Hi I’m new to this and have a few questions. I’m exploring becoming an NP.

I graduate with a SLP bachelors degree in a year. Do I need to go back to school to get my RN? How long would that normally take if I already have a bachelors degree?

Also could I go to NP school right after I get my RN? Or do I have to be an RN for a certain amount of time before? Thanks!

Hey for anyone who has already taken their exam, did you find the Sarah Michelle review course helpful? Were the questions similar in style or helpful. I am doing better in the course, but not great on FNP mastery. Any advice would be appreciated!

I'm curious if there's anyone with expertise on the mentioned topic and insights into the academic routes to pursue it. I'm presently employed as a pediatric med-surg nurse at a Level 1 Trauma Center in Florida. My goal is to become a Pediatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). I'm currently completing my BSN while juggling full-time work and full-time school, with an expected completion date in Spring 2024. For academic options I was looking at FAU as they have a PMHNP program, but from the information the academic advisor gave me, they don't have such specialty in the realm of pediatrics, its just generalized Psychiatry. I figured the best source to ask is those that are already NPs.

Hello everyone,

So I'm currently a 2nd year college student and I'm about to do my transfer applications. I have an AA-Psychology, an AA-Kinesiology, and I may get an AS-Public Health if time permits.

My current plan is to complete an AS-Radiologic Technologies, then transfer out for a BA-Psychology, work as a RT while completing undergrad and hopefully be able to apply to a physician assistant master's program once I've completed my undergrad. My end goal is to work in psychiatry as a PA (IP, OP, or EM-Psych), though I'm open to other suggestions; I've thought of Ortho and EM, I mainly just want to not take work home, once I'm out of the clinic I want to spend that time with my family.

That being said, I've looked into other programs; it would take me the same 2 year time-span to complete a BS-N or a BS-RT program, compared to the 4 years total it would take me to get an AS-RT followed by BA-Psych. I've been thinking about the pros/cons for each; my guess is that working as an RN would allow me to practice handling large amounts of patients within a given day, but working as a RT would allow me to understand both the logistics and limitations of radiologic imaging when I would perhaps be ordering them as a PA.

Also, while money isn't my primary motivation, I saw on BLS that RNs make ~USD $30k more than RTs (I'm located within southern California, and am not willing to relocate to another state). NP's also make a significant amount more than PAs, and I've heard NPs must specialize but PAs are more common in surgical modalities. Independence of an NP is irrelevant to me, as I'd prefer to work under the SP regardless.

My pre-requisites have been completed for both nursing and rad-tech programs, I have a 3.45 GPA, and I intend to apply to both and make my final decisions once I've seen what programs I've gotten into... application deadlines for these various programs fall in between december '23 - june '24

I'm actively searching for shadowing opportunities within all these careers to see what I'd prefer as well, though most of the professionals I know are more-so in administration.

My question is:

In retrospect, which path would prepare me more to be a mid-level provider? Is it worth considering RN or NP instead? Is it worth favoring RN vs RT for the sole purpose of having better job security in the case that I don't end up applying for a masters? Any other insights and personal experiences into the said careers would be helpful.

As the title says: I’ve been an RN for about ten years and I want to go back for my NP. I have my BSN. I used Wgu for my BSN but they don’t offer NP in California.

Anyone have any experience with a mostly online school that works for CA?

Thx:)

What are some good sites or apps to use to take Pharm and Patho practice questions to study for exams? Ideally low cost or free, if they exist. I need a better way to study and retain information than just reading the same chapters repeatedly.

Thanks for any help!

I've been looking at different FNP programs and was considering SLU. Have any of you gone here and if so what was your experience like?

Hey everyone, I’m new here. I have my BS in Cognitive Neuroscience and I wanna be either an NP or a PA. My options rn are to either keep trying for PA with the crazy low acceptance rates or to try ti get into a direct entry MSN program. I’m in Southern California and would love some advice or recommendations.

