Tell us about yourself. What inspired you to become a nurse?
My name is Savanah Case and I grew up in a small town in Kansas called Inman. I started school at Cowley County Community College as a Pre-Med major, where I completed my prerequisites and participated in track and field. During my sophomore year at Cowley, I was able to do some shadowing of a physician, as well as a nurse. During this experience, I found that I really liked being able to spend more time talking to and building relationships with patients. After realizing this, I started to look more into nursing as my career path. Upon doing this, I found that there are SO MANY ways you can go with a nursing degree, like working in research, clinics, hospitals, and schools. Knowing I wanted to be in the medical field, I felt nursing was my best fit at this time in my life!
Finding a nursing school to transfer to, as well as a school I wanted to continue doing track at, was quite a task. I eventually came upon MidAmerica Nazarene University and was super excited! Being in the Kansas City area provided many opportunities for clinical experiences at big hospitals (University of Kansas Hospital, Saint Luke’s South, Children’s Mercy). As my nursing school journey comes to an end, I am beginning the job hunt. Being a new nurse, I can’t say that I know EXACTLY what I want to do. However, I do have a top three list – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department and Labor and Delivery.
Tell us about your experiences with choosing a nursing school.
As previously mentioned, my search was a little more difficult because I was looking for not only a good nursing school, but a school where I could be an athlete at as well. When starting to look at schools, I tried to narrow down the top schools I wanted to go to and then I applied. Once I had applied and been accepted, I had to sit down and think through what aspects of nursing school were really important to me.
For me, it came down to two schools, a place where a lot of friends were going and a place that I would know no one. Ultimately, I realized that as a nursing student I wanted to get a strong, well-rounded education with great hospital experiences, so I ended up picking the school I knew no one at and have absolutely loved it.
What advice would you give students ready to start the admissions process?
I think that before you start the admissions process, you need to do your research. Go visit the school, talk to people that have gone there and look at the requirements. The thing about nursing school is that there are a lot of them, tons actually, and they all want you to take different classes or different entrance tests.
Once you have settled on a few that you like, make sure you have all the prerequisites that you need and apply! It’s better to have options than to just shoot for one school. Some things to consider include NCLEX pass rates, hospital locations, school location, distance from family, program structure and program history.
Looking for more nursing school advice? We’ve got you covered! Check out Part Two: What End-of-Program Nursing Students Wish They Had Known when Starting Nursing School and Part Three: What End-of-Program Nursing Students Wish They Had Known when Finishing Nursing School.
