Medic to RN...

[RunnerDoug87]

Hi, probably get a spanky for this but didn't want to jump in to the person's post below me on this topic.

I have been trying for 3 yrs and next yr will be 4 yrs to get into an RN program. Imagine 1000 people applying for a program that only takes 60 people. It is like throwing darts blindfolded with small odds in hitting the bullseye.

Keep getting waitlisted. My work is good enjoy it I am a psych tech make decent money about $20 an hour can't complain about that.

Only few downsides are have to travel 400 miles a week. I could work closer to home but take a bigger cut in pay or if I rent closer to work rent will skyrocket ($1200 or more for a studio/Compared to $800/$900 in area living in). Also live in a high taxed State. Last year made about $48K took about $34K home after taxes that's just income not counting property taxes. Be great to move to a lower cost of living State. Tried but have nothing to my name outside of a Bachelor's degrees and not much panned out.

Anyways was an EMR years ago. I went for my EMT Training shortly after, but never licensed up. Has to be 8 yrs since and didn't get my license due to landing a hospital job back then.

I was thinking of going for my EMT cert then Medic then RN. I read there is a lot of flexible programs out there for Medic to RN.

You ask why Medic not LPN. Know LPN be an easier transition. However, three things factor in Medic program is about $15K to $20K cheaper than the LPN programs in my State living in. The medic program is super flexible and can work full time still. I work variable shifts (D/E/N/W) you name it. Third every year...well they closed the medic program at the hospital currently work at. However, the hospital falls under a larger health organization in my State. That health network has a medic program. If you do any training programs through the hospital as long as you meet the minimum requirements you automatically are guaranteed entry.

Curious on those who have gone through being a Medic to RN was it worth it?

I mean could stop at being an EMT. Only found maybe 5 jobs in my State. Though could move out of State if I become an EMT.

Appreciate any insight or feedback can offer up.

 

[Akulahawk]

Keep going with your RN. Don't stop applying. If you want to get an EMT cert, that may add some small number of "points" to your RN school application, but your current job may also confer the same "points" advantage. If you want to become an RN, don't do the EMT ->Paramedic -> RN route. It'll take too long and won't be worth the cost. Just go straight to RN, even if it takes some time. Paramedic to RN transition courses typically knock only about 1 semester off of a 4 semester program and you'd only get entry on a "space available" basis, which could easily take even longer, depending upon where you go to RN school.

If you have to, look out of state and look at every nearby RN program that you qualify to enter and apply there. Just be very wary of private programs as they can be very expensive and difficult to work with.

 

[Gurby]

Why is LPN even on your radar? You have a bachelor's degree - shouldn't you be looking at accelerated BSN programs?

Your post makes it sound like you are willing to move. According to this webpage, there are 272 accelerated BSN programs in the country right now (http://www.aacnnursing.org/Nursing-Education-Programs/Accelerated-Programs).

 

[Summit]

I read there is a lot of flexible programs out there for Medic to RN.

You read wrong

What is your GPA and your science GPA?

 

[RunnerDoug87]

The rub with accelerated is i live check to check. Working towards being financially stable but accelerated programs aren't on my radar. The programs for accelerate vary from $30K to $80K in my State.

I tried applying to out of State work. I was close to taking a job in Texas. However, didn't offer much in pay ($11-$12.50 an hour) and no relocation benefits. Also at the time wife was trying to get into a nursing program.

Maybe next year, but have to convince the SO. Wife wants to stay in the State a few more year's. I am like I am done living here ha.

 

[Summit]

What is your GPA and your science GPA?

What is your net income for the next 3 years?

A+B-C vs D-E

A = how much you make for another year waiting to get in
B = how much you could make by working some during 2 years of school
C = cost of your non-accelerated 2 year program
D = what you make as a RN for 2 years because you finished 2 years earlier by going to a 1 year ABSN program now
E = cost of accelerated + loans

 

[RunnerDoug87]

What is your GPA and your science GPA?

What is your net income for the next 3 years?

A+B-C vs D-E

A = how much you make for another year waiting to get in
B = how much you could make by working some during 2 years of school
C = cost of your non-accelerated 2 year program
D = what you make as a RN for 2 years because you finished 2 years earlier by going to a 1 year ABSN program now
E = cost of accelerated + loans

Not great GPA 3.5. TEAS are 74 probably try end of the year to take them over.

