Did you work while in school?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Specializes in Family Clinic.

So for the original school I wanted to go to gave extra application points for being a CNA. The current school doesn't care but they allow you to add it to your application. I do not believe there are "no working" requirements for the program I want to go into. I have picked up a weekend only and PRN CNA job and they really want to push me to do double shifts on the weekends. I have no school on Friday so that is my free day to study, get family appointments taken care of and recover. My family of 5 really needs the extra money to pay for my books, supplies, gas, and childcare. I have 5 classes next semester and will be applying to the nursing program for Fall entry before classes start. I really want to be able to maintain my schedule of working doubles on the weekends as much as possible and a full time student. I also wanted to see if there were opportunities to volunteer at my local hospital.

If you have done this and successfully, how did you plan it out? Were you burnt out? Is my situation ideal for someone who has to still work? I love my job so far and think it has made my desire to become a nurse even stronger! Let me know :)

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Specializes in CICU, Telemetry.

I worked 8-16 hours a week tutoring and lifeguarding. I was 18-21 in school and went to a traditional 4 year liberal arts school for my BSN. This was manageable.

I think you're going to have a hard time working doubles on both weekend days on a regular basis. I think you'd be better off just to have a per diem job so you have more control over your hours on a week to week basis in case you need weekend time to study for finals/work on a project or paper, etc.

I think you're going to have a tough time spending any time with your kids if you're in nursing school full time and working doubles on both weekend days, and you may even have trouble just getting your schoolwork done. 1 day a week is typically not enough to do all your work and studying, let alone take care of family obligations.

I understand you might need the money, but I think you're going to have a really hard time balancing work/school/family/life

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Specializes in Family Clinic.
I worked 8-16 hours a week tutoring and lifeguarding. I was 18-21 in school and went to a traditional 4 year liberal arts school for my BSN. This was manageable.

I think you're going to have a hard time working doubles on both weekend days on a regular basis. I think you'd be better off just to have a per diem job so you have more control over your hours on a week to week basis in case you need weekend time to study for finals/work on a project or paper, etc.

I think you're going to have a tough time spending any time with your kids if you're in nursing school full time and working doubles on both weekend days, and you may even have trouble just getting your schoolwork done. 1 day a week is typically not enough to do all your work and studying, let alone take care of family obligations.

I understand you might need the money, but I think you're going to have a really hard time balancing work/school/family/life

I think you may be right. With the classes I have in Spring, 3 sciences a math and a comp class, I am already going to be pretty busy and then have the weekend job on top of it. I will see how hard it is and try to tough it out so that I can at least get through the summer before the nursing program if I get in. If I can manage that then I may be able to manage it until I get at least one year experience which would put me around November in the first semester of Nursing and then I can transfer into a less demanding job or let it go for the duration of the nursing program itself. I love being a CNA but I want to be an RN more!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Trauma.

I have to work full-time to support myself, so I've been working on my prerequisites part-time. I've been taking 10 credits per quarter for almost 2 years and am getting ready to apply to the nursing program. When the time comes to actually take on the workload of the nursing curriculum, I will most likely have to reduce my work hours dramatically. I'm not 100% sure on what the heck I'm going to do, yet.

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Specializes in Family Clinic.

I ended up having a quick chat with the people in charge of scheduling and none of them realized that I live an hour away from work and to work a double I would only get about 4 hours of sleep in between. So they no longer will be asking me to do doubles. I will still be able to volunteer when I need to but most likely only on a Saturday so I can recover on Sunday and be ready for my early class. Thankfully my Monday schedule is not as hectic and I will only have one class with its following lab. I pray to the college gods that the class workload will not be so heavy and I can get things done quickly so I won't have such a demanding semester! My first solo shifts went pretty well and I am hoping it remains that way :)

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Before starting nursing school, I was working 30-ish hours a week as a waitress, and saved as much money as I could. I got a job as a PCT in the hospital about a year ago. At the college I attend, we don't get to choose our schedule, it has already been pre-determined. Last semester I had class or clinical Monday-Friday. What I normally did was work 2 weekend shifts a month. One weekend off, and either a Saturday or Sunday of the next weekend. Definitely not enough to pay any bills other than water haha. But I work 12 hour shifts so I'm not sure what a "double" entails but I obviously can barely accomplish anything before/after one of those shifts. There were a few weekends I worked Saturday and Sunday, and I didn't get to study and was pretty tired for school on Monday.

My advice is to bust your butt and make as much money before the semester begins. You'll know when/if you get too exhausted. And I would also say that instead of volunteering at a hospital, try to get a job! That way you'll get experience and get paid.

Look at your hour:earnings ratio. Find what job opportunities you can make the most money in the least amount of time and figure out a way to tailor to your schedule so you're not spending too many hours NOT making money, but also not too many hours on the job. Nursing school has really taught me how to plan my time hour by hour lol.

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