That is terrible about your FIL. I hope he is ok. I dislike cookie cutter medicine and the fact that the drs' hands are tied. I know an NP who did undergrad at VA Tech, which does not have a nursing program. She must have done that kind of MSN program. It is good to know that you can change your mind, although the process is probably more streamlined if you stick with your initial choices.

In our state (Virginia), the homeschool law specifically states that schools must provide a plan for giving homeschooled students the PSAT and AP tests. We have one high school in our rural county, and they refused to administer the PSAT and APs to our children. We had to get a lawyer to convince them to follow the law. It was ridiculous, and every year we wonder if we are going to have trouble. In our case it's all based on the personalities and opinions of the administration. I always email them in June for the October PSAT because the early ordering deadline is in June. Late September may be too late, but if you call around you may be able to find someplace. In my opinion it is worth the hassle of having your child take the PSAT in 9th grade because you can get him/her used to taking the test, and learn about their skill strengths and weaknesses. I email them in August for AP exams. I hope you can find a testing place for your child. This whole AP/PSAT/school thing is a PAIN.

Thanks for the tips! I have been wanting to get Pwn the SAT for a while. It won't help ds as he doesn't have time, but maybe the youngers. Yikes about the KA Sat Tests 1-4. We aren't using them for definitive practice, though, just as part of it. We did save Tests 5 & 6 for SAT practice after the PSAT. All good to know!

I just want to post an update on ds. He has been consistently practicing and has really narrowed down his time. On Tuesday he took a practice test and finished everything but one problem in Section 4, Math With Calculator (MWC). He finished everything else with a bit of time to spare. So he has come a long, long way this summer. Here are the best resources we've found so far: - The three PSAT tests that the College Board has doled out. They are much more stingy with PSAT practice tests than with SAT practice tests. We have the 2015 Practice PSAT, the 2015 Official PSAT, and the 2016 Practice PSAT. Fortunately they are all unique tests. - The Khan Academy SAT Practice Dashboard. Ds works at Level 4. I figured out that the best strategy for ds is to work a complete practice set for Reading & Writing each day, which includes two passage practices, a grammar/word use practice, and a timed mini-section. For math, though, it works better to do problems at Level 4 and not to do their recommended practice set. That's because if he misses a math problem in the timed mini-section it puts him back at Level 3 in that skill, so he doesn't get the Level 4 practice he needs. We've made a shared spreadsheet which he uses to keep track of the skills he practices and his scores. - The Khan Academy practice SAT tests. There are six now, so that's good. - The Ivy Global PSAT book. The three book tests + 1 online tests have been of good quality. - The 28 SAT Math Lessons Advanced Course book by Steve Warner. This series comes in Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. The author has some tricks and tips I haven't seen elsewhere, and it's only ten bucks in the Kindle version. We are not through the entire book, but we haven't found any mistakes so far. That's pretty amazing for a prep book. - The Khan Academy High School Statistics Mission. We use the Larson books + the Chalkdust DVDs for high school math and they are solid but don't have stats. The Larson books do have probability, though, but it's nice to have the KA practice and reinforcement. Ds is mostly done with the KA Stats mission and is doing well with it. I will be giving him 1/2 credit of stats for it on his transcript. We have also used several Barron's books: Math Workbook for the New SAT by Leff PSAT/NMSQT 1520: Aiming for National Merit by Stewart Strategies and Practice for the New PSAT/NMSQT by Stewart New PSAT/NMSQT by Green, Wolf, and Stewart We are not that happy with these books. They have errors here and there so you are always wondering if what you're studying is correct. Their practice test questions are not that great - many do not really reflect the changes in the test (old style), and there are quite a few "bad" questions. The bad questions are confusingly worded or don't have the correct answer choice. We feel we know what a good question looks like by now, but take our judgement with a grain of salt. We are still using these books because we need the practice tests. It's been a lot of prep for ds, but I've noticed that it's helped him so much with his math skills. He improved and added to his skills AND has increased his speed! He has also become a much more careful reader. Hope this helps someone! GardenMom

Thanks for your helpful thoughts. We will bring all of what you said into our discussion. I agree that hands-on patient care that involves responses and results would be much better prep than hospital tech. I was told the other day that the term "orderly" is no longer used. Oops - I guess I am old. The well-respected private uni that is 20 minutes away has PA, RN to MSN, Doctor of NP, MSN Family NP, and MSN Psychiatric Mental Health NP programs. The also have PharmD, MS in OT, and a Doctorate in PT. It's great to have such a fantastic resource nearby. They are expensive, though, so we will have to think about how the savings from living at home plays out with a lower-cost option.

