First Day of Class!!

christina731 · Aug 6, 2013

My first day of the Nursing Program is August 12th. I'm very excited but also anxious to begin my long journey. I know it's going to be a tough road ahead, and thankfully I'm blessed enough to have a very, very supportive family, boyfriend, and friends.
I was wondering what to expect in my Fundamentals class and how much I'm going to really have to study. I'm the kind of person who obviously has to study for tests, but I also learn concepts pretty easily in most subjects (except Math lol). I have a part-time job (work 12 hours a week on average) and I'm just a tad worried that it'll be too much to handle with having to study for my Nursing class. I need to know how to balance my job and study time. School comes first for me, but it would be really nice to keep my job especially because I just started a month ago.
Thank you to everyone who responds. It's very much appreciated for taking the time out of your day to reply! Have a great day and God Bless! Good luck to anyone else starting the Nursing Program soon. :)

Hi :)

First of all, CONGRATS! Getting accepted into nursing school is a huge accomplishment and you should be proud. You're lucky to have a good support system. It's very helpful during the stressful times of school.

I'm about to start my second semester of nursing school. I took fundamentals (with lecture, lab and clinical) and pharmacology (lecture only) my first semester and I gotta tell you, those classes were SO different than any prerequisite class that I ever thought was hard. The material in fundamentals is not really difficult to grasp but you will have a million things thrown at you at once and it will be difficult to keep up. I spent about 14 hours a week being in the classroom, lab or clinical site on Tues/Wed/Thurs. I probably spent about another 40-50 hours a week studying or preparing for clinical/lab. I worked a total of 9 days during that semester and that was WAY too much for me. I will not be working at all during the upcoming semester (med/surg I and mental health) because it was just too much for me. I would see how you do with working the 12 hours a week ... it may work for you. There were people in my class that worked more than that and they did poorly and were extremely stressed out. I'm not telling you not to work, but I would definitely think about it. I would also develop consistent study habits and stay organized. For me, I study well with flash cards so I would make a card for each slide of my PowerPoints. Writing everything out really helped me. I also keep a very detailed planner that I would fill out every Sunday. I had everything planned out for the week to the hour and I stuck to it.

A few last words of advice: do not neglect your loved ones. Make time for them every so often, you cannot study/work at every possible moment! Also, make sure you take the time to eat healthy, exercise and take care of yourself. I take at least 30 minutes every day to walk my dog. It helps clear my mind and keep me focused on what I need to do.

Good luck!!!

ames86 · Aug 6, 2013

I did some studying in fundamentals, but not nearly as much in farther courses. I will say that I have been a CNA for 6 years so a lot of fundamentals was like a refresher course at first. A lot of fundamentals is learning to do skills and why its important to do them in a certain way. I also found it quite easy to work 24 hours a week in fundamentals, but once I got past that and had to increase my studying I ended up quitting my job. Also in my program clinical in fundamentals was only one 6 hour clinical, but farther semesters I have had 12 hour clinical. In the third semester I will have 2 clinical days, plus a lab, then class 2 days a week. It doesn't leave a lot of time for work, kids, husband, etc.

LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN · Aug 6, 2013

Fundamentals scares me less than the math that will show it's ugly face on tests and quizzes. I have funds and pharm my first semester. I'm going to follow the PPs advice and start walking every day! I have to keep reminding myself that I got good grades to get in the program, so I belong here, and I can do this. We can do this!

mssjez · Aug 6, 2013

Everyone is different. I worked 3 jobs during my fundamentals semester, made time to do all the readings before class, studied, did all the clinical work and hours. I got an A- for the semester. If you are organized and know what you can handle, you will be fine. Brush up on your planning skills and own it! Good luck!

BSN-to-MSN, ADN, BSN, RN · Aug 7, 2013

I agree that everyone is different. You should figure out work/study/leisure time in about 2 weeks into the semester... There will be a lot of study hours for sure, but spread those throughout the week.

I had 2 part-time jobs while doing pre-requisites -- 24/week and 16/week. Now I only work 24hour one... Still little too much, but I'm not allowed cut hours, just rearrange. Spend my Saturdays in lab, practicing. Last winter in IL sucked, so the commute in the morning added a lot of stress... Looking forward to the fall semester.

ArrowRN, BSN, RN · Aug 7, 2013

I planned my vacation during first weeks of nursing school and realized there was no way I would be able to do it and work, so I resigned. It all depends on the person and your job. I came from a non-nursing field with inflexible hours 40-80 hrs /week. I am considering getting a Nurse Tech/CNA job now that I successfully completed 2 semesters. I know some people who are working in my program (BSN) and they are doing well. you can tell they are tired though. In the first week the amount of reading and information is what usually overwhelms students. Those chapters pile up quickly so try not to fall behind and you will be fine. Sometimes I had to skim chapters and take notes. It all depends on how you learn best.

LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN · Aug 7, 2013

I planned my vacation during first weeks of nursing school and realized there was no way I would be able to do it and work, so I resigned. It all depends on the person and your job. I came from a non-nursing field with inflexible hours 40-80 hrs /week. I am considering getting a Nurse Tech/CNA job now that I successfully completed 2 semesters. I know some people who are working in my program (BSN) and they are doing well. you can tell they are tired though. In the first week the amount of reading and information is what usually overwhelms students. Those chapters pile up quickly so try not to fall behind and you will be fine. Sometimes I had to skim chapters and take notes. It all depends on how you learn best.

I've heard some people say we should read ahead, and others say not to read ahead because the reading assignments are often given out of chapter order. What's your advice? Should I start reading my funds and pharm books or should I continue what I am doing and brush up on dosage calc and A & P?

doxielover304 · Aug 8, 2013

Thank you everyone, very helpful!

ArrowRN, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2013

I've heard some people say we should read ahead, and others say not to read ahead because the reading assignments are often given out of chapter order. What's your advice? Should I start reading my funds and pharm books or should I continue what I am doing and brush up on dosage calc and A & P?

That's true, the chapters are never in order.you might start chapt 15 -then be reading ch 1 at the end.Problem i have is sometime chap 15 will refer to an earlier ch you have not read yet.I'd probably brush up on AandP cause they dont retach that stuff,you are expected to know it. Heading to my 3rd semester I am reading ahead but also have tests the first week so i got to Review stuff form previous semesters

Jaynie_Marie · Aug 12, 2013

I don't have any advice to give as I don't start til Aug 19...but I just wanted to say good luck to you today!! You're gonna rock!!! :-)