I’m just starting the process of applying to PMHNP programs. I plan to ask the admission counselors about this as well but how did clinicals work for you structurally? I’m told I’ll have to commit 16 hours a week eventually to clinical hours.

Do the hours basically depend on when your preceptor works? Technically could you do one 10 hour shift and one 8 hour shift? Can you do 24 hours one week and go lighter the next week? Can you be with two different preceptors for the two days or must it stay the same?

Currently I do case management in the home care setting M-F. Im usually out seeing clients from 7:40 to around noon. Im also the primary breadwinner in the family. Do you think it would be doable to keep doing this “full time”? I feel like I will need to have the two days off to fit the time in while not driving myself crazy and also having time for family (two young kids). I can and typically do meet my weekly “quota” of patient visits in three days so down the road I am thinking discussing this or some other possible schedule shift with my supervisor .

I would like to be a NP one day, however I graduated in finance lol. I have done a lot of science classes since I got accepted to nursing school. I am 26. What have you all heard about direct entry MSN programs. there is a private one near me that will be about 36 months and 80K. What do you think?

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I think the Direct entry can be good, but it's a lot of time and money to spend.

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Or would I be a better fit in the PA world?

Hi. Thinking about going back to school for FNP. I’m 50 and tired of bedside inpatient nursing. Looking into USC (so expensive and is it worth going there) and CSUDH. Any thoughts, advice, recommendations, opinions and comments welcomed.

Has anyone gone through EKU's Rural Health FNP program? Pros? Cons? Would you recommend it?

I'm considering going back to school and am looking for recommendations for FNP programs. I'm finishing my BSN with Chamberlain University and have had a good experience but I'm not sure how to scope out a good program to thoroughly prepare me versus diploma mills. Where did you go/are going? Why did you choose them? What has your experience been like?

Why in the heck would anyone choose to take both exams? Well, mostly curiosity. I had read so many things about which exam to take that I wanted to know for myself the true differences. Plus I used my discount from being a AANP member and got a substantial discount on both exams.

I am sharing my experiences to give back because prior to taking the exams, I read so many of other people's posts about the exams and found them helpful. So here goes....

How long did I study? I started studying end of June and I took the AANP end of July 26. I took the ANCC FNP exam early August 7.

What did I do? I bought the online Fitzgerald review course where you can learn at your own pace online. I had also bought the Leik book. I did each section in the review. Then read only the "important" or highlighted boxes from Leik and the beginning of the book has really valuable tips. Then I started taking practice questions from Leik and Fitzgerald. But soon felt like they were too in the weeds. I came across Sarah Michelle's test bank which I paid 39 dollars for the month to access. These questions were way more similar to the actual exam and I liked that when in tutor mode each question explains the reason why an answer is correct. Very similar to FNP Mastery which is an app that I downloaded last year and did about 20 questions a week. I also bought one of the AANP practice exams which was useful for me mentally to see what the questions were like. On most of all the practice exams, I would get about 75-85% and I would do 175 to get a feel for what that felt like.

In hindsight: My program fell apart during COVID and did a really bad job at preparing us in several areas including peds. I felt the Fitzgerald was helpful as a general review and knowledge building but honestly, I'm not sure how much it prepared me to pass the exams. I did find the sections on peds especially the different common peds conditions (and how to differentiate) as well as the pregnancy sections helpful. I also learned and will continue to use some of the helpful mnemonics in the cardiac section to memorize different heart sounds and murmurs. Other than that the most helpful thing was just taking tons of test questions. Getting in the mindset of how to interpret what the question is asking and reading the explanation when I get a test question wrong was the best way for me to learn. I did not open the Fitzgerald book once so that was definitely a waste of money. I found Fitzgerald's tests and info to be a bit too detailed and in the weeds. I would be curious what the Sarah Michelle course would be like because her test bank was the best and closest to the actual exam.

