February 5, 2025 • 9 mins
Paramedic to RN
Season 3, Episode 4: How to Plan for Nursing School Like a Pro!
Watch the video recording of this episode on the Paramedic2RN YouTube Channel:
//I'd be honored to have you as a Subscriber and welcome your thoughts and questions in the Comments.\\
This episode is to help you map out "your" unique plan and path to becoming a Registered Nurse (RN). Everyone's situation is different.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, welcome back, Paramedic Tarian family.
(00:03):
Just wanted to say I appreciate your comments and the questions.
A couple of the questions came in and I wanted to take time to offer a little bit of mentorship,
if you don't mind.
What I wanted to talk about was your plan for nursing school.
This is some of the stuff that I do when I'm not on the podcast to people who I know that
(00:26):
want to go to nursing school and they sit me down and they want to know what's the best
way to go.
So I will take some time to give a little bit more insight on what I normally tell some
of these individuals.
Some of this I've addressed on previous podcasts, but most of the time when I'm sitting down,
(00:47):
people want to know what's the best route or what's the best route for them.
I would just want to talk about your plan because everyone's plan is different, but
it really depends on three factors.
Factor number one is going to be your current education.
Number two is going to be your finances and three is going to be your location.
So let me get into this a little more.
(01:09):
So a bridge is not your only option.
A Paramedic Tarian bridge is not going to be your only option.
It may not even be your best option, but it's just an option.
So let's talk about number one, your current education.
So do you have a Con Ed, a certificate for Paramedic?
(01:30):
Do you have an Associate's degree in EMS?
Do you have a Bachelor's degree?
Do you have a Master's degree?
All of that is important.
For example, if you have a Bachelor's degree, you can do an accelerated BSN as a better
option, then it would be just to go to a Paramedic Tarian bridge.
Because if you take that year, you can come out with a Bachelor's degree in that one
(01:52):
year, then you can with an Associate's degree in that same year.
So that's taking consideration of your current education.
I think I've already addressed that in a previous podcast, like BSN versus ABSN or a Paramedic
Tarian bridge versus ADN.
I get on some of this when I talked about your education.
(02:13):
Number two is going to be your finances.
How long can you sustain in your household?
How long can you live?
For example, can you go without working for a year?
Do you have to supplement?
What about your household bills?
Can you go PRN and still pay your household bills?
How much money do you have saved?
(02:34):
If you have low finances, maybe you can do a bridge and drop your hours to PRN.
That way in one year, you can come out and as an RN, you can at least start working as
an RN and then just go ahead and just knock your bachelor's out part-time.
That's an option.
A lot of people do that.
(02:54):
I mean, that's what I did.
I went to a Paramedic Tarian bridge ADN program for a year or so.
I was able to work as a nurse while I finished out my bachelor's part-time.
Also your location.
What are your options?
Do you have any community colleges that are in your area?
Number two, do you have any universities that are in your area?
(03:16):
Three, do you have any Paramedic Tarian bridges that are in your area?
All that is going to play a big part because if you have a community college that doesn't
have a Paramedic Tarian program, then you could go that route and get your ADN.
Also a Paramedic Tarian bridge, where are the nearest one?
(03:38):
Is it two hours away?
Is it one hour away?
Is it down the street?
Is it five hours away?
Also if you don't have a lot of money, then maybe the community college route would be
your best option.
Then again, you can work PRN or maybe you can even grind it out, still working full
time.
With those three elements in mind, now you're going to have to start formulating a plan.
(04:02):
What I do is I share mine and you can see how all of these three pieces went together
for me.
Keep in mind, my original plan was PA school.
I made this decision in 2017 that I was going to start tracking towards PA.
Now, mind you, I was already a Paramedic and I was a Con Ed Paramedic.
I did not have an Associate's degree.
(04:24):
Con Ed classes is the only thing I had.
My original plan for PA school was to get my Associate's degree in EMS, then I was
going to get my Bachelor's degree in EMS from Western Carolina.
Then after that, I was going to start looking at what classes I had and start making that
track to apply to PA school.
