Hi! I'm a nursing student in SoCal...San Diego area...My advice to you is: 1) to decrease as much debt as possible BEFORE you start the program...i.e. pay off all credit cards, loans, etc...2) Get ready for an anxiety attack...Working FULL time IS NOT POSSIBLE during nursing school, In fact you will probably be told at your program's orientation that they do not want you to work at ALL... so you can work part time (thats what I do) BUT that leads me to 3) BE FLEXIBLE...nothing is static in nursing school... your lecture and clinical times will change with every class...sometimes with only a day or two's notice...so if you are going to work, you have to be in a job that will be flexible with you. And Nursing school doesnt care about any life issues you may have...the philosophy is that there are 6000 people wanting your position in this school, if you dont want to jump through the hoops then dont and dont be here either...Reschedule any vacations to times when you are on break from school, tell your friends you cant go out and party, and tell your husband that he is now a patient...(you will want to practice on him) 4) be ready to switch your insurance benefits to your husband's company or be ready to purchase student health insurance...many companies do not offer part time employees insurance... 5) If you dont have to work, I mean if it is not entirely neccessary for you to work to pay bills, DONT...Nursing school is VERY, VERY STRESSFUL, BUT IT IS SO WORTH IT!!! You will succeed! You just have to ask your self if you are ready to make the sacrifices needed. I AM RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY that I am in nursing school and I cant believe its actually happening...This is a great thing! Good Luck! And let me know if you need any help with filling out applications or anything!

Actually working full time is possible but you have to be disciplined. There is a BSN program here that is geared towards students who work full time. I work part time now but did work full time up until actually this semester because I want to hurry up and finish and took a lot of classes this semester. Now with that said you do have to be on a schedule and let some things go. There are a lot of people in my program that work full time and have since they started the program. My school offers evening classes and weekend clinicals that is how people can get away with working during the week. It is up to you and the course schedule that your school offers. But if your school does only offers classes and clinicals during the day you may have to get creative with your work schedule.

Have you looked at NursingLink's school finder? You can access it here You can use it to look for schools in your area.

I'm getting my CNA so I can work third-shift while I go to school. It sucks, and I'll be sleeping weird hours, but I know lots of people who have done it and it seems the best way to eradicate scheduling conflicts. Plus it gets you some hospital or care experience while you're working on your RN.