2 Career Paths - Nursing or Engineering

Hi, I'm having trouble deciding which path I would like to take career wise. I'm debating between nursing or engineering (don't know which field for certain.) Allow me to give a short background that will help me to explain why I'm having difficulty deciding.

Since I was a kid (I'm almost 20 now) I wanted to join the military. It felt like something I had to do with my life and I wanted to help people. I was so focused on this that I didn't even apply myself in classes in high school, despite taking all the CC and AP classes I could. Needless to say my plan didn't work out of enlisting in the military due to my asthma. I worked out a lot and was one of the most fit kids in my school, but MEPS weren't able to see that on my medical records. Pretty much after that, my confidence plummeted and I had no back up plan, let alone an idea of what I wanted to do with my life.

After a year of working to pay off some bills before attending college, I took an EMT class during this summer. I had been going through career options like crazy, and decided to give the medical field a lot. By doing this I went way out of my comfort zone. I had no experience/knowledge in the medical field besides whatever I learned while working out. However, I am happy to say I am a licensed EMT now and that it felt amazing to try something I felt uncertain about and succeed. I also met a few people there that are now my friends. We were in a team together and have somehow formed a bond with each other and remain in contact and hope to keep it that way.

Anyways, to get to wanted to talk about. I had applied to an electrician apprenticeship at the beginning of the year during my crazy career search. My uncle is an electrician and got me to apply, I'm good at working with my hands. However, that process was going really slow so that's when I decided to take the EMT class. However, half way during the program the apprenticeship came back up into play and a company asked if I wanted to work for them (I wasn't accepted into the apprenticeship yet, but the company needs workers and it would give me experience and hours for when I finally did get accepted.) This is where my uncertainty to go nursing or engineering comes into play.

I loved my EMT class and the fact that I would be able to help people. I, at first wanted to be a doctor but decided against it due to the debt aspect. Call it a debt phobia if you will. Then I looked into nursing. I'd still be able to help people, and the pay is pretty decent. From what I understand, I'd still have a family life which is important to me. However, I wouldn't want to stop at an RN. I would want to become a NP because I still want a role in the diagnosing and patient care like a doctor would do.

Then there is engineering. If I took the electrician apprenticeship, I would be able to go to school very part time (1-3 classes a semester.) I would like to do it this way for several reasons. First, having an electrician license would be a good fall back career if I ever was laid off (however, I worked 3 weeks with a electrical company and I DO NOT want to work construction my whole life.) Secondly, during high school, as I said, I didn't apply myself enough to even see if math or science or anything interested me. All I cared about was the military. I'm wary if I'm good enough in these subjects to even be an engineer. That's why I'd want to take the classes slow. If I didn't have as big of a work load, I could focus more on each class than having many classes at once. Lastly, since I am young I'd have more opportunity to invest my money while in the apprenticeship. I would be making decent money and could save it/invest for retirement and stocks (not that I couldn't do this during school for nursing but it would be harder.) Finance is something I'd like to learn more about personally. Again, I don't know if I'm good enough for engineering, but every career test I take (whether you guys believe in those or not, I'm ambiguous towards them) always has engineering on there and coincidentally nursing. Oh and a side note, I want to make a six figure salary some day, probably by 35, don't ask why, it's just a personal goal i've set out for myself.

I'll stop my post here. I know the post is long and I do apologize. I have been thinking heavily on this for a little bit and looked into many variables. I didn't know how else I could simplify it. If anyone has any experience or advise to give, it would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Honestly, I would recommend Biomedical Engineering.... it's a hugely hot career field that would blend both of your interests. The pay is MUCH better than nursing - with much better career growth opportunities and working conditions. If you're aiming for 6 figures, nursing would be a no-go. BTW, I think you're pretty smart for considering a skilled trade (electrician) fall-back occupation. In my neck of the woods, there is a huge shortage of skilled trades. Qualified/licensed workers have all the work they can handle.
I disagree. Depending on where you live, you can pull six figures as a RN with some OT. I'm 27, and I hit 100K last year and I will easily make it this year. You just have to put the hours in. Both my brother and cousin are engineers (one mechanical and one civil). The mechanical engineer ended up working in the corporate world (not even as an engineer), and pulls in 200k+. He went to a top school though, and works 60+ hour weeks. The civil engineer was laid off when the economy tanked, and said true engineering jobs are DIFFICULT to come by, especially for mid career folks, because their pay is a lot higher than new grads, so a lot of jobs go to lower paid new grads. He ended up starting his own engineering business because he could not keep from getting laid off. I have a RN coworker who is an ex engineer as well. He went into nursing because he couldn't keep from getting laid off either. I WILL say that your quality of life in terms of work hours and holidays worked will be a lot better as an engineer, but you will probably have a more overall financially stable life as a nurse. It just depends on what's more important to you. Quality of life vs financial stability/opportunity. My bro was actually trying to convince me to get into electrical engineering, saying that's where all the jobs are. Good luck!
My husband is an aeronautical engineer, very lucrative field and still has lots of potential for earnings. Together we have done very well without going into massive debt for our educations and able to raise a family of three children without too much hardship. If you are looking for bigger bucks I would say the engineering field is more rewarding than nursing. It also seemed like my husband had many more opportunities to go into management than I ever have in nursing.
Much as it pains me to say it (after 30 yrs in nursing), I do not encourage people to go into nursing at this point. Go for engineering.