That was my track.
(04:45):
Now, the whole time, my goal was to save a little bit of money along the way so then
that way when I get to PA school, I can make the decision, do I need to take out a bunch
of student loans or can I just take out enough loan money to go to school but yet live off
my saved money?
That's kind of my track.
That's the way I was thinking.
(05:05):
Keep in mind, I started prepping early.
As a Con Ed Medic, what I did was I went with my plan.
I went and got my Associate's degree in EMS.
Right when I finished was the time that I made the deviation from PA school to nursing.
My deviation plan, I looked for paramedic to RN bridges that were in my area.
(05:27):
There were none in my area.
There was a slew of community colleges but there were no paramedic to RN bridges.
The nearest bridge was an hour and a half away and there was three of them.
They were all an hour and a half.
I think it was one that was like four or five hours away, which was ridiculous.
What I did was I called all the local community colleges in my area to see which one, were
(05:53):
they about to start bridges?
Do they have one but just didn't announce it?
Do they have any type of special entry for paramedics?
And basically no.
I looked at all three bridges and I looked at which one I was more qualified for that
I didn't have to take any additional classes.
I narrowed it down to one.
(06:15):
I started prepping for the nursing entrance exam.
Lo and behold, of course I got in.
After I got in, I went to my job and said, hey, I'm getting ready to start nursing school.
I need to drop from full-time to PRN.
Keep in mind they originally told me, yeah, Reggie, if you know what you're looking at
nursing school, we can do that.
(06:37):
Well, they came and said, no, they couldn't.
They kind of threw a monkey glitch in.
I was really upset about that.
But again, I had to deviate.
So what I did was I quit that job, wound up getting two PRN jobs along with the money
that I had been saving since 2017, 2018, I was able to start nursing school in 2020.
(06:59):
And I had just enough to supplement my bills along with those two PRN jobs.
So one of the things I want to tell you is that you always may have to deviate from your
plan, but you have to stick with your plan.
Of course, it's almost like driving from North Carolina to New York.
You're on a highway going towards your goal.
(07:20):
You may have to get off at an exit.
You may have to get gas.
You may have to get food or you may get a flat tire on the way.
If you get a flat tire on the way, change your time and keep going.
If you run out of gas, then do what you do.
Either you have AAA that can come out and give you enough gas, get to the gas station,
or you walk to the gas station and get a gas can, get you some gas, come back.
(07:45):
You have to keep going, whatever it is.
You may have to deviate slightly from your plan, but stay on the plan.
It's to plan your work and work your plan.
That's the goal with adjustments along the way.
Lastly, the biggest advice I can give you is do not attach a time limit to it because
that's a grave error.
(08:06):
I know some of you guys say, look, I want to be a nurse before I'm 25.
I want to be a nurse before I'm 23.
I want to be a nurse before I'm 30.
I want to be a nurse before I'm 40.
Here's some news for you.
The average age of a registered nurse in the United States is 52 years old.
It's going to take some time, especially with the competition.
You want to make the best grades.
(08:27):
First thing you can do is rush because when you rush, you make mistakes.
When you rush, you're not going to put your best foot forward.
For me, my plan was PA school.
I knew I had to have all A's.
I didn't have a timetable attached to it.
My timetable was attached to my goal, which was to get my socialist degree, to get my
(08:48):
bachelor's degree.
If I would have had to drop from two classes to one, I would have did that.
That's what I did.
I did all my nursing prereqs one at a time.
My nursing prereqs just so happened to be my socialist degree in EMS.
That was all my nursing prereq classes.
I did them one at a time.
That's the point that I'm trying to make.
Do not rush this process.
(09:10):
Take your time, make your plan, and work your plan, and just make little mind adjustments
along the way.
Hopefully you guys can get something out of it.
If you guys got any questions, just hit me up.
I'll respond.
Also, keep liking the videos, keep sharing it to your friends, tell everyone about it.
Also make sure that you subscribe.
(09:33):
Also guys, here's what I tell you.
