Why are so many college students going into nursing? There must be a lot of competition?

Reminds me of the 60s all over again.

So many kids are going into nursing because they know they will get a job strait out of college and will get paid well right off the bat. I'm a senior and trust me the competition is very fierce. So many kids are applying with very good grades but get waitlisted (including me). The problem is that their aren't enough spots. No one wants to teach nursing because they can get high pay if they actually are in nursing. Many eager students who want to attend a decent college and get their nursing degree are being turned away. Alot of these potential nurses are changing their major and end up not going into nursing.

On the contrary, there is a huge demand for nurses.

I think the reasons behind this are twofold: the demand for nurses has never been higher, in part due to the burnout of many nurses in the profession. Secondly, this is the part I do not understand they why's of, our educational system does not have enough programs, teachers, or slots to fill the need. Waiting lists to get into nursing programs get longer every year, but many hospitals are never fully or adequately staffed.

Nursing is one of the highest demanding fields right now. There is a high need for nurses throughout the US and not enough people to fill all the openings. This makes the profession a very lucriative one to college grads. They are in higher demand and can demand higher salaries, better benifits and so on after graduation. Of course your salary and such will be based on your preformance also. So just because you get a degree don't expect to be paid the big bucks if you only graduated with a 1.5GPA and don't know a persons elbow from his knee.

More students the better, there is a nursing shortage. average nurse is 45 years old we are gonna need them soon. burn out is on it's way

There is a nation-wide shortage of nurses. Schools still have not lowered there standards to become a nurse which is a good thing.

Also, the competition in the work force stays small because many students who start in nursing school do not finish. When I went to nursing school, half of my class (including me) failed out (not me), or changed majors (me).

Now their is a competition for nurses since you can get paid about 60-70,000 dollars a year a few months after you get out of college and their is also a huge demand for nurses. I mean as a CNA you can get paid 14 per hour thats 7 more dollars an hour than people at fast food chains make or retail store and you just have to take a few classes. and nurses depending how far you go like nursing praticoners can write perscriptions.

No because there is a huge shortage of nurses . I have a good friend that is a RN, she gets calls all the time from hospitals, other facilities to work shifts. She can pretty much name her price. Some shifts she will make 3-4 hundred dollars. There is alot of competition to get into nursing programs though , my daughter is wanting to become a nurse. We attended a open house at a university recently and the professor told us that they only accept students with a 3.5 or better GPA. They only had 33 slots open each semester. Usually over 100 apply.
It's also a tremendously rewarding career. There are a ton of options available to you depending on your level of education and experience.