I think I just might stay in school for the rest of my life....

[sanantone]

Do you have at least 1000 hrs of direct patient care experience? If so, then the PA route might be the way to go. It's a requirement for most if not all PA programs. PA programs are generally 2 years long, the same amount of time for your ADN. Nursing school is highly competitive at the moment, although so is PA school. And what was it that you didn't like about pre-med? Medical school and the job itself is pretty different from pre-med.

If all of the non-nursing courses are done, then the ADN should only take 1 year. The length of PA school depends on what's available in your area. Some programs are 2 years while others are 3. There's only one PA program where I live and it's 3 years.

[Persistent_Study]

One way which you could narrow things down is by taking the Myers Brigg Test to discover your personality type, and then lookup jobs best suited to that personality type. As someone with a keen interest in social psychology, i have found that unlike some other career assessment tools out there, that this one has been spot on in sizing up myself and others for a particular job. You could then further look into any jobs you are not familiar with by checking the government's occupational outlook handbook website for more info. (Home : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) Looking at your options in terms of which jobs you think you'd like, and why can help give you some sort of perspective of what your values are in, and help you further narrow things down.

For example, with me I am a borderline between being an INTP (The Thinker) and INFP (The Idealist). Based on this, of the jobs recommended the two that were of greatest interest to me were Liberal arts professor, and psychologist. Using this info I came up with the idea of being a psychology professor because I enjoy figuring out how and why people work the way they do. And if I could be anything I wanted to be would likely choose this route. However, after looking at how hard it is to become a psychology professor, and the job market for psychology majors in general, it's got me reconsidering not because of a lack of interest in the subject matter, but because of market conditions as one of my goals is to pick a degree program that will lead to gainful employment upon completion. Fortunately for me, there are a number of jobs, or at least government jobs, that will accept a regionally accredited bachelors degree in anything. (Speaking of which another resource that may help you explore career options is usajobs.gov, which I like because not only does it show you degrees, and coursework required for various jobs, but also the promotion potential within them - something anyone with upward mobility should be aware of.)

So what you could do is pick something you think you would really enjoy, but have always have a backup plan should it not work out. Then should you have to resort to the backup plan keep in mind what you will do next by developing another backup plan should the previous not work out and explore your career options like that should all else fail. Hopefully, that won't be necessary, and you can focus on upward mobility within a career path, but if not, this would be the only other way I could see things playing out unless you settled for a career that you were not happy in.

[bluebooger]

... I started at NKU this past fall for Biochemistry/premed and I hated it!

I think every med student has hated biochemistry

I've heard organic chem/biochem are the courses that are supposed to be weed out the "non-committed" students

It's like "Hell Week" selection for the Navy Seals; all recruits hate it, you just have to suck it up and do it
and just like "Hell Week" you have the option of dropping biochem and med school with no shame
as they say, "it's not for everyone"

did you do your pharmacy class ? physiology class ?

what did you think about them ?

an option other than PA is NP (Nurse Practitioner)
there are MANY schools that offer a "fast track" NP program for people who have a 4 year degree in something other than nursing

so if someone only had a degree in English they could still be admitted in the NP program as long as they fulfilled the pre-reqs (usually microbiology, A&P, statistics, developmental psychology) and have high scores on the GRE

these fast track programs usually last 15 months
after 15 months you're awarded a BS in Nursing and then you have the option of enrolling in the Masters program (you're not eligible for NP licensing until you complete the Masters program), but you of course don't have to do the Masters program


Accelerated BSN: Northern Kentucky University

[Persistent_Study]

I've heard a similar argument, that it is to weed out under-performers, made in regard to calculus, yet being a doctor does not require more than basic arithmetic in terms of math knowledge. So it would seem like a problem with these types of requirements is that not only do they eliminate the "uncommitted", but the "sufficiently committed" too. No system is perfect in my opinion.

[Snickerdoodle]

O

If all of the non-nursing courses are done, then the ADN should only take 1 year. The length of PA school depends on what's available in your area. Some programs are 2 years while others are 3. There's only one PA program where I live and it's 3 years

You're right, it does depend on area. The ADN programs in my area are 2 years after all pre-reqs, but they're so competitive that you're lucky if it takes only 2 years total of your life.

[amielm]

The ADN program at my school, is two years after the pre-nursings classes are done and they only admit one time per year in the fall for spring start. The BSN at NKU and UC are 3 years after pre-nursing classes and the ABSN is 16 months. The PA programs in my area (3 within 2 hours of me) are all 2 years, but all have very different pre-reqs.

[amielm]

I love biochemistry and my pre-med classes. Chemistry is my favorite class so far. What I didn't like about pre-med is strictly NKU. I hated my experience there. I love the small class, small campus feel. At NKU traffic sucks, it's over filled with ill-mannered 18 year olds and none of the teachers know your name. That's what I didn't like. I also couldn't stand driving to school for a 50 minute class and then drive back again for a 3 hour lab that was later in the day. That was goofy to me, took up so much of my day. I much rather go to a 4 or 5 hour class twice a week at the CC. That's why I left NKU. I can take the same classes at the CC for less money and a better schedule for me and my family.Thanks again guys, you are truly helping and giving me a lot to consider. I sincerely appreciate it!

[sanantone]

O

You're right, it does depend on area. The ADN programs in my area are 2 years after all pre-reqs, but they're so competitive that you're lucky if it takes only 2 years total of your life.

Yeah, it's crazy how there are waiting lists to get into nursing programs at community colleges. You would think they were Ivy League schools. You are right that many PA programs require a certain number of hours of shadowing or clinical experience.

The ADN program at my school, is two years after the pre-nursings classes are done and they only admit one time per year in the fall for spring start. The BSN at NKU and UC are 3 years after pre-nursing classes and the ABSN is 16 months. The PA programs in my area (3 within 2 hours of me) are all 2 years, but all have very different pre-reqs.

16 months for the ABSN is not bad and you could probably finish an online MSN in 18 months or so. There are plenty of online DNP programs that are only 1 year. I've thought about going this route because most of the PhD programs I looked at are 5+ years and all require a dissertation. Ew.

[amielm]

Yeah, I said many times that it's nuts that CC RN programs are so hard to get into...LOL, I think that's why I started thinking more about med school, my luck is I would get into med school before I would the ADN program.. Yeah, I think I'm just going to shoot for getting my BA at TESC and then apply to the PA and ABSN programs and see what happens. I have to stop letting the fear of getting rejected into one of those programs stop me from trying. Truth is I would be happy being a NP, or PA. I just want to help people. Starting to feel less stressed over my options...

[Snickerdoodle]

Yeah, it's crazy how there are waiting lists to get into nursing programs at community colleges. You would think they were Ivy League schools.

I know right???!!! It's insane!

16 months for the ABSN is not bad and you could probably finish an online MSN in 18 months or so. There are plenty of online DNP programs that are only 1 year. I've thought about going this route because most of the PhD programs I looked at are 5+ years and all require a dissertation. Ew.

The online nursing degree route is pretty well-traveled. There are definitely plenty of online programs, but that has "flooded" the market and made some employers leery of online nursing grads. The nursing job market is very tough at the moment for all new grads, traditional and otherwise.