4.0 in nursing school?

Lori215, RN · Sep 19, 2014

Fellow perfectionist here, I'm laughing my way through nursing school, and I'm at one of the top (rigorous) nursing schools in my region. To the people who say this is hard, all you have to do is look at the daily life of a medical student/resident, nursing school pales in comparison, hell even compared to pre-med undergrad classes (Most of my cohort struggled in INTRODUCTION to organic chem.......yeah.)

Well that isn't a great attitude to have... You can't tell someone that something isn't hard just because it isnt "as hard" as something else. Laughing your way through makes it sound like you're not taking it seriously, and that is a shame. The people who get A's in my program study hard and treat it with respect, even when they get 100's. Yes medicine is hard, but nursing is hard in a DIFFERENT way.

Alyrical1 · Sep 19, 2014

I'm just like you. I completed the LVN program and maintained a 4.0. Now I am going back to get my RN license and all I keep hearing is that I won't be able to maintain it. I'm a little worried, especially since I still work full-time. I just keep telling myself that I will continue to work hard in order to keep my 4.0.

Good Luck to you!

biglittlebaby · Sep 19, 2014

I am in my 4th semester of 5 in nursing school for my ASN. So far I have maintained a 4.0. I study approximately 35 hours a week outside of class. I am hoping to keep it and graduate with a 4.0, but I have come to terms with the fact that may not happen. Everyone always tells me that nobody ever asks what a nurses GPA was as long as they passed NCLEX.

duskyjewel · Sep 19, 2014

Why is this so important? When I was that invested in having perfect grades, it was partly motivated by a sense of inadequacy and powerlessness over my situation in life.

Cali2015 · Sep 19, 2014

I held a 4.0 throughout nursing school. The only B I've ever received was in Algebra. At graduation, I have to admit it felt good to wear that honors regalia, especially at age 53. All that being said, while I was in school and studying so intensely to keep those grades high, I often asked myself "what in the world am I doing to myself?" It was pretty stressful. My boss, who has her PhD and is a wonderful APRN to work for, told me she was always a B student. Earning A's was not her priority but performing well in clinicals was her primary focus. Our feelings about our GPA are very personal. Follow your heart and your gut and be whatever type of student works best for you. Best of luck!

OBigdog26, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 19, 2014

I had a 3.9 in nursing school and graduated summa cum laude. I was just an average student. Nursing school was definitely challenging, and there is no "rule of thumb" of the grades you will make in nursing school compared to the prereqs you took.

It's okay to be book smart; however, you need critical thinking in nursing to succeed.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

monkeyhq · Sep 19, 2014

Why is this so important? When I was that invested in having perfect grades, it was partly motivated by a sense of inadequacy and powerlessness over my situation in life.

I have been the neurotic overachiever my entire life.

I had an incredibly strict upbringing, was not allowed to make mistakes without severe punishment, and my free choices (like shaving the sides of my head to make a mohawk) were met with abuse. As long as I received A's and B's, my mother was cool with my grades. But she was not so cool when it came to any other mistakes. Even with straight A's, I wasn't allowed to shave my legs, get my ears pierced, or talk on the phone with boys, until I was 16. Learning was something that always brought me peace. I had no sense of personal inadequacy whatsoever, I knew I could break free by learning. And learning gave me power.

From my perspective as an adult looking back, my academic performance has always been something I could freely control without interference from anyone or anything. I was allowed to read whatever I wanted, and take classes outside the normal primary education system. It expanded my world view, and brought me incredible joy! It was like being taken out of a cage.

When I first went to college, I chose accounting...that did a lot to deter me from my goals of perfection (tongue-firmly-in-cheek)! :roflmao:

20+ years later, and having been through a nightmare health condition just 12 months earlier, I went back to school for nursing. Perfection was a habit at this point, and my own expectation, except it doesn't come as easily when you are older. I had to work incredibly hard. And I almost killed myself with this terrible drive. But there was more to it than that...having just been out of a severe illness, I was going to show the world who was boss! I couldn't control the health outcome, but I sure as heck could control my education destiny. Surely, it would give me power!

