Does anyone enjoy Nursing School?

[Mommy_RN1211]

I have been recently accepted into a ADN nursing program and am very eager to get started. I attended my orientation and was throughly disappointed. It seems all of the comments and information provided was so negative. Listen, I am not blind to the fact that Nursing School is HARD work. I understand it will take a lot of studying and time away from my family. I know I can expect to probably make B's instead of the A's I have made thus far and that's okay.

It just seems that most of these posts are so negative. Is it really that bad? I feel if I manage my time correctly and study what I need to I will be okay. I didn't say I will be at the top of the dean's list but I will manage. I really feel discourgaed about the whole process at this point.

I guess I feel as though I need to be the judge of how long to spend in a skills lab or how much time to spend studying vs basing my habits on someone else's success/failure. I am my own person and know how I learn and study but it seems everyone only insists to quit your job, divorce your spouse and put your children in counseling because you will NEVER be around.

I unfortunately cannot quit my job as I need to make money. I have a small son who I know needs me and a husband that supports me. This is really just me venting so sorry if I went on a rant!

To sum this up: does anyone have any encouraging stories about nursing school? Words of positive wisdom? Anything positive?

-A Discouraged Student.

[bankssarn]

Yes, I enjoyed it! It was challenging and time consuming, but I really did enjoy it! In fact, there are some days that I miss it! I worked all through nursing school as well, which made it even more of a challenge. Plus, I'm a mom. As someone else said, it's all about time management! I had class/clinical all week, worked every weekend, spent evenings with my daughter and studied after she went to bed. It may take some time to get into a groove, especially when you begin a new semester and new clinical rotation, but if you put your mind to it, you can do it!

[LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN]

You know, I think I finally get it. You're talking about BSN degrees, right? Now this may not be the case for everyone, but I attended an accelerated program (22months). That's eight week semesters, instead of sixteen. Perhaps that's why it was easier for you to manage? Am I wrong in that assumption?

The OP is in ADN program, so it too will be accelerated (stop me if I'm wrong here). Now I'm not going to sit here and say that accelerated programs are harder than traditional 3-4 year BSN programs, because at the end of the day (program), we all take the same NCLEX-RN.

However, seeing as you said BSN program, and if I am correct in my assumption, then can you see why, now, that people say it's terribly difficult to make time for anything, aside of nursing school? I mean think about it, 8-week semesters, to learn what some may take 16 weeks to learn. That's intense.

That's an exam nearly, if not every week. Of course with studying smart, and following lectures, and organizing your time efficiently, it isn't like you're going to be stuck behind a book 24/7, but it certainly felt like that for many of my classes!

I am now graduated, studying my orifice off for my NCLEX-RN, to be taken this month on the 17th. I found it incredibly difficult to spend a lot of time with family (aside of my immediate, wife/kid). That's because they live 20 minutes away, and other factors as well. But, as nurses, we should never sugar-coat information, nor should we down-play others' concerns, i.e. "Everything's gonna be fine."

You have some very valid concerns, OP. I agree with the many that say this will be an arduous journey. But again, to agree with the many, it's one definitely worth taking! I had an absolute blast in school! I'm truly going to miss everyone, faculty included. We all are staying in touch via the Facebook, and they, along with the program, have changed my life (for the better).

Good luck to you!

ROCK ON!

[ERnursebythebay]

Nursing school is hard. That's not being negative, it's just being honest. That said, it was probably one of the best experiences I've gone through. I made life long friends that I love like my own family. In fact, your nursing school friends will become your second family because there will be times you will spend more time with them than your real family. But, this isn't supposed to be easy. You are training to save lives and take care of people when they are at their lowest and most vulnerable. It shouldn't be easy and it shouldn't be something that just anyone can do. It will take dedication and sacrifice by you and your family. That doesn't mean you will never see them. It just means you have to prioritize and use your time wisely. Only you can figure out what works best for you. You HAVE to make time for your family and take time to unwind and just step away from it for a little while. If you don't you will be burned out very quickly and the stress will get the best of you. First semester can be overwhelming. There is just so much information thrown at you and you really do have to learn a whole new way to take test and study. But, if you use your time wisely and put in the work, it will be an awesome experience. I don't miss the hours of studying, or the exams, clinicals or countless hours doing paperwork, etc. But, there are some things I do miss every single day. I still text and visit some of my instructors and stay in touch with all of my classmates. You may not hear many positive things but don't let it discourage you. You draw your own conclusions about it and when the people around you start being negative, just walk away. Good luck to you. I wish you all the best in your journey.

