What is an accredited nursing schools?

California Registered Nursing Course Dilemma?

• I'm a prospective nursing student in the San Francisco area. I have just about finished all the required prerequisites needed to apply for the Registered Nursing Program or the Licensed Vocational Nurse Program at a Junior College (CCSF). The surrounding universities have heightened their RN Program expectations due to the rigor of the program (they only accept GPA's of a 3.8 or better, I'm at 3.5). Private colleges are too expensive even with grants and scholarships and loans etc... So the only thing I can depend on to get me into the RN Program or even the LVN Program is luck because they do it by lottery. Less than 100 students out of 800-900 will get into the RN Program and Less than 50 out of 200 will get into the LVN Program. So basically, if I don't get picked, I could end up waiting years to get into either of the Programs. Besides applying for other JC's around the area, what else should I do? I looked into other accredited schools but they are super expensive, I'm a student, I'm poor! Please, if anyone out there has any advice on my poor pathetic student life, I would love to hear it.

• Answer:

  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 Assistant...go for your COTA (Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant)- average salary $50,000-$65,000/year to start. -Physical Therapy Assistant- 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.You don't have to go into Health Care..you can do whatever you want! :) Have a great day and feel free to message me if you would like!