AANP: much more clinical. There are I believe 3 versions of this exam. Mine didn't have many of the things I had expected such as tanner or development questions, murmurs, pregnancy etc. My friend who took it had more ortho, murmur, peds than I did. Mine had at least 6 eye questions, hypo/hyper thyroid, and tons of abx and many medications. You don't have to know the dose. Other than that it was crazy random info and things that I didn't expect or really focus on such as HIV therapy. During the test, I definitely felt like I was going to fail. I felt that it was challenging and didn't test on common conditions or things I would have expected. Know your first and second line abx. I had no theory, practice, law, or values questions. Pure clinical.

AANC: many of the questions were theory, values, confidentiality, laws, cultural competency, regulations, stages of development, hyper/hypo T, and pregnancy. Very few medication-related questions, I can remember maybe 5. All multiple choice. I didn't have any select all the above or fill in the blank. One picture of a patient's face asked me to identify the condition. I felt the wording and the questions were much easier than the AANP. Some of the questions were downright easy and some were more challenging. There were at least 3 that I legit had no idea what they were talking about so I just guessed but I had some of those on AANP too.

Summary: do TONS of practice questions and read every time you get wrong, why that answer is correct.

AANP- way more clinical or quantitative and I felt it more challenging. It reminded me more of my CCRN certification exam for critical care. Lots of meds, side effects, and treatment strategies.

ANCC-more qualitative aka fluffy: cultural competency, values, laws, research questions (which are easy if you can just remember the hierarchy of research). All multiple choice with one picture questions.

I hope this helps and if anyone has any suggestions on which certification I should use and maintain please reply!

Hi! I am just finishing my RN degree here in Ontario and may finish my program with a low gpa of 3.66 on 4.3. It could be a little higher but I am preparing the the lowest as of now.
After I get a few years of experience working, I would definitely be interested in applying for NP school. Is this GPA going to cut it for York or TMU? In desperate need of some info.
Additionally, I would be prepared to go to the united states for NP school as well as it may be a little easier to get in there (I've heard). Are there any Canadian nurses that went to the states for NP school and returned to Canada for practice?
Any info would be of help! Thank you :)

I have been accepted to Ohio University’s FNP program for the fall semester and am now questioning if this is the path for me. I’ve been an ED nurse for 4 years, and worked in manufacturing for 20 plus years prior to nursing school. I really love the ED and would like to continue working in the ED or urgent care setting if I graduate from NP school. Part of the driver for me to become an NP is to potentially work a day or 2 per week in retirement as I haven’t been the greatest saver for retirement; I’ll be 50 this year. On the other side, I’m having a tough time coming to terms with another 2 years of school and the working part time to accommodate clinical hours. Additionally, my only child is off to college this fall I will now have more free time to get back into the things I did before we had a kid. Has anyone here wished they had not gone to school and pursued other interests? Are you glad you made the decision to go to NP school?

Hello! Current new grad(ish) NICU nurse thinking about going back to school for my FNP in a few (or more) years. I definitely want to make sure I have experience that is going to BUILD my knowledge base. NICU is so specialized (but I looove it, just don't want to do NNP), so I am thinking about shifting into a different RN job that will help me to get the experience I'll need to be an effective NP. Any ideas? Thinking about ED or Family Med. Thanks!

Looking at moving in Hawaii where my in-laws are and return to school for DNP FNP (No other program offered at the school) in about two years. I’d have 5 years of experience. In-state tuition is $63,000. I would prefer no to work and still want to be able to invest into our IRAs. Factoring all this in and the cost of living and any additional burden of loans, I’m assuming that this is a poor financial move, correct?

Forecasting this, I’m looking in to joining the Air Force as a nurse (4 years) to get the GI Bill and then return to school where I’d have full tuition paid for as well as a large chunk of housing.
I think that while trying the Air Force our for four years would be a valuable experience, I’m torn over having to decide putting off more schooling almost as if it’s a detour to end up in a theoretical better financing position.
Any thoughts?

Is anyone going to URegina in Saskatchewan? I’d love to connect with other students!