If I do the RN program I could do Baylor Shifts at work. I make extra $3,200 a week as a nurse compared to current pay. Actually could make similar as an LPN because I stick with psych and no one wants to work in psych. Not sure why. I mean it has its ups and downs.

1 program has a spring and fall start date. I have to take 3 more prerequisites for 1 program, the cost total is $50K for the program done in 18 month's.

The other one think I have 1 to 2 more prerequisites left. Cost is about $40K. Have to sign a waiver won't work more than 10 hour's a week or something by the second semester of the program. It is not a rolling admission program.

Working during a 2 year program depends. State community college programs could fundugle 32 hour's. $34K pre tax if I worked as an EMT over night 40 hrs at my hospiral make the same pre tax $34K a year.

I could work full time at my job and do a private 2 year program that has an Associate program ($50K) BSN ($50K/Half if do ASN at their school) and MSN program ($50K/Half if you do the ASN or BSN program at their school) for a total of $100K.

The LPN program can work full time it is all about fundugling my weekend's since the program is 21 month's and every Saturday.

Now the Medic program one I looked at is MWTF 8 to 230 program. Can work my schedule easily around that.


Income for a year is $42K. After taxes $34K. After property taxes about $2K. After rent and bills about $20K. So about $60K for 3 years total.

 

[Carlos Danger]

The rub with accelerated is i live check to check. Working towards being financially stable but accelerated programs aren't on my radar. The programs for accelerate vary from $30K to $80K in my State.

But you can pay for the ABSN program (and potentially some living expenses during the program, if you have to) with student loans. Then with the increased income that comes with your RN, you could live better and still pay the loans back in just a handful of years, not even counting the student loan repayment programs available through many employers.

It'd be a challenging year or so for sure, but it might be worth it.

 

[VFlutter]

Beg, borrow, take out loans, do whatever you have to and get through an ABSN program. Get some experience then work overtime or do a few travel nursing assignments and pay off your loans.

RN pay around me isn't great (~$50k average) and I made $95k one year with overtime and bonuses. Adds up quick if you are willing to put in some hours. Paid double payments on my loans and paid down a ton.

 

[Akulahawk]

I worked full-time (40 hours) and went to school full-time (12 Units), had a Science GPA of 3.5, and TEAS score around 75. I was a "qualified applicant" for every program I applied to, took me 15 applications over 4 years, but I eventually got in. I graduated about 4 years ago, with an ADN. BSN wasn't in the cards for me as none of the Universities were accepting 2nd Bachelors students to any program at the time. I'm in California so that skews some things a bit, but my first RN job got me about $90k/yr. My current job is higher than that. I rarely do any overtime. I think I picked up 2 "extra" shifts over the past year. If you're willing and able, you should be able to pick up an extra shift every week or every other week and use the "extra" money to pay down loans. I was very lucky in that I had no student debt, good planning, taking advantage of fee waivers, and so on made a difference.

If you already have a Bachelors, do the ABSN, but do it at a public university. Their costs will be MUCH lower than private universities and they'll likely be accredited by one of the accreditation bodies. If you don't, see if you can switch majors to nursing, get that done and complete your "original" degree at the same time, so you'd graduate with a dual major. You might be able to keep costs down that way.

The local private colleges and universities had a lower NCLEX pass rate, cost a LOT more, and have a reputation for messing with student transcripts... like if you complete the program but don't pass a "screening" exam, they can hold your transcripts because you haven't passed all their steps to graduate even though you're done with all the didactic and clinical stuff. Oh, and you'd be on the hook for all the tuition loans...

What do I mean cost a LOT more? Well, the lowest cost private university ADN was about $80k, the lowest BSN was $96k. My cost was about $3k for my ADN and the ABSN would have run about $30k. The "regular" BSN would have run about $15k. If I go back to school now for my BSN "upgrade" that's going to run about $10k, probably less, as I already have a Bachelors and an ADN, I'd have little UDGE to worry about, so that's a few classes I'd get to skip.

 

[RunnerDoug87]

But you can pay for the ABSN program (and potentially some living expenses during the program, if you have to) with student loans. Then with the increased income that comes with your RN, you could live better and still pay the loans back in just a handful of years, not even counting the student loan repayment programs available through many employers.

