So there I was, sitting in my room at college a month ago getting ready to apply for an MBA program because I am graduating with an undergraduate degree in mathematics with a pre-MBA emphasis in December. Something dawned on me though. I really hated what I was doing. The job market is terrible. It feels as though the job hunt is even worse. I hate my business classes, and cannot even dream of sitting behind a desk all day for the next forty or so years. Then I thought, if I hate these classes as an undergraduate, I am really going to hate them as a graduate student. I felt as though I needed to make a change.
I talked to a few of my friends in the nursing program at my college in Kentucky. They all told me how much they loved their major and cannot wait to graduate so they can start working. The funny thing is I kept on hearing this from all of them. Did it really take me five years of college to realize I had been talking to the wrong people? Ha ha.
So I made a decision. I called my parents back home in Michigan and told them that I wanted to go back to school next semester to start a pre-nursing program at the university near where I live. I could tell over the phone that my Dad was shocked, to say the least. However, he said that if that's what I wanted to do he and my Mom would stand behind me and even let me live at home for free. Granted at 23 I am not too keen on moving back in with Mom and Dad after having been moved out for five years. However, I feel as though if I do not do this now I will never have the chance to do it.
I am really excited to get started though. I contacted the college back home and they said that with my degree the only things that will transfer will be my general studies courses. So I will basically have to start from scratch besides a few classes.
Next semester I will be a 23 year old college freshman all over again as a MALE in the pre-nursing program, and hopefully in the nursing program by December. Wish me luck! I am just excited about the prospect of my work making a difference everyday in someone's life, instead of pushing paper. Any advice that anyone has would be great. Thanks for reading!
Slager
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December 14th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Slager, excellent choice my friend!
I’m sure it was hard with you just having finished the current degree, but you’re absolutely right about the fact that if you hate something now, you’re never going to like it later. You’ll just grow old and resentful with each passing year.
I started as a Computer Science major when I first began college, a thousand years ago now it seems. But after about 2 weeks I realized I wasn’t that interested in working solely on computers for the rest of my life. My aunt actually suggested nursing to me while I was still a freshman, a 19 year old one, just as a possibility. Honestly at that time I had no clue what I wanted to do in life and I thought to myself nursing seems easy (yeah right), I like the undergraduate courses better and there’s a girl-to-guy ratio of about 70-1 in the classes, I’M THERE!
Fortunately, however, none of those reasons were the true reasons I chose and stuck with the profession of nursing. It’s hard work and you have to be willing to sometimes do things you either thought you’d never do or don’t want to do. The easy part of nursing is actually getting a degree, and believe me you’ll think that is anything but easy by the time you obtain it. But, becoming a successful nurse that truly cares for people, with a willingness to sacrifice your own time for the betterment of others, that’s hard work your entire life!
Trust me, you’ll have days you’ll wonder why you ever chose to go back for a nursing degree, but for the world it will expose you to, the character building moments it will provide, you’ll never regret it, ever in a million years. Since I graduated I have been a nurse now for 8, going on 9 years, and I’m currently trying to earn a Master’s in Nursing Education. The funny thing about my job currently is I work in Nursing Informatics, where I spend my days working on computers!lol
But what that last part shows, for you Slager, are the endless opportunities that await a nurse once you have earned your degree. I do encourage you to pursue a BSN degree because that will open so many doors for you, beyond just patient care, it will take your breath away. So always keep that in mind, in the back of your head, when Patho has you stressed, Pharm makes you cringe, Med-Surge makes you pull every last hair out, and that beloved NCLEX-RN preparation and test itself puts you on the verge of dumping a vat of boiling acid over your head, because in the end, it’s worth it.
I’ll quote someone that sums up my feelings on both earning a nursing degree and working as a professional nurse. “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”–Jimmy Dugan, A League of Their Own
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
just curious what sort of job and money you would go for if you didn’t change career.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I am glad you chose nursing, we love the guys that get in because they have physical strengths we females lack, and there are some men patients that absolutely refuse to be treated by a woman (weird right). Do not be ashamed to be a male nurse as society sometimes makes it hard on them, instead think of the people you help, and how their lives will be changed and maybe their opinions. I myself prefer someplace other than medsurge because I didnt care for it in school, and life is just too short to do something you hate right?
January 27th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I also was a late starter in Nursing School, I was 27 when I started. I lived in the dorm as the school I went to was 7 hours away. Some advice is to embrace the school again a participate in the activities, but remember you are older than most of the students.
As a male nurse be prepared for the comments about being a male in a predominate female career. We are accepted better now then when I started 28 years ago, just remember you are there for your patients no matter what other people say. Treat them the way you would want to be treated. There will be some people (especially the older) who will request a female, that is okay, remember it is nothing personal.
You will do fine if you put the patient first and not your feelings.
Good luck!
January 27th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I am currently a CNA, and male nursing student. I can’t imagine any other career field. I find that nursing school pre-reqs are rather boring if you are hands on, but they are worth it if you can stick it out. I find that as Becky said in #3, the female nurses do like the male nurses for those reasons. However, beware of the rejection you may get from some older female nurses. I actually quite often even get rejected by female patients in med-surg. My wife, being the same type of patient.
Keep plugging for it, if you want to do it, eventually you will earn respect of coworkers and patients. If you are good at what you do, refusing you for only your gender will be pointless if your help is really needed. Put the patient first, as Carl Bishop said in #4. We all have preferences, I myself have refused rude male nurses. Present well, and remember nursing is a lifestyle, not a job.
I love nursing, both as a CNA and in school, and I cant wait to get into the RN world fully.
If you love the job, you will NEVER work a day in your life.
GOOD LUCK!!
January 27th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I would not advise males or females to enter nursing. Why? The health care industry, with the assistance of the Federal government, has a long history of manipulating the nursing labor market by overt and covert means in order to maintain poor working conditions, low pay, and poor job security for nurses. They do the same in order, of course, to maximize profits. The same has resulted in the “nursing shortage.”
This clearly indicates and reinforces a disrespectful, predatory, and oppressive work environment for nurses which any self respecting individual should avoid.
The same type of labor market manipulation, with the assistance of the Federal government, has, also, adversely affected other professions and industries.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Enjoy being a student again. There’s lots of hot chicks in nursing school, so make the most of it.