<p>There are many more applicants for RN programs than there are seats. That has an advantage - the people who enter into quality nursing programs have the ability to finish the degree, as opposed to the old days when there were many students who washed out.</p>
<p>Some people may have overstated the nursing shortage. However, I believe you will find that people who did well at a quality nursing school can find jobs. You may find the unemployment is higher for students graduating from the bottom of their class or from for-profit diploma mills.</p>
<p>A person should not expect to land their ideal job in their ideal city immediately after college. Sometimes a person needs to move to a place where there is more demand until they get experience.</p>
<p>Long-term, the aging of the population and the implementation of Obamacare will increase demand for nurses. Some of the biggest increases in the country’s population will be in persons age 75 and older. Many health care systems were temporarily delaying investments over the last 2 years because they didn’t know if Obamacare would survive the court challenges or the national elections. </p>
<p>Also, as the economy improves, many older nurses will retire. Many unhappily delayed their own retirement because they were supporting other family members.</p>
<p>One way of career planning is to search a site like monster.com and look for how many openings are available for alternative fields. You can also see the qualifications that are sought for actual jobs. I just did a search for full-time RNs with a bachelors degree and one year or less experience, and 608 job listings showed up. Some listings included multiple openings.</p>