You guys can make it.
You just got to believe in yourself.
Don't let others talk you out.
If they're not traveling the same path you want, don't listen to them.
With that being said, work your plan, plan your work, and happy nursing.
See you over time.
Hey, welcome back, Paramedic Tarian family.
(00:03):
Just wanted to say I appreciate your comments and the questions.
A couple of the questions came in and I wanted to take time to offer a little bit of mentorship,
if you don't mind.
What I wanted to talk about was your plan for nursing school.
This is some of the stuff that I do when I'm not on the podcast to people who I know that
(00:26):
want to go to nursing school and they sit me down and they want to know what's the best
way to go.
So I will take some time to give a little bit more insight on what I normally tell some
of these individuals.
Some of this I've addressed on previous podcasts, but most of the time when I'm sitting down,
(00:47):
people want to know what's the best route or what's the best route for them.
I would just want to talk about your plan because everyone's plan is different, but
it really depends on three factors.
Factor number one is going to be your current education.
Number two is going to be your finances and three is going to be your location.
So let me get into this a little more.
(01:09):
So a bridge is not your only option.
A Paramedic Tarian bridge is not going to be your only option.
It may not even be your best option, but it's just an option.
So let's talk about number one, your current education.
So do you have a Con Ed, a certificate for Paramedic?
(01:30):
Do you have an Associate's degree in EMS?
Do you have a Bachelor's degree?
Do you have a Master's degree?
All of that is important.
For example, if you have a Bachelor's degree, you can do an accelerated BSN as a better
option, then it would be just to go to a Paramedic Tarian bridge.
Because if you take that year, you can come out with a Bachelor's degree in that one
(01:52):
year, then you can with an Associate's degree in that same year.
So that's taking consideration of your current education.
I think I've already addressed that in a previous podcast, like BSN versus ABSN or a Paramedic
Tarian bridge versus ADN.
I get on some of this when I talked about your education.
(02:13):
Number two is going to be your finances.
How long can you sustain in your household?
How long can you live?
For example, can you go without working for a year?
Do you have to supplement?
What about your household bills?
Can you go PRN and still pay your household bills?
How much money do you have saved?
(02:34):
If you have low finances, maybe you can do a bridge and drop your hours to PRN.
That way in one year, you can come out and as an RN, you can at least start working as
an RN and then just go ahead and just knock your bachelor's out part-time.
That's an option.
A lot of people do that.
(02:54):
I mean, that's what I did.
I went to a Paramedic Tarian bridge ADN program for a year or so.
I was able to work as a nurse while I finished out my bachelor's part-time.
Also your location.
What are your options?
Do you have any community colleges that are in your area?
Number two, do you have any universities that are in your area?
(03:16):
Three, do you have any Paramedic Tarian bridges that are in your area?
All that is going to play a big part because if you have a community college that doesn't
have a Paramedic Tarian program, then you could go that route and get your ADN.
Also a Paramedic Tarian bridge, where are the nearest one?
(03:38):
Is it two hours away?
Is it one hour away?
Is it down the street?
Is it five hours away?
Also if you don't have a lot of money, then maybe the community college route would be
your best option.
Then again, you can work PRN or maybe you can even grind it out, still working full
time.
With those three elements in mind, now you're going to have to start formulating a plan.
(04:02):
What I do is I share mine and you can see how all of these three pieces went together
for me.
Keep in mind, my original plan was PA school.
I made this decision in 2017 that I was going to start tracking towards PA.
Now, mind you, I was already a Paramedic and I was a Con Ed Paramedic.
I did not have an Associate's degree.
(04:24):
Con Ed classes is the only thing I had.
My original plan for PA school was to get my Associate's degree in EMS, then I was
going to get my Bachelor's degree in EMS from Western Carolina.
Then after that, I was going to start looking at what classes I had and start making that
track to apply to PA school.
That was my track.
(04:45):
Now, the whole time, my goal was to save a little bit of money along the way so then
that way when I get to PA school, I can make the decision, do I need to take out a bunch
of student loans or can I just take out enough loan money to go to school but yet live off
my saved money?
