Hi everyone. I’m working as a contractor RN working from home right now. This week supervisor told me that they couldn’t offer me a permanent position yet because of my current location and they asked if I was interested in or able to move so they could bring me on FT. I let them know that I was already planning to move to a larger city with in the next few months. My top city to move to has an opening and they would be willing to hold it until I got there. I also let them know that I’m planning on going back to school and asked about scheduling flexibility or reduced hours. They can’t reduce the hours but can re-arrange my schedule however I need it for each semester. Being permanent with them means that I would have tuition reimbursement along w/ other nice benefits.
The problem is that I find the job boring and I also fear that being permanent will make me more prone to all the various productivity and other metrics that they keep track of for us. Since I’ve been in contractor land I just keep telling myself “no news is good news” “if no one is telling me that i screwed up then i must be doing something right”. I’ve just looked at the course schedule for for this fall semester to see how I could arrange my work schedule to take organic 1.
Pros
Keep the same job
Minimal new training
Tuition reimbursement
Can start a class Fall 2012 instead of Spring 2013
“Flexible” work schedule
Continue to work from home
Make more money than working part time
Cons
Remain bored for the next 2-3 years unless I quit before then
Start worrying about productivity metrics
Have to work a 40 hrs a week
Less free time to work on my health IT internship Summer 2013
What would you all do in a situation like this? I’m single, no family or kids so I only have myself to take care of at this point.
Lots of praying and thinking to do…Thanks for reading. 
Of course this is my two cents and nothing more:
I’ve been at this full-time work part time school for the better half of 2 years now. Schedule flexibility, tuition reimbursement, and a move to a top city??? I’d take it by the time you get into your advanced pre-reqs (Biochem, Genetics, Micro, etc) more opportunities for research and volunteering will open up for you school wise.
I currently work 36hrs weekend nights and go to school weekdays. My department has been nothing but flexible and accommodating. I suspect that if this job is willing to hold a position for you then they would be willing to workings something out with your schedule that can benefit you both.
Keep in mind that you’re time will be need to be strictly managed between work, school, study, even sleeping and eating will have to be in check.
But by all means it is doable, and this is coming from a guy who’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
FYI- I’m pretty much the same as you; no kids, no married, good job, and just finishing up Orgo I and Pre-Calc this semester.
Hope this advise helps. I say go with the new job. That is of course being that there are some schools to which you are applying to are within a reasonable distance.
Let me know how you do, Cheers!
I have to say. tuition reimbursement, tuition reimbursement, and also, tuition reimbursement. When it comes to the boring factor you have to be able to say to yourself, “I can do for 5 minutes what I could not do for the rest of my life.” 2-3 years is certainly “5 minutes” in the huge scheme of things on your way to becoming a doctor!! Half the people on this site have taken the equivalent of a small mortgage just to get pre-reqs done. Did I say tuition reimbursement?
AGREED. Go with the money and the flexibility.
I’ve stayed in a job that isn’t all that entertaining because I have a manager who lets me bend and flex my hours to accommodate school. It means all the world!
Am I bored a lot? Yes. Do I expect to be doing this forever? No way.
Contract jobs will be there if you need them… but I’d take this opportunity in a heartbeat. Seems like it has a lot going for it–I would definitely endure a little boredom for the payout.
Thanks for your replies! The tuition reimbursement is a definite plus. And getting to start my pre-reqs a semester earlier doesn’t hurt either. I’ve been playing around with my post bacc plan. I found 2 upper level bio classes I can take online from the university. It just looks like Summer 2013 I might need to take a leave of absence to do my internship and take a class or 2. And continuing with the current job where they already know I’m doing a good job vs finding a new job and proving myself is one less stressor. A friend of mine found this article about workplace boredom being ‘the new stress’. http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/02/business/w orkplace-b…
The more I think about it, the longer the list of pros gets…but FUD is ever lurking…
If I continue with this job my updated Plan A now looks like:
Fall 2012-Organic 1
Spring 2013-Organic 2
Summer 2013-Physics 2, Genetics online, Internship (leave of absence)
Fall 2013-Biochemistry, Embryology online
Spring 2014-Immunology OR Parasitology OR Molecular biology + study for MCAT
I’ll let you all know what I decide.
Just an update, I was offered another contract to permanent job in the city that I’m planning to move to. The pay is less, but there’s a lot more flexibility in hours. There’s a satellite campus for the university just a few blocks away from the company’s office. I would be able to do my internship on the job and not need to take a leave of absence. They have tuition reimbursement too. I’m torn between having extra money or extra time. I feel like the job that I just got offered may help with making me a more competitive applicant for med school since there’s a potential for research and publications…I’ve listed out all the pros and cons that I could think of but FUD has me over-analyzing everything. Well, at least I have until Monday to decide… 
This ride is expensive. I’d go with the money, unless the flexibility of hours is such that you can create your own schedule as you wish on a weekly basis. 
Just wanted to give another update since it’s been a few months. I was offered and accepted a new job in clinical research for pediatric cancer. Before I got the offer, we found out my mom had breast cancer so I (and my sisters) went to spend some time with our parents for about a month. I was actually with my family out of state when I got the offer. It was kind of perfect timing because my contract job was ending (had a permanent offer from them too).
The salaries were comparable but the tuition reimbursement for the new job is only if you’re in a degree granting program and has to be approved by a supervisor. I didn’t want to want to tell my supervisor, “Hi, I know I’m new but I need to major in bio or chem so I can finish my pre-reqs to apply to med school. Will you please sign this form?”. Even after a month, my coworkers have already figured out that I will probably be going back to school in a few years and I haven’t even said anything besides ask a ton of questions about the bio of cancer, pathophys, pharmacology, etc. (What can I say? I’m naturally curious! ) I get to work very closely with the peds heme/onc doctors and have been learning alot about the clinical trials process. All-in-all I feel like accepting this job was the right thing. My old job I felt like I was getting “dumber” eventhough it was nursing, and it was kind of a dead end for me, and it was hourly pay (no option to work less than 40 hrs a week) (sorry for the run on sentence). This new job is salary.
So fast forward…My mom has had a lumpectomy and so far 3 rounds of chemo. I would have looked for a job where my parents live but I need to keep my residency status for in-state tuition here. I told them I could keep working from home and just live with them for a few months but the wanted me to start pre-reqs this fall. I moved halfway across the state, registered for classes (ochem 1 and lab). I just had my first organic chem 1 test yesterday. Hopefully we get the grades back on Thursday. The class has been good so far. The professor doesn’t use blackboard or powerpoint (yay!). The course has supplemental instruction sessions taught by TAs a few times a week and I’ve been going to those. I have also figured out how I can leave work early enough to go see the professor during office hours. So, I got to meet him last week and based off our two quizzes he said I was going a really good job! Ochem lab is ok so far. Having lab until 10pm hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.
Goals for the rest of this year: 1) Make A in ochem and ochem lab. 2) learn as much as I can about peds heme/onc so I start enrolling patients. 3) Help my mom beat breast cancer!