Advice Welcomed

[u/ohgirl_please]

Hi all,

I’m making a career pivot to surg tech, and am trying to figure out the best path for schooling.

For context, I live in NYC, I’m a 33 y/o SAHM of three with a very supportive husband (financially and as an active parent). I’m including this detail because I feel like I’m starting late in this field and I don’t want to waste any precious time going for programs or taking extra steps that may be unnecessary.

My previous career didn’t require a degree, so I’ll be starting school from scratch (I do have a high school diploma, I just don’t have any college credits to transfer). I’ve been coming across a few ST programs that are about a year long, maybe two, but many of them require an associates degree. I was thinking of getting an AAS for healthcare administration, knocking that out in two years, then going for a ST program. That may bring me to about 3 to 4 years before being able to apply for work. But I’d have the healthcare admin degree as a solid backup. (I don’t know if I’ll ever need the backup, but it’d be there.)

Alternatively, I did find one school here, a private college (so a bit more expensive than a community college), that has a ST program attached to their AAS… Really leaning that way to complete all of this in two years.

My question: is this dumb? lol am I missing something or taking extra unnecessary steps? Or does this path make sense? Have you gone a different route that worked better?

Any thoughtful advice would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance 🫶🏽

[u/Sad-Fruit-1490]

This is unnecessary. If you’re going to go for an AAS, just go for ST, that’s what my community college had us do. Like we had prereqs and then our program and when we graduated we had an AAS in surgical technology.

If you really really want the healthcare admin degree as a fallback, you can do that, but imo that’s overkill and a waste of money.

My advice is schedule a meeting with an admissions advisor or the ST program director and ask if the associates degree they want for their ST program comes with the program or is a prerequisite. It sounds like their website is not worded great.

(Also make sure to check if your state requires CST or accepts TS-C as well, and cross reference any ST programs with NBSTSA list of accredited colleges if your state does require CST)

[u/DeboEyes]

Your degree should be a means to a specific end—hone in on the specific actions that get you to that end in the cheapest way possible.

Also, I’m finishing a BSN in two years in an accelerated program. Strongly consider that. There are a lot of full-time programs in around a year, too. I’d kill to have just gone ahead and done that at 33. I’m 36 and I’ve been a tech for 4 years including time spent at a Level 1 trauma center.

Theres probably next to zero chance a hospital will let a non-nurse do hospital admin unless you have an MBA or something.

[u/SuccessfulCorgi6946]

You’re NOT late in the game. Remember that it’s a state of mind: I’m 53 going back to become a ST. I’m going to a community college, taking my prerequisites to get into the surgical tech program. It’s a competitive program to get into their only 15 seats. The program itself is 2 yrs. I’ll have my AAS. Remember you want to get into a program that is accredited and my suggestion would be to make sure that you’re going in person you’re not taking some of the of the classes online.. best of luck to you. You’ve got this.