am i misunderstanding this schedule?!

Kathyz · Feb 9, 2006

Something does seem wrong. I am going into a one year accelerated program so I'll be busy 24/7. At the community college where I'm taking my pre reqs one of my friends got into their nursing program last month. She had to quit her job because of the different classes (days, nights). You also will start clinicals soon and will be at various sites. I know in the summer they don't have school but during the school year (for 2 years) they are extremely busy.

Just give the school a call or meet with an advisor. Of course they will recommend you not work but see what they say. Good luck.

Achoo!, LPN · Feb 9, 2006

The class schedule I have does not include the time you need to be in the lab to practice on your own ( they go over it once, so you'll want more practice), or the time you need to come in and do skills check-offs, so you may need to plan for that as well.

Tracy

BoonersmomRN · Feb 9, 2006

I have lecture on Mondays from 9- 2:30. Tuesdays I am off. Wed I have skills lab from 9-11:30 and then Thur/Fri I have clinical( 6 hours). It's 7 credits and it's the only thing I have this semester. It's fundamentals.

RNin2007 · Feb 10, 2006

I am in lecture/theory 8 hours a week, in clinical 17 hours a week, and lab 4 hours a week. That's a total of just under 30 hours/week of class and clinical time, and I probably spend as much time at home doing homework and studying...

~J

NO1_2NV · Feb 10, 2006

Just a thought. Our classes are listed as NSG 302, 302L, and Pharm 309 for a total of 11 hours. NSG 302 is made up of 6 independent classes. You are in school pretty much full time with NSG 302L a full schedule of clinicals.

You can not judge nursing classes as you would say an English class or a Math class. They don't calculate the same.

As someone suggested, the best way to get a handle on your time would be to either talk to your counselor or someone in the actual nursing department.

Good luck.

kjwalley · Feb 10, 2006

at my school the nursing classes are 10 credit hours but you have to carry full time load to be in the program so not only do you have nursing but then some other class to go with it

SraKristina · Feb 10, 2006

thanks for all of the replies.. i talked to the lady in the nursing office, but i'm not sure she understood me and i was in a hurry. From what i've gathered from her I've read right. 4 hours of Theory and 12 hours of clinical a week, with all of the clinical done on one day (a 12 hour shift) she said Lab time is extra, but you can basically determine your own hours for that based on schedule, need, etc. still doesnt add up to me though :-/ I would say if these hours are accurate i would be nervous that everything was being covered but this school has the best nursing reviews in the area (of 2 year programs) well thanks again, im going to post it on the MI forum maybe some of the ppl over there are HFCC students/grads... thanks again

watchthis22 · Feb 10, 2006

ok so i'm prenursing right now (on "the list" ) but i'm moving out of my gparents house so i was looking ahead to make sure i will be able to handle working full time once im in the program
so i looked at the schools reccomended course of study and compared it with the schedule to get ideas of the amount of time ill be in class and this is what i came up with
one semester i will only hafta take 2 classes (NSG 150 and 155) which is a total of 10 credits, but each class is only half a semester. so i will only have lecture (for exp) on thursdays from 9:10 am - 12:00 pm and then 12 hours of clinical a week (which ive heard is usually all in one day) and thats basically how every semester seems; (about 4 hours of theory and 12 of clinical)
i finished all of my pre and corequisites already so all i will be taking are the nursing courses, but still this just seems like way less class time than i was expecting.. someone explain to me where i messed up (because i know i did somewhere) .... oh and i know about the TONS of homework, but still this doesnt seem like much time spent at school/clinicals
thanks so much
btw my school is Henry Ford Community in Detroit

In my school, even though we have 10 credit hours, we spend much more time than that in school. Last semester we had 4 credit hr theory, 4 credit hr clinical/lab, 2 credit hr pharm. My schedule was:

M: 11-3:00 theory, 3:30-5:30

T: 8-10 Lab, 12:30 checkoff

W: off

R: 6:45a-3:30 clinical

This was about 16.5 hours per week. That does not include all of the work that we have to do outside of class. For example, every Monday night we had a quiz online at home. It took about 20 minutes. Then on Sunday night I had a Pharm quiz that took about 30 minutes. Plus you have a lot of time studying, writing papers, doing research, preparing clinical paperwork....the list goes on and on!

I'm not trying to scare you, but be very prepared for what you are about to go through. The first semester of nursing school was a culture shock to alot of students. You are doing a good thing by being here! I was on AllNurses every day for months before school started, so I knew what to expect, that saved me! Those that weren't prepared had a really hard time adjusting.

Good luck!

SraKristina · Feb 11, 2006

thanks for giving me an idea of your schedule... oh i definitely know that this is going to be work i was just trying to anticipate how i can work while in school. Its not so much a matter of whether or not i can, i know i can because i have to, just if it will be easy to work a pretty conventional 5 day a week schedule (its midnights though - security so very low stress and i have tons of time for homework and what not) i'm used to a full load. In high school i went to school, worked 40 hours a week every year and did that and 2 college courses on the weekends my jr. and sr. year and right now im working 50 hrs/week and taking 20 "conventional" credit hours at school. I just dont want to make this move and then find out in a year that its not possible to work and pay my bills.. Thanks again

watchthis22 · Feb 11, 2006

thanks for giving me an idea of your schedule... oh i definitely know that this is going to be work i was just trying to anticipate how i can work while in school. Its not so much a matter of whether or not i can, i know i can because i have to, just if it will be easy to work a pretty conventional 5 day a week schedule (its midnights though - security so very low stress and i have tons of time for homework and what not) i'm used to a full load. In high school i went to school, worked 40 hours a week every year and did that and 2 college courses on the weekends my jr. and sr. year and right now im working 50 hrs/week and taking 20 "conventional" credit hours at school. I just dont want to make this move and then find out in a year that its not possible to work and pay my bills.. Thanks again

Man...that sounds like the job to have during nursing school! Anytime that you can work and do your homework/studying at the same time is GREAT!!!! I used to have a job like that, but the politics were ridiculous! Plus the money sucked, so it just wasn't worth it. I don't work at all right now, wanted to get through semester 1 (which I did very well!) Semester 2 started in January and the work-load is about half....BUT!! the material got A LOT harder! I had a job interview yesterday for a student nurse extern position with a minimum requirement of 8 hours bi-weekly. Hopefully I get it! Well...sounds like you have a good plan. I wish you well in school...just remember...it'll be over before you know it!

Jen

MIA-RN1, RN · Feb 11, 2006

in my school credit hours do not equal class and clinical hours.

I am taking 8 credits, but its actually 14 hours/week between everything.