And it has all mattered for what? Nearly dying over something dumb (like not peeing when you have to so you can just sit and read, read, read nursing books all night)? It was really stupid. I gave up friendships, special family time, entertainment, everything that is fun about life, to reach some ridiculous goal that in the scheme of things didn't mean jack squat.

I am a nurse. I am pretty darn good at it. But that GPA doesn't do anything but sit on my transcript and collect dust while I am still doing the exact same work I would have been doing if I had a 2.9.

It is great to shoot for the moon. But as someone said, don't forget to stop and look at the stars.

Friskee, BSN, MSN · Sep 21, 2014

Honestly the material in nursing school is not all that bad. What's bad is the endless care plans, labs, lab practices, SBARs, mandated student organization meetings, mandated volunteering, papers, projects, journals, group assignments, and mandated extra end of the year tests (ATI, HESSI.) Throw that all in and you have to make the most of your study time.

People that do not attain a 4.0 usually is not because their lack of studying or being a good nurse, it's because there are so many other things soaking up their time. I think this is why many of us have decided that getting an A isn't everything anymore. I love when I get A's, but I am just as happy with B's nowadays.

tyvin, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2014

Girl I'm here to tell you there's nothing wrong with you! Take with a grain of salt these people telling you how wrong it is, or that you need to see someone. I love the response where they tell you that you're making up for childhood failures :dead: ... Really; you mean we just can't be smart?

I loved getting A's. It was an achievement all my own. Many people (I take it from reading posts on this site) have a hard time in nursing school. I say it's as hard as you make it. By the time anyone gets to nursing school after listening to the plethora of horror stories from people who had a hard time, it's a wonder anyone passes at all. I think people have actually made a culture of failure surrounding nursing school. You don't see the docs with this attitude :rolleyes:

I confess...I am one of those that graduated with honors and really didn't blink during pre-reqs or school. I have a higher than normal IQ, I loved school and was great at time management! In my senior year my favorite nursing counselor took me aside and told me she was "concerned" that I only got A's. I didn't understand; I was a single mom with a 3 year old and a part-time noc job in a fine dining restaurant. Things were great.

I wasn't desperately studying and spending all my time trying to be perfect but that's what the counselor perceived. She could not wrap her neurons around how a person with a child and a job could maintain a 4.0. :wideyed: You can see what a slippery slope of confusion arises when a tenured professor tries to discourage a student from success. Perhaps she was vicariously attempting to save her own alleged childhood failures by projecting her inadequacies onto me :geek:

That's the main reason I needed to respond to your post...I want you to know you're OK. In nursing school with all the required reading I used skimming as a reading strategy and depended on long detailed mnemonics. You need to sit down and research learning styles, and those types of things and choose what's best and make a plan of attack. I also taped the lectures and would play them back in my car to and from school since it was an hour ride both ways. With the BSN route you must choose extra courses that most people think have nothing to do with nursing. It all has merit and has everything to do with nursing; and remember, theory is huge part of nursing along with EBP.

People go by their own experiences and I can see that most people have a hard time in nursing school. Though I joke about some of the responses, everyone is well meaning and only trying to help...after all; it was you who posed the question. :yes:

Go on out there and do what you do. You're going to be fine. Don't let anyone make you feel bad because you have good grades. Take friskee's advice, it's the best on here IMO :)

duskyjewel · Sep 21, 2014

I'm disappointed with any grade less than 100. I know it sounds crazy, but it's not something I can control. I know I would be devastated if I made a B.

I'm sorry, that's not healthy. It just isn't.

Lori215, RN · Sep 21, 2014

No one is saying she can't be smart or want good grades, it just isn't healthy to tie your self worth to it to such an extent. It can hurt you in other areas in life when you expect yourself to be perfect all the time, ESPECIALLY nursing. It's the level of perfectionism and anxiety that we are speculating to be a little unhealthy. It's out of concern that we are saying to relax, not condescension!

phoenoryker · Sep 21, 2014

Here's another thing about nursing school... When we say nursing school... We are talking ADN, BSN, ACBSN, entry level MSN, MS in nursing, non-nursing bachelors NP programs... Then we are talking comm colleges, colleges, universities. Then we are talking for profit vs non-profit... Saying one got a 4.0 in nursing school means absolutely nothing unless we know some details about the program.