1. Work-life balance: For you NPs and MDs out there, are you still able to find time for non-work related things, such as spending time with loved ones, having occasional time for yourselves, and having a family? Many of the physicians I have met have had mixed responses to this - some say that they were able to make time for the things they considered important, while others stated that although they are happy where they are now, they had to be miserable for a few years to get there, and still have a hard time with balance sometimes. I wonder what this is like for NPs?
2. Financial security: It is no surprise that physicians, on average, earn substantially more than nurse practitioners, which makes sense because of the difference in the level of specialty between both healthcare professionals; however, I wonder how the difference in salary affects lifestyle and if nurse practitioners are still able to live comfortably with some level of financial freedom?
3. Scope of practice: From my understanding, there are a lot more restrictions and limitations to the level of care that a nurse practitioner can provide. I wonder if the path of an NP has brought many to a wall, or made them feel like they could be doing more than they are actually doing? Have any of you experienced this?
4. Personal health: There is a lot of stress that can come with working in a healthcare setting, and although many people can be hardy, resilient, and rational, there can be times when they internalize and embody the workplace when coming home at the end of the day. I realize that many Doctors are on call, especially in their first several years as a resident, whereas NPs are not, so I wonder how this difference affects peoples mental health. After you've retired from your role as a care provider for the day, and when you come home, are you able to let go?
5. Lastly, I am interested in the logistics of opening up a private practice - I was wondering if there was anyone that could highlight some of the differences between administrating and running a clinic as an NPs vs an MDs.

Any information helps :) Thank you to all who took the time to read and respond!

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread but I think it's correct!

Hi there! Wondering if anyone out there has attended Denver's hybrid MSN FNP program? It is the only school I will be applying to for spring admission as I'm not ready to move from where I live quite yet. Just wondering if anyone knows how competitive it is. I have biology and nursing bachelors degrees with summa cum laude honors for both, 4 years of nursing experience with management experience as well, and three great references. A friend that edits personal statements is going to help me out, just nervous as I haven't been to school in so long!

Any advice about applying, interviewing, finding clinicals would be appreciated. I'm nervous they'll see I'm applying from out of state and immediately nix me, does it matter if I'm planning to move there for school? TIA

Hello all. Sooo ever since I started working in the ICU/CCU of the hospital that I work for as a registered dietitian, I realized that I wanted to pursue nursing to provide more direct and advance care for patients. I've been shadowing and working with some NP's and after spending time with and observing them I realized that this is what I want to do and I want to go for it. I'm looking into direct entry MSN programs and wanted to know what my chances are if anyone has any insight. These are some of my "stats" right now...

*BS - Interdisciplinary Studies (2.4 GPA) - unfortunate story of completing my undergrad with a few undiagnosed mental health problems. I was able to rectify these after graduation... a little late.

*MS - Master of Dietetics for RDN Licensure (3.8 GPA from accredited program) - these were a mix of nutrition and upper level science courses. I also completed internships with a rehabilitation and non-profit hospital.

*Additional Science Pre-reqs (3.75 GPA) - two more remaining

*500 + hours as a dietetic intern (direct patient interaction/nutrition care)

*360 + hours CNA (and counting)

*2000 + hours clinical RDN (and counting)

*I have 1 physician, 2 NPs, and a supervisor to write recommendation letters for me.

*I still have to take the GRE, I plan on taking this very soon.

Any insight, critique, knowledge, advice would be greatly appreciated. I heard these programs are really competitive.

Considering pursuing PNP in the PNW. any PNPs out there can shed some light or give advice... Is it worth it? Or would you just stick to RN if you could do it all over again? The program I'm looking into is 3 years (DNP) at a brick and mortar school very good reputation but it's about 90k.

Why are you choosing to pursue NP over going for MD. Just a curious nursing student.

