registered nursing program) at your community college, you will only be taking your basic/general education classes, and you can take them anywhere (university or com. college) as long as they transfer. If you are taking the correct classes (two maths, two Englishes, etc) you shouldn't have a problem getting them transferred to a university.

With this occupation, the employer is only going to care about the end result - did you graduate and did you pass the NCLEX/state licensing tests.

As far as "competition," well, I guess that would depend on where you live and the amount of nurses there. In my area, nurses who've passed the NCLEX can pretty much get any job they want.

Your best bet is to talk to someone in the nursing department.

Good luck! :-)