[nursewr]

I'm finishing up my second semester, med surg, it's hard! But I still love it and look forward to the new challenges in the upcoming semester.

[nlynrob]

You know I think I finally get it. You're talking about BSN degrees, right? Now this may not be the case for everyone, but I attended an accelerated program (22months). That's eight week semesters, instead of sixteen. Perhaps that's why it was easier for you to manage? Am I wrong in that assumption? The OP is in ADN program, so it too will be accelerated (stop me if I'm wrong here). Now I'm not going to sit here and say that accelerated programs are harder than traditional 3-4 year BSN programs, because at the end of the day (program), we all take the same NCLEX-RN. However, seeing as you said BSN program, and if I am correct in my assumption, then can you see why, now, that people say it's terribly difficult to make time for anything, aside of nursing school? I mean think about it, 8-week semesters, to learn what some may take 16 weeks to learn.![/quote']

I'm in a traditional BSN program now. The entire first year is pre-reqs, so it's three years of actual RN school. So yeah I get an extra year, but I'm also required to take a lot more classes than ADN programs. So even though I get a longer time period, I'm taking one or two extra classes per semester. My group of girl friends all apparently had the same calling, one completed an accelerated BSN, two traditional BSN and five have completed ADN programs. From the hours we've spent discussing classes and comparing our schools/lives while in school, it's pretty clear that at least in the area I live in the accelerated BSN is much harder than the other two. The amount of work the rest of us put into our traditional BSN or ADN programs was pretty much equal. We were all in different programs but always had time to go out and be with each other, so that says something right there. Yeah some of us had a harder time than the others, but they were also the more anxious ones and later reluctantly admitted at least a portion of their stress was psychosomatic. I know this is a small sample of women all from the same area but my point is I think it all evens out. No program can say they are without a doubt more difficult and no matter which path you choose to take to the NCLEX you're experience is based on your personality and what you make of it.

[Levitas, BSN, RN]

No program can say they are without a doubt more difficult and no matter which path you choose to take to the NCLEX you're experience is based on your personality and what you make of it.

Right, I agree, and even made mention of that :)

My post was (hopefully) to help the gentleman empathize with others' situations, because as you said, they're not all the same!

[Mandy0728]

You know I think I finally get it. You're talking about BSN degrees, right? Now this may not be the case for everyone, but I attended an accelerated program (22months). That's eight week semesters, instead of sixteen. Perhaps that's why it was easier for you to manage? Am I wrong in that assumption? The OP is in ADN program, so it too will be accelerated (stop me if I'm wrong here). Now I'm not going to sit here and say that accelerated programs are harder than traditional 3-4 year BSN programs, because at the end of the day (program), we all take the same NCLEX-RN. However, seeing as you said BSN program, and if I am correct in my assumption, then can you see why, now, that people say it's terribly difficult to make time for anything, aside of nursing school? I mean think about it, 8-week semesters, to learn what some may take 16 weeks to learn. That's intense. That's an exam nearly, if not every week. Of course with studying smart, and following lectures, and organizing your time efficiently, it isn't like you're going to be stuck behind a book 24/7, but it certainly felt like that for many of my classes! I am now graduated, studying my orifice off for my NCLEX-RN, to be taken this month on the 17th. I found it incredibly difficult to spend a lot of time with family (aside of my immediate, wife/kid). That's because they live 20 minutes away, and other factors as well. But, as nurses, we should never sugar-coat information, nor should we down-play others' concerns, i.e. "Everything's gonna be fine." You have some very valid concerns, OP. I agree with the many that say this will be an arduous journey. But again, to agree with the many, it's one definitely worth taking! I had an absolute blast in school! I'm truly going to miss everyone, faculty included. We all are staying in touch via the Facebook, and they, along with the program, have changed my life (for the better). Good luck to you![/quote']

I just wanted to add that not all ADN programs are accelerated. I'm starting a BSN program in January, but the CC in my town has an ADN program and they only take maybe 9 credits at most per semester.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I loved college and college WAS nursing school for me, as a traditional BSN student.

[RNikkiF]

I went to a 16 month accelerated program. We did have people work, but I have NO idea how they did it. The school created our schedules, told us which classes we would take and in what order. Although we did have a little flexibility on the specific time. Anyway, some people were fired from their jobs because of our nursing schedule's interference.