That's kind of my track.
That's the way I was thinking.
(05:05):
Keep in mind, I started prepping early.
As a Con Ed Medic, what I did was I went with my plan.
I went and got my Associate's degree in EMS.
Right when I finished was the time that I made the deviation from PA school to nursing.
My deviation plan, I looked for paramedic to RN bridges that were in my area.
(05:27):
There were none in my area.
There was a slew of community colleges but there were no paramedic to RN bridges.
The nearest bridge was an hour and a half away and there was three of them.
They were all an hour and a half.
I think it was one that was like four or five hours away, which was ridiculous.
What I did was I called all the local community colleges in my area to see which one, were
(05:53):
they about to start bridges?
Do they have one but just didn't announce it?
Do they have any type of special entry for paramedics?
And basically no.
I looked at all three bridges and I looked at which one I was more qualified for that
I didn't have to take any additional classes.
I narrowed it down to one.
(06:15):
I started prepping for the nursing entrance exam.
Lo and behold, of course I got in.
After I got in, I went to my job and said, hey, I'm getting ready to start nursing school.
I need to drop from full-time to PRN.
Keep in mind they originally told me, yeah, Reggie, if you know what you're looking at
nursing school, we can do that.
(06:37):
Well, they came and said, no, they couldn't.
They kind of threw a monkey glitch in.
I was really upset about that.
But again, I had to deviate.
So what I did was I quit that job, wound up getting two PRN jobs along with the money
that I had been saving since 2017, 2018, I was able to start nursing school in 2020.
(06:59):
And I had just enough to supplement my bills along with those two PRN jobs.
So one of the things I want to tell you is that you always may have to deviate from your
plan, but you have to stick with your plan.
Of course, it's almost like driving from North Carolina to New York.
You're on a highway going towards your goal.
(07:20):
You may have to get off at an exit.
You may have to get gas.
You may have to get food or you may get a flat tire on the way.
If you get a flat tire on the way, change your time and keep going.
If you run out of gas, then do what you do.
Either you have AAA that can come out and give you enough gas, get to the gas station,
or you walk to the gas station and get a gas can, get you some gas, come back.
(07:45):
You have to keep going, whatever it is.
You may have to deviate slightly from your plan, but stay on the plan.
It's to plan your work and work your plan.
That's the goal with adjustments along the way.
Lastly, the biggest advice I can give you is do not attach a time limit to it because
that's a grave error.
(08:06):
I know some of you guys say, look, I want to be a nurse before I'm 25.
I want to be a nurse before I'm 23.
I want to be a nurse before I'm 30.
I want to be a nurse before I'm 40.
Here's some news for you.
The average age of a registered nurse in the United States is 52 years old.
It's going to take some time, especially with the competition.
You want to make the best grades.
(08:27):
First thing you can do is rush because when you rush, you make mistakes.
When you rush, you're not going to put your best foot forward.
For me, my plan was PA school.
I knew I had to have all A's.
I didn't have a timetable attached to it.
My timetable was attached to my goal, which was to get my socialist degree, to get my
(08:48):
bachelor's degree.
If I would have had to drop from two classes to one, I would have did that.
That's what I did.
I did all my nursing prereqs one at a time.
My nursing prereqs just so happened to be my socialist degree in EMS.
That was all my nursing prereq classes.
I did them one at a time.
That's the point that I'm trying to make.
Do not rush this process.
(09:10):
Take your time, make your plan, and work your plan, and just make little mind adjustments
along the way.
Hopefully you guys can get something out of it.
If you guys got any questions, just hit me up.
I'll respond.
Also, keep liking the videos, keep sharing it to your friends, tell everyone about it.
Also make sure that you subscribe.
(09:33):
Also guys, here's what I tell you.
You guys can make it.
You just got to believe in yourself.
Don't let others talk you out.
If they're not traveling the same path you want, don't listen to them.
With that being said, work your plan, plan your work, and happy nursing.
See you over time.
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