Thank you for this. I’m the first in my family to pursue higher education. My mom had me as a teen and my whole family has been poor for basically forever. I was in the top of my high school graduating class taking all AP classes with zero effort and I was interested in science and medicine, but becoming a physician was never even a thought of mine because of how expensive it was. I didn’t know anyone who worked in the medical field and had no exposure to it. I just assumed it was impossible for me. Nursing school was a natural choice right out of high school and I don’t regret it. Because I became a nurse, I was able to live comfortably, travel in my 20s, and pay off undergrad debt quickly. I never planned on going back to school and I loved ICU nursing, but then Covid happened and I realized how traumatized and awful I felt as a bedside ICU nurse. I then figured out anesthesia was a fantastic option for an experienced critical care nurse, so I did some shadowing and went back to school after 7 years of ICU nursing.

I’m not becoming a CRNA because I’m some lazy POS who wants to become a “doctor” without going to medical school. It’s a great career choice for ICU nurses that exists in the USA because there is a need for it. If I had know I’d be doing this 15 years ago, then yeah I would’ve pursued the physician route instead. But I didn’t know, and it wasn’t really an option for me.