There are just too many qualified student applicants applying for every single available seat, and not enough nursing programs to fill the demand. Even if you have achieved good grades and meet all the necessary prerequisites, you would have to be prepared for a long wait.

The recent downtrend in the economy has also added to the problem. More people are now searching for reliable jobs that pay well, and nursing is much in demand as a rewarding career option. Depending on which part of the country nurses opt to work in, they can get between $25 and $60 an hour. Skilled nurses are also much sought after; as there is an aging workforce retiring from the field sooner than it is getting replaced. Every hospital needs skilled and qualified professional nurses, and is offering attractive incentives to get the best candidates to sign up with them.

This means that even greater numbers of students are flocking to apply to nursing school nowadays, making the wait lists even longer! There are those who after waiting several years give up hope of ever getting admission to a good nursing school. However, don’t think that you have to give up! There are some other options you can explore.

As traditional nursing schools are now unable to handle the sheer number of applicants, there are career schools - also called "vocational schools" or "degree schools" – that have become a viable option for many student nurses. Such schools are indeed a bit more expensive, but as the waiting lists are much shorter, this may be a more sensible route to explore. There are some such schools that may even be able to admit qualified students inside of a few months.

Such vocational schools offer higher pay for experienced nursing teachers, and are therefore able to lure them out of conventional colleges. Traditional schools and community colleges are usually forced to limit the students they accept as they do not have enough numbers of qualified teachers.

You have to make the decision: do you think it is worth it to shell out more for a career college which offers quicker training for future nurses, often in a two year program? Costs typically are quite steep; with $50,000 not being unusual. LPN programs in a "career college" often cost around $20,000 a year.

Do check out options where the hospital could fund your education. Also, if nursing is your dream and you do not want to wait forever, then applying to these more expensive schools could be your only realistic option these days. The alternative would be having to wait three or four years to be accepted into a regular community college, state school, or four year university.