[ThursdayNurse2b]

Greetings. I was wondering if folks could share their "day in the life" recollections from direct-entry graduate programs. I'm trying to get a sense of the time commitment for classes, studying and, most importantly, the clinical work. When does the clinical work begin -- is this year-round through all 2-3 years, or is it something you take on during certain semesters? Are there special hours requirements? Do you work normal shifts?

Also, would you say the classes and studying are the equivalent of a full-time job? What is the total time commitment if you add in the clinical work? Does this ever reach the equivalent of a 60-80 hour a week job???

I'm just trying to get a sense of how easily nursing school can be juggled with other life commitments, and if there are key differences between the years. (For instance, is the schedule better in year 1, and then horrible in years 2-3, or vice versa?)

Thanks!

[semperfi8688]

No it isnt easy. I work two jobs and this is my last year of nursing. If your motivated and committed you can do it. DONT TELL YOURSELF YOU CANT

[semperfi8688]

(hit a few too many buttons, sorry). We can all be our own worst enemy. I always took classes and clinicals one lecture at a time. You will get out of nursing what you put into it. Get with a good study group, you'll have each other to lean on. I am in a part time night/weekends program, (thats the joke, it really isnt part-time) Every other weekend is clinicals along with every Monday, lecture nights are Tuesday and Wednesday 6-9p. I work mostly third shift and work two days on first shift. Ive accrued enough vacation time so when clinicals are scheduled i can take those nights off, and i have two kids. Just remember, this kind of time is only for a little while.

[arciedee]

Hi... I'm a direct-entry student in a clinical nurse leader program. Ours is a two-year program and I'm in my first semester. Our current schedule is pretty much two full days in lectures and two full days in clinical per week. My clinical group is on a Thursday/Friday day schedule. But our other clinical groups have different schedules. One does Thursday/Friday, but every other Friday they're on evenings instead of days. The other does Thursday evenings and Saturday days. It depends on the instructor and the hospitals. We started working in our clinical sites in the fourth week of school.

As for the time commitment, all in all it's probably more than a full-time job. I have four classes that require reading, papers, projects, exams, etc. My clinical class doesn't require as much of that now, but at the beginning of the semester we had regular exams. People in my program do have outside jobs, but they're generally between 2-10 hours/week. For my school this will be our regular schedule for the first year and a half. After that it drops to part-time, but that is in part because we'll have our RN licensure at that point, so the expectation is that we're getting real world experience while we're finishing up the academic part.

Again, this is a clinical nurse leadership program, if you're interested in an NP type program I would expect it to be different. But that's my experience! I hope this helps.

[hollyhox]

I'm in a direct entry grad program and my program is completely structured, there is absolutely no flexibility in scheduling. My program is one year (3 semesters) - 2 days of classes (about 10hr/5hr), 2 days of clinical (7hrx2) and I think summer semester has extra day of seminars. I'd say it's equilivant to a full time job. I also work part time about 12 hours a week and I don't think it's too bad, but I know there are some people in my class who feel totally overwhelmed with work. It just depends what type of student you are and how much time you spend studying outside of class. Good luck!!