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BunsenBurner -- My co-worker has a very good friend who transitioned from a nurse to a CRA. She makes VERY good money and loves it.
OP -- You could be talking about me and my younger D. She is a very bright sophomore, also drawn to nursing. We have had many of the pre-med vs. nursing discussions. Bottom line for her at this time is the degree of stress pre-meds seem to be under all the time, worrying about that GPA every minute, worrying about that med school admittance. She is pretty sure that, if she does pursue nursing, she will do graduate work, either as a nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, or something in health care management.
Many of the Catholic universities have fine nursing programs, including Georgetown and Boston College. Here in the Midwest, the University of Iowa has one of the top-rated programs in the country (no. 5, I think.) D is interested (in a very preliminary fashion) in Marquette, a Catholic school in Milwaukee, and in Illinois Wesleyan, a very fine LAC that happens to have a nursing program (a very rare combination). Also, St. Olaf in Minnesota combines an exceptional LAC education with a nursing program in conjunction with Gustavus Adolphus, another school.
I think the profile of the nursing profession is really changing. My older D has an extremely bright friend who is starting nursing at Iowa next year. Our radar is up now, and we notice young, smart nurses and nurse practitioners at our various doctor's visits and during my older D's recent arthroscopic surgery. You can't beat the job opportunities, paths for advancement, and starting salaries.
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