Feeling Alone in Class

[CountryMomma]

I apologize in advance if this sounds like I am bragging about my grades. I definitely don't plan on it.

I'm in a small class doing the 1-yr ADN through a State College. We primarily have lecture online on an IVN network, clinicals are all done in person. I've found the coursework to be challenging, engaging, frustrating, but overall I've had a good go of it. (I'm sure my husband would strongly disagree.) My instructors have generally been pleased with my grades and progress and I was approached about tutoring the PN students, which I turned down because I'm still in class and didn't feel comfortable tutoring without real-world skill usage.

My problem is that my frustrations seem (to me at least) to be so superficial and pathetic to my classmates. At least three of them are in danger of failing out, and I am not sure but I think at least one more might also have a problem. I, on the other hand, am setting a (unreachable, I think!) goal of a 4.0 this semester (I had two my PN year). Because my classmates are struggling with being able to stay in the program, I don't talk about my grades at all anymore, and just listen when they need to vent about difficult test or the horrible paper we had. I want to vent that I am just .5% away from the A I so desperately want, or that if I get another B I won't be comfortable with myself anymore, or that I need that 3.5 to stay in Phi Theta Kappa.

Even my instructors seem to brush off my goal. One instructor told me cheerfully that C's make degrees, and after I stared at her thinking she was joking, I replied that it may be so, but they don't make mine. I emailed one instructor asking her nicely to please run a 'what-if' scenario so I could see if pulling off an A in her class was feasible with five weeks left, which she promptly ignored. I suppose, if you are counseling students that are failing, why waste valuable time with a silly thing like that.

I just wish I could talk to someone who has been there. Sure, I have friends that are overachievers like me, but none in the nursing programs, and truly, nursing school is a horse of another color. And breed. And planet.

I know it sounds so superficial and silly. I guess venting did help me gain a little persepctive. Still lonely though!

[JBudd, MSN]

See, this to me is just sad. Why am I low priority? Do I not pay as much as my classmates to be here? To have her services? I am not allowed to have her guidance because I have the good fortune and strength to do well? Honestly. I can't run the grades myself because the grade simulator is instructor-use only and she weights her class items so wonky I can't make hide nor hair of it. I'm asking what it would take for an A. Not for a rundown of every grade she's given me. She's done these what-if scenarios for other students. This is a prime example of what I was irritated about in the first place!

I see. In my syllabus, it is very easy to track where you are. I give precise weights and per cents for each section, so any student can always figure out a grade. It must be frustrating not to be able to. As far as her doing it for others but not you, I am at a loss to answer that. No, you should not be penalized for doing well, or feel that you somehow don't deserve as much time. What I would suggest is asking again, on the off chance that your request may have been lost in the rush of the end of semester. I have occasionally needed a reminder here and there, but then, I acknowledge I have a lousy sense of time, switching between my night shifts and my day teaching.

Best of luck to you! Hope you have a great Christmas!