It'd be a challenging year or so for sure, but it might be worth it.

I still have to pay off some credit card bills and take a few prerequisites.

Idk leaning to the $60K Associate program since it's only 3 days a week.

 

[Gurby]

 

[RunnerDoug87]

I worked full-time (40 hours) and went to school full-time (12 Units), had a Science GPA of 3.5, and TEAS score around 75. I was a "qualified applicant" for every program I applied to, took me 15 applications over 4 years, but I eventually got in. I graduated about 4 years ago, with an ADN. BSN wasn't in the cards for me as none of the Universities were accepting 2nd Bachelors students to any program at the time. I'm in California so that skews some things a bit, but my first RN job got me about $90k/yr. My current job is higher than that. I rarely do any overtime. I think I picked up 2 "extra" shifts over the past year. If you're willing and able, you should be able to pick up an extra shift every week or every other week and use the "extra" money to pay down loans. I was very lucky in that I had no student debt, good planning, taking advantage of fee waivers, and so on made a difference.

If you already have a Bachelors, do the ABSN, but do it at a public university. Their costs will be MUCH lower than private universities and they'll likely be accredited by one of the accreditation bodies. If you don't, see if you can switch majors to nursing, get that done and complete your "original" degree at the same time, so you'd graduate with a dual major. You might be able to keep costs down that way.

The local private colleges and universities had a lower NCLEX pass rate, cost a LOT more, and have a reputation for messing with student transcripts... like if you complete the program but don't pass a "screening" exam, they can hold your transcripts because you haven't passed all their steps to graduate even though you're done with all the didactic and clinical stuff. Oh, and you'd be on the hook for all the tuition loans...

What do I mean cost a LOT more? Well, the lowest cost private university ADN was about $80k, the lowest BSN was $96k. My cost was about $3k for my ADN and the ABSN would have run about $30k. The "regular" BSN would have run about $15k. If I go back to school now for my BSN "upgrade" that's going to run about $10k, probably less, as I already have a Bachelors and an ADN, I'd have little UDGE to worry about, so that's a few classes I'd get to skip.

Know going off topic. Only 1 public ABSN program. Cost $30K to $40K for the entire program. Have to sign a contract not work more than 10 hrs a week also.

Then there's a $50K to $60K 18 month public university program and can be able to do 24 hrs of work.

The other 3 are private can cost $90K to $100K.

Outside of Medic, LPN, and RN also considering OTA or a PTA program.

 

[Summit]

I still have to pay off some credit card bills and take a few prerequisites.

Idk leaning to the $60K Associate program since it's only 3 days a week.

You probably want to check that isn't 3 days of class a week plus clinical days on top.

Also look at how many clinical hours each program has and where their clinical placements are.

Lastly, make sure the program is ACEN or CCNE accredited and holds a regional academic accreditation.

$60K for an associates degree is completely nuts. Rediculously laughably dumb. Like ITT Tech level bullcrap. Our community college RN program is less than $6k including books and fees!

60K will get you a private ABSN in the big city!

 

[Gurby]

Know going off topic. Only 1 public ABSN program. Cost $30K to $40K for the entire program. Have to sign a contract not work more than 10 hrs a week also.

Then there's a $50K to $60K 18 month public university program and can be able to do 24 hrs of work.

The other 3 are private can cost $90K to $100K.

Assume 18 month ABSN, 10hrs week at $20/hr = ~$14k earned while in public program.... ~34k earned while in the one that lets you do 24hrs/wk.

$40k cost - $14k earned = you're $26k in debt. Now you get your RN job, and your income nearly doubles from $42k to >$75k (median BSN salary in 2014).
$60k cost - $34k earned = you're $26k in debt, but you had to work a lot and probably had a stressful 18 months.

Alternatively you pay $60k and spend 2 years getting your ADN, probably end up in same amount of debt but now you have a lower salary and worse career prospects and will end up going back for the BSN at some point anyways ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[RunnerDoug87]

You probably want to check that isn't 3 days of class a week plus clinical days on top.

Also look at how many clinical hours each program has and where their clinical placements are.

Lastly, make sure the program is ACEN or CCNE accredited and holds a regional academic accreditation.

