If it is something that you WANT to do, then go for it. If it is something that you think you CAN do because you want a job, then it isnt likely to work out. The easy way to figure this out is to ask yourself one question: "Would you do this job for $10 an hour?"
Well, it isn't just because I can, even though it isn't my first choice. My first choice would be a Ph.D. in psychology but that just isn't realistic (many clinical psych Ph.D. programs are harder to get into than med school and most are at least as difficult). Outside psych my grades are very good, in psych only fair. Nuring however is something that interests me (it is one of three areas- psychology, teaching and nursing- that have most strongly interested me since the Army didn't work out for me, that's 16-17 years). Especially psych nursing where at the MSN level I'd be able to do about 85-90% of what a psychologist could do and about 100% of the duties of social work that interest me (therapy), plus extra duties that interest me (esp. prescription privileges). Outside psych nursing both pediatric nurse practitioner and anesthesiology (sp?) interest me (at least enough to try to find out if they are areas I'd like to work). As an RN alone I'm not sure how interested I'd be (I wouldn't mind the nursing duties so much as the lack of autonomy and the lack of ability to do therapy should I choose psych), but to continue on to an MSN would very much interest me.
As for the second half, that is kind of what I do. I am a "mental health worker" at a local psychiatric hospital, basically a nurses aide without certification. I am part of the nursing staff and work under the nurses. The nurses give us all the grunt work of their position that they can push off on us legally. I've changed diapers on my share of 80 year old men and women (you haven't lived until you've cleaned a diaper on a 75 year old Alzheimers patient who is in great physical condition and is combative, ick), I've cleaned feces and pee from seclusion rooms on the psychotic disorders and neuropsych unit, I now work exclusively on the eating disorders unit where we fairly regularly have to help clean a patient's vomit after they decide to purge. I take vitals, talk patients down from dissociative states and suicidal states, restrain violent patients, clean all kinds of messes, get spit at, have "things" thrown at me, get hit and kicked, act as 'body guard' for phelbotomists (sp?), doctors and therapists at times, do rounds, do admissions paperwork, have to perform CPR as necessary, monitor patients in general, help with ADLs, escort patients to the ER (we are psych only), and I'm the first to hear it if a patient has a complaint. They may train me to do EKGs (if we can figure out if I can do that legally without being a CNA). We also work more than our share of mandation double shifts when someone calls in or our boss doesn't schedule enough people. For all that I make around $12/hr. Generally I like my job (sometimes I love it).
Is nursing my first choice? Not really, but it is an attractive alternative (and only partially for the finances so I wasn't sure if I should even mention that). Is it something I think I'd enjoy? Yes. Do I think I have the temperment for it? I think so, and so do many of the nurses at work who have been pushing me to go that way instead of becoming a therapist for many months now. Will nursing allow me to do about 90% or more of the work I do want to do? Yes, if I continue on to an MSN, and without it is one of the two best alternatives (nursing is probably the best followed by teaching special education, and I think I'd be a better nurse than teacher).
The 2-year associate programs can aslo be quite difficult, 10 percent of my class didnt make it through the first quarter (remember these are people with a 3.8+ GPA) and even more (including myself) didnt get through the 2nd quarter. I think a lot of the problem was the time that was required.
Having said that, the school I was in was exceptionally prejudiced against male students. 30% of those who started were male; 3% of the males were there at the end. We had about a 60% retention rate in that 60% who started in my group eventually graduated. That percentage was astoundingly high. Yes, you can forget about any meaningful full-time work/income while in school. Your time is going to be spent in labs, clinicals, studying, community service required class projects and the like.
I have no illusions about the workload. I know it is tough. Right now I work with many nurses some of whom I'm pretty close with. Outside work I've been friends with many nurses over the years. I know it isn't easy and it is a lot of work. I know that unless I manage to find a program that allows the clinicals to be done part-time (yeah right) I won't be able to work full-time while in school. Actually, one of the things about the scholarship I've heard about through work is that it allows you a full-time income while working part-time, or a decent part-time income while working 1 shift (12hrs work=20 hrs pay, 24hrs work=40hrs pay +benes).
Whichever way I choose (nursing school or graduate school in counseling or social work) I figure it will be a lot of work. Masters programs in counseling or social work aren't exactly light on the workload front themselves (achedemic coursework, practicums, clinical observation, internships, and possibly thesis research and writing). The only advantage on that front that grad school would have is the ability to do it part-time (though 6 credits of graduate coursework may not be that much easier than a full-load in nursing school).
As for the anti-male bias at the one school, I guess that is something I'll look out for. There are a few male nurses at my hospital, I'll ask them where they'd suggest locally (I'm thinking about 2 or 3 community colleges, JHU, UMD-Baltimore, UMBC, or Towson University).