When Applying to Nursing School ( Tips )

Nursing school is the main place to go to when you want to get your nursing diploma. There are two ways to do it. First, there is the brick and mortar nursing school. These are mostly nursing colleges that offer degrees that you can take. If your schedule does not permit you to go to this kind of school, then you can search the Internet and find online nursing schools.

When applying for nursing schools one has to do these simple steps so that you will not feel stressed out or nervous.

Prerequisite Courses

A prospective student needs to finish all the prerequisite courses needed for you to be accepted in the nursing college. You need to finish your high school diploma. Subjects like math and science should also be taken as well as some English classes.

Get a Nursing Experience

Schools will highly favor you if you also did some volunteer work. This shows how serious you are in taking this kind of career. So make sure that you find volunteer work within your community or local hospitals. You are not only helping but you are also preparing yourself for the full course ahead.

Search the Best Schools

Getting into the best nursing school is very important. Of course, it will also take perseverance and hard work but finding the best one should be a very important task. Do not just settle for the first one that you see. You have to choose carefully because this is your future.

Prepare and Apply Early

Once you have chosen the school where you want to study, then it is time to gather all the necessary documents that are needed by the school. You have to ask the Admissions Office about the complete list of requirements because it might take a while for you to collate everything. Remember that you have to make sure that all requirements and application are sent early to avoid being waitlisted.

Avoid the Waiting List

If it does happen that you find yourself in a school where there are a lot of enrollees then make sure you have another school where you can apply to. Being waitlisted would mean a delay in your nursing course. As we know the market for nurses these days are quite stiff. One has to start early in order to get a good job after graduation. If you delay your studies then you also delay your nursing career.

As a BS degree in Respiratory Therapy graduate or ASN basics graduate, choose the best school for your nursing.

 The Top 5 Nursing Schools in the United Sate Of America.

A career in Medicine is a way to become a valuable part of your local community and society as a whole. Many options for employment and personal satisfaction exist in the field of medicine. There are jobs like nursing, radiology, phlebotomy, etc. through which people can contribute to the field of healthcare and medicine without needing to invest numerous years in a medical college to become a physician. Nursing is a medical occupation that is lucrative and highly fulfilling. Currently there is a demand to attend the best nursing colleges in order to get the top nursing education available.

Some people think these kinds of jobs do not require any kind of education, and that you can begin working in this career with little on-the-job training. However, when we are talking about working on other people one must be knowledgeable about how the human body works and procedures to be followed. Nursing programs provide the necessary background and skill set to enter this specialized field and be ready to take on the work competently. These programs provide education in biology, anatomy, physiology and an understanding of medical apparatus you will use on a daily basis. Below are some of the top colleges in the United States for Nursing:

Johns Hopkins University:

Located in Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins is known for its School of Nursing and the Bloomberg School of Public Health - both renowned in providing the tops in health education. Ranked #1 in the nation, Hopkins is considered one of the preeminent schools for nursing education. It is one of the top recipients of funding for research from the NIH, receiving approximately $7 million in funding each year. Baltimore is a vibrant and artsy city with plenty to do, and sites such as the National Aquarium and the Baltimore Waterfront.

University of Pennsylvania:

The School of Nursing, located in Philadelphia, PA, and is best known for its graduate nursing and pediatric nursing programs. They were ranked number one in the country in master's education in fields such as medical/surgical nursing, nursing anesthesia and nursing midwifery. They offer numerous programs from bachelors through to a PhD in Nursing. Located in the historic city of Philadelphia, this school is surrounded by restaurants, museums, clubs and theatres. As an Ivy League school, Penn School of Nursing holds its place firmly on this list.

University of Washington

Considered a public ivy institution, the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle is known for providing excellent education in both general nursing and nursing midwifery. The university's research budget is one of the highest in the U.S. Hundreds of students flock here every year to enroll in their nursing programs. In addition to nursing there are programs for public health, Physician assistant, pharmacy, occupational therapy, etc. Graduates from this school are highly sought after, and make good money. Seattle is a city that promotes outdoor living, and exploration of the natural surroundings of Washington State. Hiking, biking, fishing and kayaking are all very popular pastimes in this beautiful area.

University of California - San Francisco

The best graduate nursing college in the University of California system is located in San Francisco. Focusing solely on health and the biomedical sciences, The School of Nursing is located in Parnassus, along with the schools of dentistry, medicine, pharmacy and biomedical sciences. The university is best known for it's innovative medical research, public service, and patient care. Nursing specialties include nurse practitioner, psychiatric/mental health and gerontology/geriatrics. San Francisco is a diverse and dynamic city with the famous trolly system, and amazing places to visit like Fishermans Wharf, Chinatown, Union Square, and Nob hill - just to name a few. Explore the Golden Gate Park and see the famous bridge, in person, while exploring this highly acclaimed school.

University of North Carolina:

University of North Carolina School of Nursing and School of Public Health is recognized for the exceptional education they provide in the Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Consistently ranked in the top 10, they provide degrees from bachelors to Ph.D. Ranked #4 overall in 2012, they specialize in psychiatric/mental health clinical nurse specialist, nursing service administration, pediatric nurse practitioner, and family nurse practitioner. Located in picturesque Chapel Hill, local sites include planetarium, botanical gardens, theatres and art museums, and of course golf courses. Southern cooking abounds, and the historic district offers antiquing and historic home tours.

