May Terms and future career paths

May Term, at Westminster, is a "fun" month.  One month of classes that can have absolutely nothing to do with one's major, but will give up to 4 credits of classes on the transcript, and teach some stuff that you could otherwise not learn.

I took Stock Market Analysis for Non-Business Majors, which has been rather confusing at times, but I've developed a method for analyzing stocks that pay attention to my personal style...and in the future, when we've got some disposable income, will allow me to actually purchase some stocks and think about other investing opportunities.

The Truth About AIDS was on my list for two reasons.  One, it will help with my nursing career.  Two, I've had the professor for last May Term and really wanted to have another class with her; she's awesome.

I know that this is two years in the future, but I'm already starting to think about my post-graduation career.  There is ZERO doubt in my mind that I'll be able to pass the NCLEX the first time around; the doubt starts to creep in about finding a job in a field that I like.  What do I like?  (May sound off, I know.)  Oncology, specifically bone marrow and stem cell transplants, because it's an field that I grew up with and know about the home lives of the health care providers.  It's also a field that is still developing, with lots of research involved.  Critical care/emergency medicine.  I worked in EMS for nearly a decade; while I doubt that the ER is the best unit to work in, it doesn't scare me and to be brutally honest, interests me more than general med-surg.

But, jobs for graduate nurses are thin on the ground, and there is a high turnover rate.  Most positions say that you must have at least one year experience, as a RN, to be fully eligible.  Something new is popping up, though - nursing residencies.  The University of Utah has a four-month residency in a few different specialties; IHC has a job listing for a residency, but it appears to be less a teaching position and more a job listing for a new graduate, since the experience required for that one is 200+ hours in a capstone!  (Works out to be about 17 12-hour shifts.)

First step, though, is to make it through nursing school.  May Term is almost over, and I'm doing math tutoring over the summer.