$60K for an associates degree is completely nuts. Rediculously laughably dumb. Like ITT Tech level bullcrap. Our community college RN program is less than $6k including books and fees!

60K will get you a private ABSN in the big city!

There's a $120K BSN program in my State as well. A 2 year ASN with books run you about $30-$32K total.

Again apologies for the thread derailment. I have taken accelerated classes over the Summer and bombed in the classes. Take in the fall spread out I do much better. Something also weighing with the ABSN programs.

 

[Summit]

There's a $120K BSN program in my State as well. A 2 year ASN with books run you about $30-$32K total.

Because you googled up a 120K BSN doesn't mean that a 60K or even a 30K associates program makes sense.

Look, the EMS ppl in this thread advising you happen to also be a CRNA, two RNs, and and a medical student. Our knowledge and experience probably outweigh your internet search. We've answered threads like this well over a dozen times. If you need further clarity, head over to allnurses.com and ask them what they think, but I'll tell you the answers will be about the same.

Again apologies for the thread derailment. I have taken accelerated classes over the Summer and bombed in the classes. Take in the fall spread out I do much better. Something also weighing with the ABSN programs.

Fair enough, but if that is the case, then you should absolutely not plan on working as much as you have said you will work while in RN school.

 

[RunnerDoug87]

Schools in my State are ridiculously expensive and not very flexible. Unless you shell out the cash the way it goes the more cash the more accommodating programs are in offering flexible school schedules. That is part of the reason for wanting to get out of this State. That an taxes, but that's a whole other issue ha.

I considered LPN and Medic route because I saw a few job openings, especially LPN, in California prison system.

Because you googled up a 120K BSN doesn't mean that a 60K or even a 30K associates program makes sense.

Look, the EMS ppl in this thread advising you happen to also be a CRNA, two RNs, and and a medical student. Our knowledge and experience probably outweigh your internet search. We've answered threads like this well over a dozen times. If you need further clarity, head over to allnurses.com and ask them what they think, but I'll tell you the answers will be about the same.


Fair enough, but if that is the case, then you should absolutely not plan on working as much as you have said you will work while in RN school.

 

[Akulahawk]

@RunnerDoug87 : given the fact that you're still pretty stuck on the programs in your state, in order to get more specific advice as to how you should proceed, you should let us know where you're located (which state) and perhaps general area within that state if it's a relatively large one. I know you are careful about work requirements. Some programs do have them... but it is possible to work a full-time job while going to school full-time. How do I know? I did it. It sucked horribly, but I was able to make it work. The key thing to remember is that schools aren't usually going to be flexible in their scheduling. Why? They may have to coordinate clinical sites with other schools and this very much makes it nearly impossible to allow YOU to do your clinicals when YOU want to or are able to do them. You also seem to be under the impression that if you pay a program upfront that they'll be more flexible. They won't. When you do that, they've got you. You can fail and they may not be all that willing to refund much of the "remaining" tuition because you've paid for the slot, not a guarantee of a pass or entry to the program.

Oh, yeah, my school officially forbade/strongly discouraged us from working while going to school. My program was a very inflexible public college program. I had to work full-time or I would have lost the house and pretty much everything else, so I had no real choice in working or not. My only option was to find a work schedule that worked around my school schedule. I made it work. My sanity is consequently probably somewhat marginal but... then again I'm having fun doing what I do.

 

[justatech]

Here in OR and WA the LPN's have for the most part gone the way of the landline phone. The only places I know of that utilize them are care facilities and I think some correctional institutions. Im not sure if the training is even offered at any of the usual schools. Everything is so regional and LPN's may well be used but its really not what it used to be. Our ER has more than a few older RN's that suffered their way thru medic jobs they used as stops on their way to RN. The gold standard now at least in OR/WA emergency medicine is RN/BSN,in our ER's it mandatory for new hire ER RN's. EMT-P has been a degree program for a while now which really makes one need to rethink their career path. The common thinking now is to bypass the medic cert and go BSN. Later on drop back into medic and go play in the field. There are some very good reasons for this line of thought and it comes from more than a few RN's that spent their time a medics while they worked towards their BSN. Of course money is the big one followed by the endless need for RN's and especially ER RN's.