Help Please!! Should I stay in nursing school?

[scndglancee]

I just turned 20 and just started nursing school to become an RN. I worked really hard to get to into the program ( I got all A's in my pre reqs and got an 88 on the net test). I always thought i wanted to be a nurse and my parents always said i'd make a great nurse. However, as i got closer to applying for the program i started to doubt whether I really wanted to be a nurse. Even with these doubts I still took the net and applied for the program, despit these doubts and feeling pressured by my parents. To my surprize I got accepted. I paid for a backgound check, physicals, shots, etc. The first week (which was the drop/add week) I started to freak out and panic and thought that i shouldnt have even started it. i was ready to drop out seeing as this was the only way I could get my money back. I felt as though i'm doing this more for my parents and less for me. However, A few other nursing students talked me out of it and I decided to try it for a semester.

Now i'm REALLY regretting this decision. I know everyone in my class is just as nervous and stressed as I am but I'm feeling like maybe this isnt the career for me. I knew what nurses had to do and what they had to deal with physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. but i think the reality hit me after the first week. I dont think I can handle it emotionally and do all the things they have to do. I' very sensitive and cry easily and nurses can't be sympathetic. If I don't like it after the first semester, should I drop out? I really want to work in the medical feild and help people. I was thinking of a radiology tech,dental hygieinst or an OT as an alternative? I think nursing appealed to me because of the flexibility, helping people, the pay and the potential for advancement. I just dont want to regret either staying in it if i dont like it or dropping out and not knowing if i would have been a great nurse. Has anyone else felt like this? Did you stick it out and like it/not like it? Everyone tells me that you can't base it off of the 1st semester..is that true? If I drop out my parents will be so disapointed in me, I'll loose all the money for tuition and books, i'll be behind in credits, and my gpa might go down. I really dont know what to do. I really want to like it, so maybe I just need to give it a chance. Have any of you ever been in a similar situation? Is it common for people to drop out after 1st semester? I don't want to continue with it after the 1st semester if I dont like it. My professor told us that it is normal for everyone to be stressed and doubtful but i feel like i might have take up a seat that someone else who was REALLY passionate about becoming a nurse could have had. I dont want to quit and regret it for the rest of my life because i worked so hard to get here and payed all this money or stay in it and regret it if I dont like it. HELPPPP? :)

[Colombia]

hi scndglancee,

i just wanted to say...that you do not things because of money, a gpa or because your parents would be dissappointed on you. the main person here is you. it might sound selffish, but it is true. if you are not happy, you would not be able to make anybody happy. i have been in your position, i was afraid of going into nursing. i originally went into the field for other reasons, but appreciation for it. i ended up loving it, having good grades, and enjoying the job and eveything that comes with it. do not be affraid of desappointing people, be affraid of desappointing yourself. people get over things, besides, your parents already have been doin g what they want, if they think that nursing is that wonderful, that somebody in the family should do it, they probably are young enought to think about changing careers. but well, the main focus here is you....so, you need to re-think your priorities in life and look at nursing as a field in which you can go in so many direction...patient care is not the only approach for us...so do a little more research and be aware of the many possibilities that this career offers...good luck....and just remember how hard the last years have been for you and how much have you accomplished already....

[nicole735]

I was stressed my first semester and wanted to drop out as well. My grades dropped significantly when I entered nursing school and that discouraged me as well. I am now in my third semester and I am LOVING it. I promise it gets better with time. However, do what YOU want to do, not want others want you to do! Nursing school def. does not get any easier, but once you are clinicals you will realize how rewarding it truly is to be in the nursing profession!!!!!!!!

[Achicagonurse]

Don't decide to drop out yet. Do group study. Sign up for courses that can transfer to another field in healthcare just in case. Nursing school is hard and stressful. My pediatric clinicals made me rethink if nursing was for me, I cried after those clinicals. It affected me what people can do to a child. I got through and if direct patient care is not for you, there are many options out there in Nursing. You decide what's best for you.

[cingle]

I just want to speak to your comment that, "nurses can't be sympathetic." Personally, I don't want anyone taking care of me (as a patient) who believes that comment. Many people become nurses because they are sympathetic and believe they can offer a caring, healing touch along with the science and technical skills that are part of nursing.

If you don't want to be a nurse because you don't like the working conditions, the payscale, the status, the necessary preparation and on-going education, then don't continue in nursing school. If you want to be nurse but feel that you're too soft or sympathetic, think again. You're very young and you have plenty of time to decide on a career choice; maybe it would be good to take some time off after completing this semester OR you might spend a couple of days shadowing a nurse to get a feel for the actual day-to-day responsibilities.

[Ciale]

Yes, you should stick it out.

