What courses, internships, and volunteering should I do to get into a good college for neonatal nursing?

Are you still in high school? The first step is going to be to get into a nursing program. Ideally, you would go into a BSN program and then take some certificate courses in neonatal nursing and then the certification exam (which usually requires you to have experience in that area before you can be certified in it). Neonatal nursing will be a specialty that you can get into as your progress in your education and career. If you are still in high school, you could talk to your school nurse to see if they have any type of nurses aide program (my high school had one). Once you pick a college to go to, you can participate in the colleges nurses association as well. You could also talk with your local hospital to see if they have any volunteer programs in the neonatal intensive care unit or even in the nursery.

You should also check out the National Association of Neonatal Nurses and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. They may have information on their pages that could guide you about the specialization and certification in neonatal nursing.

If you have any other questions about nursing school, I’d be happy to help you out as much as possible! Good luck!

Hi @Sunshine1245_119… welcome to Fluther!

I’m not a nurse, but I’ve worked as an analyst in a neonatal intensive care unit for a few years and was a secretary there while I was in college.

Our NICU has a cuddler program for volunteers to hold (and maybe feed some of the more stable) babies. I would definitely recommend you look into one.

NICU nurses are typically not hired fresh out of college as it is a very demanding position, but this would depend on how high the need to hire is compared to the available hiring pool of candidates.

Our NICU often has people shadowing on the unit. I would recommend that you contact a nurse manager of a local NICU to discuss your desired career path and have them guide you. They would also likely be the person to approve you shadowing for a day or two on the unit, and could put you in contact with any volunteer opportunities as well.

Good luck!!