Brother wanting to become a nurse in the military

hardknock96

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My brother decided to follow a path of becoming a Nurse, in the Army or Air Force. I want to help him with his goal. I know of the process concerning the qualifications needed, and how boards and these scholarships work; however, I don't know so much of how the nursing world works and he what should expect, moving forward as a sophomore in high-school.

I am not sure of his qualifications but from what I remember from my boards, its academics then everything else. He's almost an Eagle Scout, involved in clubs, Varsity sports, etc. Is there any major differences that the Nursing Scholarship is different from the national four and three year in both branches? Thanks.
 
It's my understanding that nurses only compete against other nurses in the scholarship process (I'm not 100% on that hopefully someone can back me up on that). The only difference between a nurse scholarship and a "regular" scholarship is that you have to pursue nursing as a major/get into a nursing program or you risk losing the scholarship.
 
It's my understanding that nurses only compete against other nurses in the scholarship process (I'm not 100% on that hopefully someone can back me up on that). The only difference between a nurse scholarship and a "regular" scholarship is that you have to pursue nursing as a major/get into a nursing program or you risk losing the scholarship.
It's certainly true of NROTC that nurse applicants only complete against nurse applicants. I EXPECT it's true of the other ROTC programs as well.
 
Based on past (recent) history, the Navy has been handing out about 25 Nursing scholarships per year while the Army has been handing out about 225 (and having 175 go Active each year). I'm not sure about the Air Force but I know it's much closer to the Navy numbers than the Army. My daughter is an Army nurse and her roommate is an Air Force nurse, both at the San Antonio Military Medical Center. I *think* I remmber my daughter telling me that the Army and AF nurse generally have different tasks as well for some reason. For example, my daughter works on a step down floor (one level below Intensive Care) and there are no AF nurses assigned to her floor. All of the nurses are either Army or civilian. On the flip side, all (or at least most) of the nurses working in the maternity area are AF nurses.

Most importantly, when your brother picks a college to attend nursing school, pay attention how the nursing student matriculate into Upper Division classes. Some colleges guarantee you acceptance to upper division as long as you maintain minimum GPA, other schools make it competitive. I know of a local college near us that accepts 200 nursing majors per year to start as freshman but only take 125 per year into upper division so up to 75 students have to find a new path, a new college or re-apply during the next cycle.
 
DS is a 3 year AD with Army. +1 on different schools being competitive for admissions. DS is at a competitive admissions school so grades are very important. A nurse advisor talked to the nursing majors and told them that male nurses are needed in MASH units due to the lifting and combat requirements. Females go there too but males will almost certainly go into a MASH unit. Advisor also suggested that specializing is not a good idea because they will get exposure to many different areas. Non-specialty is what the Army needs. DS is getting a lot of leadership/combat training, even as a nursing major! He is loving it. As a sophomore, your son should try to get lifeguard certified and try to do some hospital volunteer work this summer. SAT also extremely important.
 
My local ambulance squad runs a youth EMT program. That could be another valuable EC
 
DS is a 3 year AD with Army. +1 on different schools being competitive for admissions. DS is at a competitive admissions school so grades are very important. A nurse advisor talked to the nursing majors and told them that male nurses are needed in MASH units due to the lifting and combat requirements.

Not so sure about any of that. My DD's ex boyfriend in college (also an Army Nurse) is assigned to a standard unit at the same hospital she is in San Antonio. Basically, you turn in a "wish list" as you get closer to graduation and the higher your OML score, the better chance you have on going to the hospital assignment of your choice. Unless things have changed, there were only about (8) hospitals to choose from when you're brand new and there is NO OPTION to request a specialty. After you have been in about 18 months (longer for some specialties), you can request to go to more specialized training. Examples would be getting an ICU certification, Emergency Room certified, etc...my DD's training nurse just received entry into the ER training program after 3.5 years (she also just made Captain).
 
Hence why I'm leaning toward going reserve, more control over my career path.
 
Also -- be careful when choosing nursing schools. Many large universities operate their nursing programs in a way that students aren't fully accepted until the end of their sophomore year (decisions are made based on the freshman and 1st semester sophomore year). Until then students are considered pre-nursing majors. Unfortunately many of these schools accept far too many nursing majors as freshmen and then only have slots for half that many to complete the program. And every program has different criteria. However many do hold slots specifically for ROTC. Unfortunately the program at my DS's school did not. It was a straight GPA cut -- no consideration for anything else. He wound up not qualifying for nursing school. In his case the cadre allowed him to change his major and keep his scholarship. To be honest I think in my DS's case it all worked out for the better because I think he is choosing a career field that will better suit him (nursing was an expedient choice but probably not the best suited for him). But for anyone with their heart set on nursing, it's best to fully investigate the programs and how ROTC friendly they are.
 
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My advice would be to find a good school with a nursing program that accepts you into that program when you are a freshman. For Army ROTC, all nursing applicants compete against each other and there is money set aside for nursing scholarships. However, if you receive a nursing scholarship then it would be very difficult to change your major to something other than nursing.
 
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