Hi, I'm an RN-BSN with 42 years experience, about half hospital and half home care…civilian and military. I'd recommend starting with a big, teaching hospital…ICU experience would be great, but I agree with whoever said they may not put a new associate's degree grad. in the ICU. Your career--whatever you choose to do in the long term--will benefit big-time from a year or two starting off in general med-surg. work--the med-pass, dressings, IVs, Foleys, dropping NG tubes, whatever…just general bedside care and learning to work well with the patients and the other staff. I am a great believer in living close to work…my absolute longest commute over the years was 30 minutes one-way…but if you have to live a little further to get the good experience, I would do it for awhile. Just make sure you only do eight-hour shifts…which of course will turn out to be 10 hour shifts, because you won't get out on time. (Yeah, nursing…dontcha love it.) Then after a year or so, if you want to go into something more specialized, you can start looking around. And don't forget to plan how you are going to get that BSN. You'll need it to open doors. I was an associate's degree RN for ten years before I picked up my BSN. I never had any trouble finding work, but it was the BSN that got me out of the hospital and into a fabulous position as a public health nurse…a nine-to-five case management job with a real opportunity to make a difference in patients' lives. I thought I died and went to heaven, although once in a while I missed the technical aspects of hospital work. The trouble is…and it's everywhere…they never give you enough staff to really do a great job on the floor. And that gets frustrating. (Good old nursing--the job we love to hate.) OK, I"m rambling, so will stop.