I had one friend in college who was going to be a scientist of some sort, chemistry I think. She pushed really hard until year 3 or so and then fell in love and decided to drop out, and then went to a 2 year school years later to become a nurse. So much potential immediately wasted. I can’t pretend to know her exact motivations, but it always made me sad.
And hey, ton of respect for nurses, but anyone from the rural America knows that it’s a thankless job that they are taken advantage of, and it’s specifically because it’s a “fallback” career that is “acceptable” for women with families.
I think that’s what makes me sad. Fuck gender stereotypes, go be a scientist if that’s your dream, don’t fall into what everyone expects that you’ll do.
My mom was similar. Extremely bright. Should’ve gone into science. Was given a choice by my grandparents (implicitly, via societal pressure): nurse, nun, or teacher. It’s a shame.
Nurses make a lot more money. Before she retired, my mom was making over 100k working under 40 hours a week, in suburban midwest
Not all nurses, but travel nurses make bank. It was absurd during Covid, when nurses who worked for specific facilities saw their patients dying on the regular, were working longer hours, and still came home with the same pay they received before it all started.
Meanwhile, a coworker coming in from an agency to “help out” got paid tons more, even though they lacked the knowledge that comes from having worked in the same place with the same patients for years. Then those running the facilities were all shocked Pikachu face when their own employees burnt out and they had to bring on even more of the expensive travel nurses.
I got my MA at a Christian college. I was one of 2 men on my cohort, with the other 10 of us being women.
Of the 10, 8 are now stay at home moms involved in some kind of MLM. The other two quietly married each other and are still working in the field.
That makes me so freaking sad, and the MLM just proves that they know they want something more, but are limited now in how they can. They can always go back to school, but that’s near impossible while you have kids still at home, let alone the cost of it. MLMs take such advantage of that wanting to be successful and proud of what you do, while at the same time siphoning what little you have out of your household.
Hmm… Speaking as a nurse, the benefits seem to be severely underestimated. You are basically guaranteed work because there will always be sick people. If you need flexibility there’s usually a department or specialty that will fit the hours you need, or you go locum. It is actually as interesting as you want it to be; if you want a specialty then there’s usually a route to advance along it. It opens up other avenues, e.g. public health, health research, admin (if you’ve lost your soul). It’s very social, and patients are often more than happy to talk if you like people. If you don’t like people then you just make sure you’re obviously concentrating and they’ll usually shut up.
If someone wanted to do science then went into nursing, then they’re probably doing practical sciences and don’t have to be missing out at all.
A great way to learn the cool shit doctors learn is to ask them about it.
There are definitely benefits to being a nurse… but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Personally I would be a terrible nurse, I’m not especially personable and I get icked out fast by the more disgusting bodily functions.
I know several nurses. They are all quite clear that you simply get used to the ick after a few times, and you mostly don’t socialize with patients. Its like working a customer service job (because it is!) - you will have so many patients cycling in and out that they just become faceless stats on the chart. You don’t remember someone unless they are particularly memorable in some way. Which, 99% of the time, means they are particularly fucked up, or unpleasant to be around. You tend to try your best to show up for the former, because thats where you work on the really interesting stuff and the patient is usually sedated. And you tend to try to get the latter out of the way as quickly as possible, since most people don’t tend to like hearing the rants of a senile nazi or being masturbated on by a homeless schizophrenic. As they tell it, that is one of the two main drawbacks - dealing with the people that no one wants to deal with. Polite, normal people don’t need your people skills - they tell you information and fill out a form and play on their phone, because they are polite and normal.
The other drawback is the schedule. A lot of my nursing friends got into the job expressly because the schedule lets them do things like have an 8 day weekend regularly. But the problem is that: (1) A large portion of nurses work the night shift, or worse, an inconsistent night-and-day schedule - especially early in their career. This destroys your circadian rhythm, and most people need to plan a day or two just to flip back from night to day. (2) Your schedule doesn’t line up with your friends’. Their weekends are not your weekends. Their nights out are your workdays. So your social life tends to shift towards people who also work a non-standard schedule - but that’s still hard because your schedule is unpredictable. Everyone’s schedule constantly shifts to cover everyone elses sick days, since there is essentially no slack in department scheduling - the hospital doesnt want to pay someone to sit on their hands just in case someone is out sick, so everyone has to work erratic schedules. (3) Because your schedule is always changing and your shifts are 12 hours long, it is quite difficult to really stay consistent with anything else in your life. Want to make a habit of running or lifting every morning? Want to make a home-cooked meal for dinner every night (night? What’s night?)? Well, it is going to cut into your sleep schedule.
Change “nurse” to “housewife” and you described most US military spouses. So many of them were pushing pyramid schemes… err… “multi-level marketing” amongst one another.
My wife served in the military alongside me, and yet even she got roped into an MLM scheme at one point.
No dental hygienist schools in your area?
What’s that pseudo stat about highschool mean girls going on to become nurses?
Why is it cool to shit on a 4 year science degree? Why is it cool to promote infighting on underpaid healthcare providers?
Point out where I said either of those things.
“my friend was going for a chemistry degree, instead she became a nurse. So much potential wasted”
So your first bit, “Why is it cool to shit on a 4 year science degree”, your example says why I found it sad that she gave up on her science degree. The opposite of “shitting on a 4 year science degree”
If you’re upset about wasted potential -> becoming a nurse, then you missed the point of my entire comment and went right to your own conclusions. If you’re upset that a career like a chemist (or a doctor, or a lawyer) require more training and pay better than nurses then you need to take it up with society as a whole. I’m talking about my friend who gave up on a much higher salary and strong career prospects to be a housewife and went with rural culture approved choice of being a nurse, and how gender norms were a non-zero part of her decision.
