D16 is our oldest. She is a top 15%, 3.04 weighted GPA, great EC student. She would like to eventually be a Nurse Practitioner or a Doctor. There is a University in our area (actually my alma mater) that has a direct entry nursing BSN program that she is qualified for on stats and we can afford without loans. There are also 3 viable back ups that we can afford but she would be prenursing and would have to apply for her seat.
I keep hearing all this stuff about high school students working. I worked from the time I was 15 (walked there BTW) and put myself through college twice waiting tables and bar tending. I get the value of hard work. But is it terrible that instead of working for a check she has a volunteer job in the Emergency Room actually interacting with patients?
It’s not terrible if you/she can afford to have her not work for a paycheck. Some families really need the money. The best of both worlds would be if she could get a job in the emergency room, at a fire station, at an urgent care center.
^^^… but if she can’t, that’s OK too. Her volunteering will be appreciated and noted, especially if it’s a long-term experience. In fact, showing a long-term commitment and interest is meaningful in itself.
@twoinanddone they did offer her a job but with Marching Band and stuff her weekends are shot with the exceptions of Sunday. She gets to pick and choose her hours here. She doesn’t “have to” work. This is the only ED that would take her and give her pt exposure and its 45 minutes away so its rough to do a couple of hour stint on a school night.
If her weighted GPA is only a 3.04 (not a typo?), volunteering in the summer is great, but during the school year she should spend less time on ECs and more on academics to bring up her GPA. What GPA does the BSN program require? A 3.0? Weighted or unweighted?
I do think it’s valuable for teens to have paying jobs and income they are responsible for managing but a high responsibility volunteer position can do just as good a job at teaching work ethic. I say “high” responsibility but mean more “actual” responsibility. There are so many manufactured volunteer positions for teens these days and many expect next to nothing from them. I’m not saying a hospital volunteer position would be like that but just something to consider.
My kids do both with volunteer work being the focus during the school year and paid work in the summer.
@atomom good catch. Its 4.03 weighted, 3.84 unweighted… And the BSN wants a 3.5 and a 24 ACT.
@turtletime she went through a pretty significant orientation process. It’s a well respected hospital and I saw her position description. I think she’ll get a lot out of it.
I think it would be great and an opportunity for her to see if she is really committed to it. If she does a really good job it could net her a recommendation letter
Huge difference in corrected gpa! I agree with focus on academics during the school year but also testing out her interest in things medical with volunteer work. I would NOT use most of a school night evening, however. Her role will be minimal and homework comes first. She may discover whether being a nurse or a physician, or some other medical field appeals most to her. As a volunteer she should have chances to talk to people in various professions and observe their jobs.
Girlfriend is presently in a NP program. Job prospects for high-achieving RNs with a BSN are excellent. Opt for schools that make cost sense. Status mongers go for Penn and Emory, but that makes little difference in terms of job prospects, and is very expensive.
Also, all nursing programs will use required freshman year science classes to weed out students. Make sure daughter is taking / has taken AP bio so that she’s adequately prepared for the rigor of these sciences courses.
She sounds like a hard worker with a lot of character. Best of luck.
Volunteering is a perfectly fine alternative to working, especially since her work fits into her area of interest. From what I gather, colleges view working and volunteering as pretty much the same thing. The main idea is to do something productive. My D volunteered with a community service organization she was heavily involved in and my S worked as a camp lifeguard – each took advantage of the best opportunity available.
One of the most beneficial attributes I see is that she can determine, before she gets to college, if she would actually enjoy being a nurse practitioner. If she finds that she hates it, that’s great. If she finds that she loves it, the volunteering position will provide even more incentive to work hard in college to become an RN.
@kandcsmom, are you asking about the importance for your D’s development of working or the importance for admission? Neither of my kids worked in HS, I don’t think, and I got into excellent schools. (Both worked in college. Not for money but to gain experience and for variety in one case, though I believe my D was very happy to have her own spending money. My S didn’t spend money.)
Here is some relevant experience: My D had volunteered for one HS summer in a university biology lab and after one semester of taking biology, chemistry, calculus, and developmental psychology that she would rather be a nurse than work in biology. So, she transferred into a BSN/MSN program. She worked as a CNA at a hospital for a couple of years, as a TA for a med/surg class at school, got her BSN in 3 years (including summers), is going to school full-time to become an NP, and is working as an RN (it should be part-time but is essentially full-time at the moment because one of the full-time nurses left and she is filling in.) The work experience does give her a sense of what she wants to do. She will graduate a bit before she turns 23 and will be qualified to work as an NP. She’s looking forward to being out of school (her program has been 4.5 years including summers).
She is very bright, responsible and proactive and doctors at several hospitals where she has done clinicals have come to her and said,“You are so bright. You should go to medical school.” She has said she doesn’t want to be a doctor (she wants more control over her work life and particularly wants to have children and be able to spend time with them).
Thank you everyone. Point of disclosure I’m actually an NP. She was talking all along about being a doctor but thinks, much like @shawbridge child, that she would like a life. Hopefully she likes this school we are seeing next week.
@shawbridge, I admire your D! I am an MD and if I were doing it again, I would have chosen to be an NP for the same reasons your D has. I am fortunate to have a job with lots of flexibility, but I had to give up patient care to find that good work/life balance for myself.
“But is it terrible that instead of working for a check she has a volunteer job in the Emergency Room actually interacting with patients?”
-Many do both concurrently, even while at college. certainly a HS kid can do it also, that is if she is lucky to get into any. Not such an easy task in our hometown, we have waiting lists for the volunteering positions and forget about the dirtiest job in a world, not easy to obtain position at all.
@MiamiDAP she could find a job perhaps, but she’s a marching band kid which eats up every Friday night and Saturday from August to December and takes all honors classes. My question was more about the choice between the two.
I totally would not worry about her not working during the school year. She should work over the summer if possible. For a program like nursing, volunteering is great because it shows that she understands and likes what she is getting into.