I've been a therapist for several years (LMFT in California), and with the lack of competent perinatal prescribers in my area, I've considered going back to school to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I spoke to someone at a conference today who said there's a way to do it in 3 years since I already have a master's degree in counseling psychology. Can anybody share with me how that might be done? It sounded like a year of nursing school and then a PhD program? But I was not clear on the details. And would I have to work under a physician once it's all done? I appreciate any input.

I passed the AANP and ANCC this week! And it's truly all thanks to the Lord and SM Reviews! I prayed everyday for the Lord to expand my knowledge and provide me with wisdom and go ahead of me to prepare the exam that is right for me. I read posts on here everyday which gave me encouragement. Since other people’s posts helped me, I decided to write one as well hoping this will help at least one person. I apologize in advanced about the very very very long post. I wrote a short summary of all of this at the end of the post.

Here is what I did leading up to the exam date.

First of all, I purposely did not try to find a job before passing my exam because it would add more stress and burden on me to pass. Kudos to people who were able to find a job right after graduation, but that path was personally not for me mentally.

1. SM Review

I planned to study for 7 weeks as soon as it hit Jan 1st because I joined the Sarah Michelle live review that started on 1/1/23 (which I highly recommend if you can afford it!!!) Unfortunately, I got hit with a bad case of Covid and was sick for 2 weeks. During these two weeks, I continued to watch the daily scheduled SM videos according to the live review calendar even though I couldn’t take notes in the provided study guide from being so sick. This sucked because once I felt better and picked up my pencil to start taking notes and catch up, it felt almost impossible to catch up! Each day’s worth of studying required at least 6 hours for me personally. Maybe I’m a slow writer? Maybe I was writing too many details?? I don’t know what it was! But even a 10 min video took me at least 1 hour to write notes on and fully understand the material. Watching the videos first without note taking just to understand the material, then spending hours taking notes on the videos I just watched barely gave me time left for practice questions. Still, I made sure to never skip any of the SM mandatory daily quizzes which had 5 questions. SM recommends you to take 20-30 questions every day. I agree with this for the beginning of your study period because then you will not be stressing out about all the questions you have to answer and all the rationales you have to read and understand. In the beginning, you’re already stressed out because you feel like there is an ocean of info you need to learn and remember, so taking too many practice questions can add to that stress.

I hear a lot of people say they regretted buying the comprehensive course bundle because there’s a lot of info from the in depth diagnosis and pharmacology courses that are repeated in the crash course. While this is true, this helped me tremendously in retaining information by hearing it over and over in different videos. So for me personally, I highly recommend getting the comprehensive course bundle or even better, take the live review course if you are able.

Basically, SM review videos and the question bank were the MUST HAVEs for me!

2. Leik

I truly believe SM live review is all you need but while I was studying I was so anxious SM might not be enough so I used the Leik practice questions as well (bought the book and used the 6 month digital access that is included). I wanted to read through the whole book but I didn’t have enough time after being sick for so long. I only read the professional role review chapters and completed the 4 practice exams that are provided at the end of the book. Honestly, I did not like a lot of the Leik questions. They were based on older guidelines and because of that I had to read rationales that did not match up with SM’s rationales. However, the questions that did not confuse me with older guidelines seemed to help me prepare for the shorter straight up factual questions.

I also thought the Leik questions were harder than the SM questions. This was probably because Leik had more nitty gritty details being asked while SM questions required you to know basic knowledge and apply that knowledge in “case study” like questions. This is also why SM questions were longer and wordier.

3. Last week before the exam

During the last week, I did 1-2 practice exams per day. I did this intentionally to allow my brain to practice concentrating for a long period of time. It definitely helped my brain train for the big day. For people who don’t want to do this on the last week, I would recommend doing at least 1 full practice exam every week.

4. Last day before the exam

On the last day before the exam, I did whatever would make ME feel comfortable and confident. For me, that was doing more practice questions, reviewing notes, playing some sudoku and solitaire while listening to my favorite Christian music. Anything that made ME feel comfortable and confident.