There are other areas you can go into as a nurse other than direct patient care. Look into Human Resources at a hospital. You could be a nurse recruiter, Clinical Education Specialist (they're over like training and nurse externship/internship programs). You could teach. Umm...I'm sure there are other professions a nursing degree would help it but those are a couple main ones.

[dozndawg]

In short nursing is a diverse dynamic and ever chaning profession, with plenty of opportunity to advance, learn and grow. I'm 35 already with B.A. degree in another profession and just started nursing school too. Don't worry we are all SKEERED POOPLESS...But I assure you there are all sorts of things you can do...It's not the Hollywood interpretation...

[Ciale]

Also, as a side note -- The President of our new facility (I work for a big hospital in Oklahoma) is a woman who started as an RN. Our VP of Legal and Human Resources started as an RN. The VP of our other big metro facility was an RN. Our Operations Manager was an RN...I could keep going. All women all making welll over 100k. I'm telling you, it's an excellent degree and you can go as far as you want to with it.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Maybe nursing isn't for you. Maybe you are in your current program for all the wrong reasons. Only you can know that. Maybe you just need a little time away from school to grow up a little bit more to figure out what you want to be when you grow up.

There is nothing wrong with that.

Perhaps you should drop out of school for a while before you spend a lot of money preparing for a career you don't want. Get a job and do some career research before going on. If you are a good student, opportunities will be there in 2 or 3 years, too.

If my suggestion sounds attractive to you, maybe you should do that. If that doesn't sound attractive and it makes you think you want to stick it out ... maybe you should stick it out and stay in school.

[Sarah Hay]

I had the same feelings and I'll admit I still feel that way but I'm already half done. I'm in my second and last year. Hang in there. It'll be different out of school.

[dpackard524]

I have been lurking around this forum checking out how other nursing students are doing, and your post convinced my to join cause i wanted to share my story with you.

After graduating high school, i wanted to become a massage therapist. My dad said absolutely NOT and since at the time he controlled my finances, i enrolled at the local state university. My best friend had just graduated a CNA program and i thought that sounded interesting, so i just put down nursing as my major (no prior experience at all... i worked at a grocery store). Like you, the second i said i was a nursing major, everyone i knew started telling me what a great nurse i would be. so i figured i had chosen correctly.

Fast forward two years to actually getting into the nursing classes. I completed my first semester of nursing school. I enjoyed it, but felt like i was going through the motions. I felt like everyone else in my class knew more and were more excited than i was. That summer (i started in the spring) i got my first job as a CNA working on a med/surg floor in a local hospital doing the over night shift. I enjoyed my job, but still felt like it wasn't anything special. I also got married that summer and we were still moving into our new apartment when i started school for the fall semster.

After about 6 weeks, i realized i was in over my head. I had to choose between work, school, and my marriage. I had to work and i love my husband, so i chose to drop out of school. And let me tell you... i felt like i had disapointed the world. No one held back telling me what a mistake i had made.

A friend of mine was going on maternity leave at her bookkeeping job and was not going to return, so out of the blue, her boss called me and told me that my friend had recommended me and wanted to set up an interview. I took the job only because i wanted a day job so i could see my husband more. After about a year at the job, i realized that i was bored to tears and without getting a business degree (not in the cards for me... i slept through the one business class i sat in on) i would be making $10-12 an hour for the rest of my life. So i started looking back into going to college and realized that nursing was the best option. I already had the pre-reqs done and i only needed 3 more semesters.

I started back up again last spring. I finished the class and felt good about my decision. this summer i finally went back to CNA work and have started my second year of nursing school.

You may not believe this, but i have never felt so right about anything in my entire life. I love the CNA job i have. I live and breath my school work and love it. I thirst for more knowledge about nursing. After i get my work done, i quiz other nurses about things i need to know and how to prepare myself. To this day, i wish i had not dropped out the first time, i would have been working as a nurse for 9 months by now. However, i believe i would not have been ready at that stage in my life. Dropping out is something i still regret, but it made me who i am today.

If you do decide that nursing isn't for you, that is totally understandable. I felt the same way at one point.However, do not write it off once you leave your program. I thought that i would never go back, but i surprised myself and am back at it much stronger than before. I hope you make the best decision for you, and let everyone elses opinions not get to you too much.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I just want to speak to your comment that, "nurses can't be sympathetic." Personally, I don't want anyone taking care of me (as a patient) who believes that comment. Many people become nurses because they are sympathetic and believe they can offer a caring, healing touch along with the science and technical skills that are part of nursing.

I didn't read her comment that way. She also said she's very sensitive and cries easily. With that info, I read her statement "nurses can't be sympathetic" as something akin to nurses cannot fall apart with sympathy every time they do something that causes a patient pain or every time a patient is in pain. The OP clearly sounds like a decent and caring person to me.