I was very lucky. I didn't have to work at all during school, but I wish I had at least taken a position as a CNA part time.

I tried to incorporate my kids into my study time. My son was four and would sit and "study" with me while I nursed my daughter and read/studied. My husband was on deployment a lot of the time, so I had no one to watch the kids. I had to work my schedule so that I was in class when they were at school and my daughter was a baby, so she went to daycare on my campus.

Someone posted about not getting caught up in "under achievement"... that was not a problem at my school! It was almost insane the way everyone would compete with grades. After every exam, people stood around in the hallways and asked each other "what grade did you get?" and they'd discuss the questions. Most of the time they were asking because they were unsure of how they did, but you can bet on the next exam, everyone was out to do better than someone else. I tried to just do better than I did before.

Get used to always having laundry piled up. Forget about the dust behind the TV and ask your husband to pick up the slack. You can't do all of it. Get yourself a day planner and USE IT! I had every minute of my day planned out from what time I needed to get up to the exact time I needed to leave campus in order to pick my son up from school.

It sounds like you have a realistic idea of what you're facing. I posted the realities of school above, but here are some other realities of it... I LOVED it!!! I was stressed and never had enough time to do everything I wanted to, but I love learning and felt like I was doing something important. I went to nursing school beginning to end with three girls (literally every single class start to finish!) and although we don't talk much anymore and live in different states, I'll always have a special place in my heart for them.

Nursing school is the easy part. The hard part is your first job when you get off orientation and realize someone's life is in your hands. It is easy to forget that it isn't entirely up to you... there's a whole team of people working for each patient. Don't forget that! Good luck!

[MrsComboCurlz, ASN, BSN, RN]

I'm a newly accepted Spring Jan 2014 nursing student as well " Yaaaaaay Gooooooo Us"...

Honestly speaking, it doesn't matter what anyone says on here about NS (good or bad). YOUR EXPERIENCE will be just that, YOUR experience. Instead of putting energy into reading negative posts...I'm sure there's others on here that are uplifting and encouraging. Yeah, I know NS is hard (If it were easy, everyone would be doing it). But the post that are even discouraging in the title, I personally stay away from. Things happen in life, but we have no idea what the person faced or did not do to make their NS path easier on themselves. Ppl will say negative things for reasons we may truly not know why. I refuse to alter my positive chi and take in negative energy before I even begin. Ive read many testimonies of students : working/children/husband/wives/bills/family etc. All these things I AM Facing myself but you know what? They've come out stating "ITS DoABle"...I know I can do it. For heavens sakes, be happy and overjoyed at this point in your academic journey. YOU got IN To NS, relish in it...

Go to YOUTUBE, theirs a wealth of NS vloggers that'll get you on the right path of positivity...if that's what you truly want:

~PermissionToBeU

~Rona004

~NickaSarbata

~NurseMendoza

~RobinsNursingJourney

~VgBoillot

~JuliannHola

~PaigeLovesNursing

~NurseNacole

~EmpoweRN

~MichaelLinares

~GodzDesign1

~NursingStudentNaomi

~MaryamMoradi

And it goes on and on...Congratulations to you on your accomplishment. Stay prayed up, time manage and KEEP CONFIDENT and you'll be the best nursing student ever! Speak it into existence...

[dkmamato3]

Nursing school is great and I love it. It is a lot of hard work and you will be very busy! I go home on the weekends to see my kiddos but am away during the week which is hard for me. However, the only weekend I have missed with them so far (2 terms) will be this upcoming one as we have finals next week and I really need time to focus.

Stay positive and optimistic - your nursing school experience is yours!

Congrats on getting into the program.

[Everline]

Every nursing school is different as well as every personality, so obviously opinions and experiences will vary widely. My own feelings about nursing school fluctuate. I am just finishing up my second semester and I can NOT say I'm loving school right now. I'd love for it to be over but I have another year to go. I recently got a preview of what is required next semester and it's pretty overwhelming. Clinicals also can be an emotional roller coaster ride. Most of the time I feel stressed out about school, though that's partially due to my own standards and the pressure I put on myself. But also it's the nature of the beast. It's very hard to understand until you get in it and find your way. And you will find your way. So many have done it before you and you can too.

There are things I like about nursing school. Just right this moment I can't remember them. Lol. Seriously, I don't hate it every day. And I sincerely appreciate having the opportunity to be in nursing school. I have a lot of gratitude for that. I'm just really, really tired...