Now that I have finished my nursing prerequisites and made the decision not to go back to work, it seems like it’s either now or never to go to nursing school. As always, there are a few bumps in this road, so the decision as I see it will be basically made up of three parts hurtles and one part guts.
Hurtle 1: find a school that will let me in. "Finished the prerequisites," as I’ve discovered, is a relative term because the requirements vary from state to state and even school to school. I may or may not need Microbiology (blort) and/or Human Growth and Development (major eye-rolling). Plus, there is a surplus of students willing and able to fill the nursing shortage and a dearth of spots to train them. Finally, not all schools or locations are created equal, so I have to do some digging into the list. Quick example: I had found a program at Bunker Hill Community College and thought it looked promising. Then I happened to watch the movie "The Town" a few days ago and learned Bunker Hill is actually the center of Charlestown, which apparently produces more bank robbers than any other location in the country. In fact, a BHCC building appears in one scene in which the protagonist has a fist fight with his friend. Yikes!
Hurtle 2: cost. After sitting down and crunching the numbers on our current school debt, we sadly came to the realization that we need to see a financial adviser who can help us pave the way to the black as quickly as possible. Incurring a lot of new debt is not an option for us because, to be frank, we don’t want it to be. That takes Harvard out of the equation (Darn! That was the only reason I wasn’t going to Harvard. Sigh. Oh, that and the fact that they don’t have a nursing school. Otherwise, I was a shoo in!).
Hurtle 3: the kids. You could lump this hurtle in with #2 because it all boils down to whether or not I can find a place for the kids to go while I’m in class that isn’t exorbitantly expensive. In a city where the average cost of day care seems to be $1,800/month per kid, that ain’t exactly an easy proposition. I’m hoping we can find an affordable place to put Vivi part-time, and perhaps I can find another mom in school who wants to trade off watching the babies.
And lastly, of course, is courage. Assuming I overcome the obstacles above, I still have to find the pluck to do it. I’m trying to quiet the superego (What if I’m no good at it? What if I try it and find out I don’t like it? What if I can’t find a job?) and just go for it.