Thursday, November 27, 2008

Prereq's

Ok...let's try and play catch up. So I decided that dental hygiene was out and nursing was in. Nursing will provide me with the opportunity to help all different kinds of people in need. Plus there are so many different areas that you can specialize in: pediatrics, L&D, trauma or surgery. But this change in majors also required change in prerequisites. Almost all the prereq's I took for DH - I didn't need for nursing. This is where the frustration began.

Once I really began to focus on nursing I became elated! I was finally focused and excited about what lied ahead for me. And like any other time in my life when I am focused on a task..I AM FOCUSED!!! It consumes me! So I started researching nursing schools in the area to find out which one I'd like to go to. Now we add in more frustration. I knew I wanted to go for m BSN. There would be no associates degree for me, getting a job, and then going for my BSN. I wanted it now. The BSN was the goal!

Let me explain I'm not new to this college thing. In fact I think I had 7 years under by belt before I started up again...1.5 years at MSU (where I didn't live up to my potential) and 6 years at LCC (where I thought I knew what I wanted to). All this and still no degree. I wasn't about ready to put my name on a waiting list and end up waiting 4 semesters to get into one of the local community colleges and only come out with an AD. I mean I've been working so hard on my school since January 2007 (that's when I came out of college retirement) and I'm even a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. It was BSN all the way!!

As my search began I found 3 schools in the Phoenix area that interested me and they all offered a BSN. The only problem...each school had their own set of prereq's!! "Are you freaking kidding me?" was I all could say? I could see this imaginary road that I had paved out in my mind was not going to be traveled without running into some road blocks. HUGE road blocks. What does a person do in this situation? I'll tell you. You make a pros and cons list of all the schools. A list that includes accreditation for each school, the cost per credit hour or block, student-teacher ratio, time to complete, length of waiting list, location, and more importantly the classes left to take in order to apply...and then anything else you can think of. Then once you have your list...you review it...hang it on the wall and throw a dart at it. Where the dart lands is where you put all your efforts! What other choice is there? We can't go and take all the prereq's required for all 3 schools. Once the dart was thrown or the dice were rolled, I put all my eggs in one basket and picked a school...I now knew what I needed to focus on...or did I?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The beginning....

Well...I don't know where to even begin...I've never blogged before. I know what you're thinking...sure you haven't. Everybody who is somebody has blogged before. But seriously...you'll soon figure out that I'm not lying. Oh...I've read them but that doesn't mean I'm up on all that's "cool" with the blogging world. I have no clue what I am doing. So please bear with me while I try and figure this whole thing out.

Let's start somewhere near the beginning and get as far as I can before I fall asleep. Ya' see, I'm one of those "continuing education" people who have come to that place in life where you finally realize there's more to life out there (I know...quoting Reba isn't the best way to start out a blog but it's true)...or in other words...I need a change!! So that's what I did...I set out to make a change. And I came out of college retirement!!!!

I wanted to be a dental hygienist at first but after a year of taking prerequisites I realized that DH is not the route I wanted to take. I didn't want to be stuck in a chair the rest of my life looking into people's mouths...I wanted more!! I wanted to have more opportunity. Then it dawned on me...back in my early years at MSU...I wanted to become a doctor...so why not to something just as rewarding- become a nurse.

Sorry...I know it was just getting good...but I can't keep my eyes open. To be continued........