I couldn't agree more about nursing. It's a career in which you'll never go jobless. The earning potential is extraordinary, and the variety of sub-specialties is endless.
The only problem with a person starting from scratch in nursing is getting into nursing school. Excelsior offers RN and more advanced nursing degrees, but they do not provide clinicals. You'd have to go to a brick-and-mortar school and obtain your LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) and get your clinical experience there. Then you can go on to get your RN and further degrees and certifications easily, since you already have the clinical experience required.
There is a shortage or nurses, and in the last few years students have noticed, and have gone into the field in droves. Because of this, there is limited space in many nursing programs; colleges have been unable to keep up. There are even fewer nursing professors; in order to teach you need a masters degree, and teaching jobs pay less than practical jobs, meaning less folks to teach classes.
The local community college here has a huge waiting list of people waiting to get into the RN program, and if your grades on pre-requisites aren't the greatest, you can be on that waiting list forever.... This may not apply to every geographical area, but it's something to look into.
So in short, there are tons of nursing jobs, but not enough spaces in many nursing programs. Jobs... one nurse I work with says he looked into one of the local hospitals for nursing positions, and they had a list that was literally 10 pages long.
I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but it's just something to consider if you're interested in this field.
The only problem with a person starting from scratch in nursing is getting into nursing school. Excelsior offers RN and more advanced nursing degrees, but they do not provide clinicals. You'd have to go to a brick-and-mortar school and obtain your LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) and get your clinical experience there. Then you can go on to get your RN and further degrees and certifications easily, since you already have the clinical experience required.
There is a shortage or nurses, and in the last few years students have noticed, and have gone into the field in droves. Because of this, there is limited space in many nursing programs; colleges have been unable to keep up. There are even fewer nursing professors; in order to teach you need a masters degree, and teaching jobs pay less than practical jobs, meaning less folks to teach classes.
The local community college here has a huge waiting list of people waiting to get into the RN program, and if your grades on pre-requisites aren't the greatest, you can be on that waiting list forever.... This may not apply to every geographical area, but it's something to look into.
So in short, there are tons of nursing jobs, but not enough spaces in many nursing programs. Jobs... one nurse I work with says he looked into one of the local hospitals for nursing positions, and they had a list that was literally 10 pages long.
I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but it's just something to consider if you're interested in this field.
[SIZE="1"]Ana
[COLOR="DarkRed"]96 credits completed (93 by exam)
BS in General Business, Excelsior College (33 credits remaining)
Next exams: DSST Statistics, DSST Business Law 2
Recently taken: DSST Drug/Alcohol (61), CLEP French (63), ECE Gerontology (B
), DSST MIS (65), DSST Counseling (54), DSST Ethics (63)[/SIZE][/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkRed"]96 credits completed (93 by exam)
BS in General Business, Excelsior College (33 credits remaining)
Next exams: DSST Statistics, DSST Business Law 2
Recently taken: DSST Drug/Alcohol (61), CLEP French (63), ECE Gerontology (B
), DSST MIS (65), DSST Counseling (54), DSST Ethics (63)[/SIZE][/COLOR]
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