hi guys
I need some advice from you guys. I am kinda confused at this moment whether i should join nursing program or go for MECHANICAL engineering. I am accepted in a associate degree of nursing in a reknown community college. it's very tough to get in, but i don't know how i made it. I thought it would be impossible to get in so I changed my mind and decided to go for MECHANICAL ENGINEERING in other university, but i drop in application for nursing, just in case. Also, I have already completed admission process for biomedical engineering in LSU. At this time, I am trying to evaluate which would be the best way.

some friends are telling me to go for mechanical but many refers nursing.
i guess the benefit of joining nursing is in 2 years I would be RN and would get job(guaranteed) and after that i can go for physician assistant( as i am planning). BUT if i go to university for mechanical I would graduate in 2 yrs which is the best thing, i guess. and maybe i might have to go for master, since i don't think i will be able to land a job. and keep working in gas station, as i have seen lot of people doing that.

So smart sajha communities, Can I please have your thoughts in this matter.

thanx in advance.

friend,
first make your status and at least some kind of job secured. Then you can jump to the sujbect of your choice. U know what i mean. Nursing rocks. What you looking for ????

Nursing IMHO! In places like California, a RN makes at least 60 bucks / hr! That's 2400 in a week! That's 9600 in a month!! That's at least 100,000 Dollars in a Year!!!!! That's a million in a decade!!!!! And if you lived for another hundred years....!!! lets not even go there...

But Nursing without a question!! I'm darn sure that a "sane" Nepali after completing a nursing degree definitely wants to move to a bigger city and it'd mean that s/he is making at least 20 dollars an hour! Even that means that just by working for 40 hrs a week...s/he is gonna make 800 / week. The job guarantee is a major surplus/advantage as well. If you were a Green Card holder, in the long run, you'd be better off as a Mechanical Engineer but by the looks of things, you're a F-1 Visa Holder yourself and that means you're likely to be busting your arse for at least 2 years during your Masters and a year prior to that to pay for your bills/tuition and stuffs!

i am agree with balbhadra. Donot think too much just get in.
By the way what college that u are going for nursing. coz i want to go in the program. can u give me the address.
good luck

Hey guyz I'm also planning to do Nursing. Can anyone suggest me of a good college, with affordable fees and good future. Please help..

I think u sud go for nursing as its scoop is gud and is in demand. My wife is going to nursing school (assosiate degree)from this fall and gusee what I've to pay $727 for one credit.She'll have to take 45 credits (only nursing classes).Beside dat I've already spent $13000 for prerequisite courses.She is going to private school (www.rivier.edu) u r lucky dat u got admission in community college( cheaper and gud quality education) moreover it's very tough to get admission in community college coz of competion.People wait and wait for years to get into nursing program. So go for it man don't waste time. Best of luck

hey

batuwa, I can't believe you are paying that much. I won't be able to afford that sum of money. in this college, you have to pay like just more than 1000 dollars for whole semester.

Funny question....


One is Engineering branch, the other Nursing....

Samrock, You should be asking this question to yourself. You should go for the one that interests you. All the advices above are their personal views. You might be in a different situation than other are/were. so it is upto you to decide. Don't let others influence you in your choice.

I refrained from writing my views on this post, since my views are different from those of others above. Plus you seemed genuinely excited about getting into the Nursing college.

You must, however, understand that in a lot of circles, Nursing is considered a low skill job where immigrants are in high concentration. [ Other comparable jobs: farm workers, barbers etc]. It is a noble profession, but its charm is almost nonexist among the natives. Engineering is a generally high skilled job, with further scopes unimaginably big. Nursing plays a second fiddle to other profession (mostly, physician), and it really is a deadend job.

A series of papers in JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet etc in the last decade established that lack of nursing professionals was contributing to the low quality of nurse sensitive health care outcomes (such as deep vein thrombosis, hospital acquired pneumonia, sepsis etc). This provided an impetus in states like California to set a mandatory patients-nurse ratio. This is the main root of present demand shock in the market. Furthermore, since nursing is perhaps the only profession where unionization rate is high in USA in present day USA labor force, the nurse unions are able to bargain effectively and improve their wage. (this is anomaly in a country where trade unions are becoming unpopular day be day and unionization is at its all time low)

In my opinion, if you want to work here, and have a reasonably good life, nursing is a way to go. But from prestige and flexibility point of view, nursing is an inferior, in deed a lot inferior, to an engineering degree. It is a noble and essential profession, however. I also don't believe that a nursing college is more competitive than an engineering state university. Please check the reliability of this information you got. Especially, don't be fooled by those Nepali who tend to show off their achievement by lying (for example, if you talk to a nurse, or her husband, he/she might have incentive to misrepresent the situation). Finally, ask yourself what you want to be at the end of the day.