My AANP check in experience:

I’m sure this will look different in every testing center, but here is my experience. When I got there, I checked in with one person who did everything like checking the 2 forms of ID, taking my picture, checking my bags, checking to make sure I turned my phone off. Then, I put my belongings in my locker and went to my designated seat. After checking in with the testing center, it sucked because there was a wifi shut down for about 30 mins which made my anxiety worse. But eventually, things settled and I was able to start the exam. At my testing center, they provided me with a pencil and pink 8x11 paper to write notes on the front/back. At my testing seat, there was a new set of ear plugs and set of headphones to use if I wanted. I did end up using both but I will mention that you will be able to hear your heartbeat and breathing noises, so if that will distract you more or make you more nervous, I would advise you not to use them.

My AANP exam experience:

The exam had a good mix of easy, medium, and hard questions. A good mix of pediatrics, derm, respiratory, cardiac, musculoskeletal, GI, and non clinical. There were a few very wordy questions which I was used to because SM practice questions were intentionally wordy to help us learn how to tackle those questions. I was surprised by the variety of questions I got! I'm a person who always was a bad test taker and ended up flagging around 50 questions by the end of the exam. After going through the flagged questions again, only ended up with 35 questions that I truly did not have confidence in and hoped that 15 of them were the pretest/ungraded questions lol I only changed 3 of my answers. I prayed before hitting the submit button. I was internally annoyed because after submitting the exam, I was shaking and so nervous about my results but PSI kept making me answer survey questions LOL I answered 19 survey questions before I could see my results. I was surprised by how small the words “pass” showed up on my screen! It took me a second to find it LOL

My ANCC check in experience:

Again, this experience will probably be different for each testing center, but here is my experience. My experience with Prometric felt like a lot to handle but more professional… With PSI for AANP, the whole process was calm and smooth except for the unexpected wifi shut down. Things felt less organized than Prometric but organized enough not to make me anxious before taking my test. With Prometric, the people checking in the students were rushing and speaking so loud which I felt would make the anxious test takers more anxious. However, there was more order because there was an assembly line. You come in, hang your coat, check in with someone with your ID, put your belongings in the locker, bring your locker key and ID with you and then go through a metal detector, and check in with another person before taking the test who takes your picture and fingerprint. There were definitely more steps required before taking the exam unlike AANP where you check in with one person and that’s it; no fingerprinting and no ID required to be visible at all times. I was provided with two 8x11 “laminated” blue papers and two dry erase markers. I was allowed to use both sides but no erasing allowed. At my desk, there was one audio headphone if the test required audio and one noise cancellation headphone (that barely cancelled noise). You have to bring your ID with you and it needed to be facing up the entire exam. You needed to also take your ID with you for bathroom breaks.

My ANCC exam experience:

Honestly, my ANCC exam was EXTREMELY HARD. I didn’t think I would pass one bit. I got no SATA, one picture, and the rest were multiple choice. Most of the questions were non-clinical. I was surprised by the number of questions that asked me about pathophysiology and mechanism of action questions. They also asked a style of questions I have never seen worded in that way before: they gave you why a patient came in to see the NP, and wanted you to choose which findings must be reported in the complete history and physical. I found these questions difficult and hard to answer because I have never seen that style of question before. Basically, there were a ton of questions and topics that I have never studied or seen before. The entire exam as I was answering the questions, I thought to myself “What the heck?? Am I taking the correct test right now??”

There were a few straight forward and easy clinical questions though. I felt for each question, I either knew the answer 100% or I don’t know the answer at all. I also ran across several questions with more than one correct answer choice so process of elimination was hard for me to use for the ANCC exam too. Again, I prayed before I submitted the exam. And I somehow passed! For ANCC, the results do not pop up on the screen immediately after the test. They email you the results. For me, the email came 5 minutes after l I submitted my exam, but I know for some people, it took a whole day.

My Practice Test Exam Scores:

If anyone is curious, here are the practice exam scores I got on SM and Leik. Many of the SM facilitators mentioned that you should get >70% with SM and >80% with Leik.

