Would it be a good idea to become a Certified Medical Assistant until I’m able to afford nursing school?

Honestly thats why they have student loans for the fact if you can’t afford school its payable back when you can i would not waste your time getting MA thats what im doing right now wasting 14,000 i don’t have and have loans out just because i needed a reliable job so i can support myself and son to go back to school and get my RN i would look in to student loans and FASA if thats what you set on!!! Good Luck

I guess it depends on the area you live in. I’m a CMA and the $12,000 I spent on school was a waste of money. I graduated on the Dean’s list and still can’t find a job…they’re just not around hardly anywhere. I wound up going back to an old job that I used to work at making minimum wage and am going to stay there until I finish nursing. I also don’t believe it will help you in nursing school…will only hold you back on graduating from nursing school sooner. That time you go to school for medical assisting could be spent in nursing and you’ll be done that much quicker. Go for scholarships, pell grants, student loans, etc…but for nursing school! CMA’s learn a LOT less than nurses…all I really know that I could take with me is injections, phlebototomy, etc which is really easy to learn anyways. Good luck!

I agree with the first poster,, you might qualify for a Pell Grant, if you are below a certain income. A pell grant is great because you don’t have to pay it back. Contact the financial aid department and find out what you need to do to apply.

Don’t waste your time as a medical assistant. go to nursing school. BTW, nursing school is not expensive. Its not like law school, and its even cheaper than getting a four year degree.
Just get a job and go to school at night.

Be wise. Do you honestly believe that this is the right financial climate to take out loans? Do you really believe things are getting better in this country?

Really?!?

Look… I’m doing it, so you sure as hell can do it too! What’s more, as an RN you can find work in Canada or Britain or even France when things turn to complete shit here.

Nonsense any thing that you do in the medical field that helps you to grow and become more knowledgeable in your career will always be of benefit to you in the form of on hands training.

First off it will let you know weather or not you have the type of personality to be in this type of work and allows you to understand what it consist of. Everyone can not deal with what it takes to be a good nurse and this is one way you can find out without spending all the time and effort it will take to become one.