pire ..i respect your thought which is a result of stereotype mentality and lack of knowledge in subject matter ....your phrases like "dead end job and inferior job" seem like you are trying to hide your own insecurity by showing other worth less ...
i think i have to make you clear that nursing is not a dead end job ..it is top ranking demanding job around the globe. well we nepali paternal mentality will strugle to take this fact but this is the truth .. about the inferior ..i dont know what you mean by superior but if you are aying about the postion or feild there are several carrer feild in feild of nursing where an individual can progess in health care feild ..i have several professor who are nursing graduate but are teaching intern and are in peak of administration of healtrh institute ...and about the nobelity of i dont think there is more nobel job then saving life of people helping people when they reallly need help...

RE: The dead end Job: Its not true. You can do masters to be NP who pretty much can do all the things physicians can do, PHD/ND to be a research scholar. As as professional being in the field, I can say its not a desk job, it is very labor intesive. But Again, personal circumstances and personal interest should be the guide in making the decision.

MECAHNICAL ENGINEERING @ YALE UNIVERSITY CAUSE I AM IN YALE.

If you are asking Electrical vs Mechanical vs Civil vs any engineering, I could have something to say but Engineering vs Nursing, no comment.... it's worth less to compare, totally diffirent field....

hidne manchhe,

You are entitled to your view. I don't think I wrote anything wrong. Is Nursing in demand worldwide? May be. In USA, it is, because of demand shock. Now tell me, if some job pays you as much as 100K (according to a posting above), where job is guaranteed, where according to you there are so many futher opportunities and prestige, then why are so many people are not pursuing that degree? Is it so quantitative that people can't learn it? Why so many organizations are going all out in USA to encourage people to study nursing?There is such a chronic shortage that average age of nurses in this country has gone way up (because fewer young women are choosing that degree--you can just google for these info if you don't trust me) Isn't this country a materliasitic society where money is paramount?

I have nothing against any profession. You choose what you want to be, what kind of life you want to lead. If it makes you happy to take care of needy people, if you feel better when you help sick and old men, then nursing is the best job. Like I said, it is noble job. But you must understand the root of current demand shock in USA, and think whether it will sustain.

Plus, engineering and nursing are difficult to compare. At the minimum, engineering requires intensive math, nursing doesn't.

At first i was also confused, but i decided to take biomedical engineering...coz....bioengineering rocks..

My two cents.... I have a degree in engineering from a pretty good school, it wasn't really difficult to get into the program and I am happy with my degree.
However, this is in response to pire saying that it is not difficult to get into a nursing program. Do you know anybody who tried to get into nursing school? I know a few people who have tried and I know a few people who did not get in... tried a couple more times did not get in and then just got a degree in another field. This is true of both 2-yr and 4-yr nursing colleges/ schools. I think you need to check the "reliability" (as you put it ) of your information. It is really difficult to get into nursing school, and there is a wait in most schools.

To answer the original question of this thread, if you are in a hurry to finish school and get a green card and want assurance that you will have a job as soon as you graduate then Nursing is the way to go..

However if you want to take your time in school (4 yrs) and if you're more interested in it you should go for mechanical engineering.

Both of them are NOT dead end jobs. You have advancement opportunities in both and you will earn good money in both so I think it just boils down to how much time you have, and where your interests lie.

Good Luck in whichever field you choose!!

my ex gf's mom was a nurse and she worked 2 days per week, still she made $80k per year...

don't forget that mechanical graduates makes around $58k right after they graduate...


but yeah, career choice shouldn't be about money but rather be about interest...

I completely agree with pire bro on this matter.

For someone on F1-visa, and having look at the hardships of seniors both before and after graduation, Nursing might like the better option. And in fact, it is if you look into the immediate future.
But if you are really career conscious, Engineering is way better than Nursing in long run.

Crystal cracker you are right in something but not all. your judgemental statment" Engineering is way better than nursing " is false absolutely false. If you were nursing student you would not tolerate this. What makes you think that engineering is better than nursing? I know pire has very supportive statment that is relevant and true but not yours. If you ask the question which is best in long run, the answer depends on whether he/she is nurse or engineer. Both of them are satisfied in their profession and their answer always favors their field. There is nothing in this world which is best for the whole world. It is situational. I swear if you were here in USA in F1 visa and had an opportunity to study nursing, you would jump at least for the sake of getting GC.