Thanks for weighing in. We will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of having your own practice. It can be nice to go home every night knowing that someone else is responsible for the bottom line, but it can be also nice to be able to be in charge of things. However, I believe the insurance companies run much of what's happening (or not) in "regular" medicine these days, for better or worse. ETA - Oops, I almost forgot. What has your son decided he wants to do and why?

P.G. Wodehouse is hilarious. Search for stuff from him if your ds wants to use a British accent. Our ds had fun with Huck Finn's rant from Tom Sawyer. His was five minutes, so you'd have to cut it. Just make sure he speaks clearly and slowly enough even with the accent to be understood. The most common mistake with this age seems to be to go too fast. http://www.monologuearchive.com/t/twain_011.html Hope your ds gets a fun part!

Allopathic vs. holistic is definitely going to be part of our conversations. DO programs also say they emphasize the holistic approach, but I imagine it's of a different sort than that of nursing programs. By pre-nursing, do you mean you are in the first year of a BSN degree? Thanks!

That is good to know; nursing could be a very good career with or without NP or PA.

I liked your post because I appreciate your input, not because I like your dd's disease. That is just awful. She will certainly have a deep understanding of chronic health issues and of many aspects of health care to bring into whatever field she enters. Ds has recovered, but has some slight lingering neurological effects from the Lyme. I know what you mean about art; my dd has talked herself out of an art career because of finances.

I appreciate your experienced input. That is good to know that PA programs can be more expensive. Cost is important to us. Around here, the PA master's is a 30 month program that costs about 82K. Are you working on a PA or NP? If you are, how is it going?

The bolded is what the person I talked to said. She said the NPs she knew understood what was going on better than PAs. I wonder if that issue will be addressed in future PA education, or if it is a result of a different educational paradigm. The local PA school (master's) requires health field experience, but it doesn't have to be in nursing. You just need some kind of health-related experience.

Thanks! I checked out the local uni PA program, and they prefer candidates with a lot of health field experience. The average was 2500 hours, or about a year and a half. They listed health jobs, and nursing was included. So it looks like you can get a bachelor's in nursing as well as in other majors as long as you have the experience. The supervising physician comment is coming up often. We will look into it, keeping in mind that a lot will probably change over the next ten years.

That's great! I hope things continue to work out for your little guy.

Exactly. That said, you can close doors without realizing it, such as by taking different gen/organic chem or math courses. You have to be careful and usually take the more rigorous course to keep your flexibility.

This is along the same lines as engineering and honors programs at many colleges. Their materials state the minimum requirements, but the reality is much different. For example, older ds was accepted into an engineering program but his friend was not because he had not had physics and calculus in high school. Calculus was not a requirement listed, but the friend was told that "everyone" who got accepted had taken it in high school (calc 1 was fine). The honors program that dd was in says a 3.5 gpa is the minimum, but in reality they have so many applicants the only ones they accept have 4.0s. You can usually dig around and figure out what's really going on, but it's nice when they state it outright.

Whoa! Awesome! Lots to think and talk about. My main takeaways for ds are that he needs to think about which path before the end of high school so he can pick his undergrad major, and that he should volunteer and shadow to help with that. I know some NPs who got life science BS degrees with prereqs, then got master's in nursing, so that path seems somewhat flexible. If I understand what you're saying, if he wants to go the PA (or MD/DO/PT) route, a BSN would not be the right path. I'm glad he has time to shadow and volunteer before the end of high school. Thank you!

The flexibility of NP is something to keep in mind. We really need to learn about all the nursing careers; right now the field just looks like a huge pile of acronyms to me. I've heard that most hospitals require a BS degree now, so they are upping the requirements. Thanks for sharing how it worked for you!

Yes, I've heard that about pharmacy schools - most (all?) are PharmD programs for which you need at least a bachelor's. Thanks for the PA directory! That is going to be very helpful.

Sorry about your dd's health concerns. :( That's how ds got interested in health care. He had chronic Lyme and was really helped by his LLMD and the NP who saw him. It sounds genetics will be a wide-open field for their generation.

Wow! Fantastic post with lots to think about. Since you said it's ok to ask questions, I will. :) Here goes: 1. Is it possible to get into a postgrad PA program with a BSN degree? 2. What has your experience as an NP been like personally and professionally? 3. What did you do for undergrad? 4. Looking back at your educational and career path, is there anything you would have done differently? Thanks so much!

We live fairly close to a good hospital, so we'll look into the patient transporter job and volunteering. Thanks for the story about your NP friend. Thanks!

I had never heard of this! That is a clever idea. Would you mind saying in which state your cousin practices?

Thanks for the great post. I had not heard of Medical Assistants, so that is good to know. Our nearby uni has a 2-year master's program for PAs. I will talk with ds about healthcare experience. It seems that requirements keep getting upped all the time, both written and unwritten.

Great list! How can we find out about the education requirements for these careers?