An education in nursing from a top ranked university or college can speed up your career and make it easier to obtain a well paying position in the city of your choice. Just try to get a hands-on feel for the college before you say yes. Any of the universities mentioned provide a top-flight education and will open doors to a prestigious and satisfactory career in nursing.

Students finish college anchored to loan debt

CHICAGO — A college education used to be a ticket to a secure future. Now, a generation of students and graduates is walking off campus with a collective $1 trillion in student loan debt and troubling career prospects. The daunting combination is forcing them to rethink their futures, postponing weddings, home purchases and vacations to make hefty monthly payments on loans that will follow them into middle age.

It's a financial and emotional strain their parents didn't have, or at least not to the same degree. Just two decades ago, fewer than half of undergraduates finished school with debt, and the average was less than $10,000. This spring, two- thirds of graduates are expected to have debt, owing an average of $29,000. In fact, student loan debt now exceeds the country's credit card debt.

Addressing the outcry heard from Occupy Wall Street protests to kitchen tables in the Chicago area, President Obama last week sped up plans to help graduates dig out. Some borrowers will be able to lower their maximum required payments starting next year, with balances forgiven after 20 years. Borrowers will also have the chance to consolidate loans at a lower interest rate.

But even those proposals may mean only modest help, and won't help those who've already defaulted.
And future students could face even heavier financial burdens. The cost of going to college has risen faster than inflation, home prices and even health care costs. Tuition at the average public university is up 8.3 percent this fall, and 123 colleges now charge $50,000 or more for tuition, fees, and room and board, according to data released last week.

While a college degree will lead to significantly higher earnings over a lifetime, the unemployment rate for recent graduates is more than 10 percent.

"What we know is it is impacting so many people," said John Pelletier, director of the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College in Vermont. "I think many of them have been surprised, as have been their parents. There are many of them like the folks who may have gotten into mortgages they regret and don't understand."

An ongoing bill
 
That's true for Steven Kent, who graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2009 with a journalism degree and $49,000 in federal student loan debt. His payment notices asked for at least $650 a month, he said, more than his $533 rent.

Kent, 27, is working at a Starbucks where he earns about $1,500 in salary and tips a month. He hasn't paid back a penny of his loans.

"I didn't have an expectation that it would be this ongoing bill I would carry forever. I thought it would be like a utility bill, not another rent payment," said Kent, whose deferment ends in April. "It is like having a ticking time bomb around your neck."

Laura Perna, an education professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said that while most students borrow reasonable amounts of money, an "important share of the population" has excessive amounts of debt.

"This is a relatively new phenomenon," Perna said. "For those students, it is influencing many dimensions of their post-undergraduate life."

In 2005, when the advocacy group Project on Student Debt began, there was so little attention to the issue that founders couldn't decide on an organization name. "There wasn't the term 'student debt,' " said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access and Success, the home of the debt project. "There was so little awareness of how much our higher education system had changed and how heavily it had come to rely on student debt."

"College is still the best investment you can make in the future and our country's future," Asher said. "But like any investment, the returns are not guaranteed."

A 'scary thought'
 
Nija Fountano is in college, but she's already, little by little, paying off her student loans.
About $60 a month goes toward a loan payment, money earned from the two jobs she has in addition to going to school full time at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She expects to graduate in the spring with $30,000 in private and federal loan debt.

"That is becoming an increasingly scary thought because I don't have any savings," Fountano said. "I don't know if I would say it weighs on me daily, but having such a tight budget and living paycheck to paycheck is a stress on its own."

An urban-planning student, Fountano, 21, is postponing graduate school plans until she feels more financially secure. She works at Whole Foods and as a gymnastics instructor, and she hopes to get a job related to her field of study after graduating.

"Was it worth it? It is definitely worth it, but it is really difficult, and sometimes when I think about it, I wonder if maybe I could have done it differently," she said.

No buying a house 
 
Like many young married couples, Jessica and Ian Riley share everything they have, including $30,000 of student loan debt.

She still owes about $21,000 on a loan she took out to pay for the Western Michigan University bachelor's degree she received in 2006. The debt eats $400 from her monthly pay.
He owes $9,000 for a semester of an online course he took from Ashford University. He pays $627 a month.

"It definitely changes, like, your whole mind frame of things that you do, and not getting any more credit cards, or not accruing any more debt," Jessica Riley said. "We have rented for 11 years. I would love to own a home, but honestly I don't see that happening."
The Rileys, both 29, say they wish the federal government could do something to lower interest rates or offer more flexible repayment plans.

"Just give graduates some kind of solution," she said. "We want to pay our debt, but it needs to be a reasonable manner where we can eat and breathe and be happy."

Working two jobs
 
Natalie Quist, 28, doesn't look at the statements on her student loans anymore. They make her queasy.
She's well aware that she owes $13,000 on a federal loan and $19,000 more to a private lender.
The debt, which requires $500 in payments each month, forced her to take a second job, never mind that neither it nor her first job is related to psychology or criminal justice, her college majors.
"I wouldn't say my degree is useless, but it doesn't get you as far as you thought it would," said Quist, who graduated from Loyola University Chicago in 2006.

Because of the debt, Quist doesn't have a car. She'd also like to go to graduate school, but she doesn't dare add to her loan balance.

Still, Quist considers herself lucky in some ways. She would be worse off, she said, had she not gotten a $36,000 academic scholarship to reduce her tuition bill. And she knows the price of higher education has only risen since she got her diploma.


"It's probably worse for kids entering college right now," Quist said. "I can't imagine."