SM FNP Test #1 88%

SM FNP Test #2 80%

SM FNP Test #3 93%

Leik Test #1 74%

Leik Test #2 78%

Leik Test #3 77%

Leik Test #4 78%

Here are some of the test taking strategies that I learned through SM:

1. If two answers are opposites, it’s likely one of those answers.
2. Answers with absolute language are usually incorrect.
3. Answer choices that allow you to do a further assessment are usually correct.
4. Make sure you’re answering the question that is being asked.
5. If you don’t know the answer, you can always skip it without picking an answer and come back to it.
6. If broader terms are used in the answer choice, it is generally the correct answer rather than an answer choice with absolute terms.
7. The first few questions will seem tough at first and that’s ok! They do that on purpose!

Summary of what helped me:

1. I gave myself 7 weeks to study
2. Used Sarah Michelle’s live review course
3. Used Leik sparsely but did the practice questions and was in the proficient or advanced level for all the topics
4. Bought the Sarah Michelle question bank separately after the live review course ended
5. Did the 4 Leik practice tests at the end of the book the week before the exam
6. Did at least 2,000 practice questions by the end of week 7
7. Prayed through it all

Remind yourself to take deep breaths. Remind yourself you know more than you think. Remind yourself that you have graduated from a difficult graduate program and you are already set to become a NP; just one more step closer. Finally, remember that YOU WILL PASS!!

I was looking at Frontier's NP program. I haven't seen anything bad about it but idk. I want to stay away from chamberlain but is this school similar?

I (21F) have been thinking about medical school for a while now. I am really nervous about how much time/stress it takes. I also worry that I will giving up a lot of time with family and friends, and I don’t know if I want to spend my 20s like that. I know it’s a great investment, but money doesn’t really matter very much to me. I feel like I could achieve a lot of the same moral benefits by being a nurse practitioner over a family doc. I’ll be taking my MCAT in April, but I’m at a crossroads. Please offer any advice that you have!

Additional context: maybe wants to start a family in late 20’s, already engaged to somebody in cyber security, would love to build a house one day, good student (3.83 GPA as a junior premed), and very motivated. Always wanted to be a doctor but feeling very iffy right now. I just want to be able to provide for my family— that’s my biggest concern!

Any NP’s in Alabama, please let me know what your experience has been like

Hey everybody!

I am a current BSN with about 3.5 years experience in Med-Surg/float pool, the last 2 have been through travel contracts. I feel like I have a obtained a solid footing in bedside and really would like to build on it by going back to school..who would have guessed! I don’t know which direction specifically I want to take, but I’m leaning between education or some sort of clinic/hospice/etc?? It seems like an FNP is a decent way of keeping this options open if I end up not vibing with the first route that comes my way.

I have been doing a lot of research and see a lot of people on this sub saying that DNP programs are usually a money grab from academia and they are not usually a factor in hiring? Has this been your experience?

A reputable school in my state offers an online MNE program that would be super convenient as I still want to take intermittent contracts during school and would rather not have to commute a few hours each way. But would this program be too pigeon holing for a potential FNP? Would it be reasonable to start with an MNE and then go back for a post-masters DNP so I could test for FNP? Hopefully I am getting all of the degrees somewhat correct, but forgive me as I am still trying to learn all of the different tracks.

I would love any experience or wisdom you could share about this process and/or what degrees y’all pursued! TIA!!

AGPCNP is my chosen program because I am focused on working with middle-aged and older adults who are figuring out how to improve their health. However, now for a course I need to find a working AGPCNP (not FNP) to interview about their day-to-day practice and that has proven to be tough because there are far fewer of us who have chosen this track. I'm hoping someone who is now working as an AGPCNP would be willing to share some time and insights, and I would love to recognize the effort with a $50 Amazon gift card. I can verify my student credentials and identity. There are ten questions, and they could be answered by email or phone, whichever is more convenient. If you are or know of someone who would be willing to help, please reach out!