LOVE my nursing school!!!

[SmetRN2008]

I'm a first year nursing student in the ASN program. I was previously in another nursing program at another school about a year and half ago. I ended up dropping out towards the end of the 1st semester. It was SOOO stressful, the instructors were horrible, and I was just about to go crazy. I didn't even know if I wanted to be a nurse anymore. But after dropping the program at that college I realized how much I really did want to be a nurse and heard about a really good program at another smaller, private college. So I applied there and got in :) I've been in the program 2 months now and love it. I cannot believe how much different it is. I'm a little stressed yeah, but not NEAR as stressed as I was before. The instructors are wonderful and so helpful! They want you to do well and are very very encouraging. We don't cover 10+ chapters for a test, our last tests have been over 4. Our instructor goes over everything very thoroughly before a test and tells us exactly what to focus on. Our lectures are very well organized and easy to understand, and our labs are actually really fun. Our lab instuctor has a great sense of humor :). She's very anal about us doing things properly and lets us know exactly what we're doing wrong and how to do it right. She also asks lots of critical thinking questions while we're going along to help us start to think like nurses. I just can't believe how much different 2 programs can be. I'm so glad I went back to nursing school and found this program. I know this time I will graduate. How is your nursing program? A nightmare, just "ok", or wonderful??

[dex77]

Can I ask what school you are going to? I'm getting just the opposite from the program i'm attending. It's an ADN program, they cover a lot of material and don't have everything very clear and organized. It's also been an issue with things changing....like assignments, meeting times, etc. Many of us are feeling like we aren't getting enough out of our lectures, lab, or clinical time. It feels like they are worried about us passing the NCLEX but, not as concerned about our actual skill.....this is important to me b/c i'm not coming from a medical background. I'm not familiar or comfortable with my abilities yet working w/ patients. I'm very disappointed b/c the prereq's that I took at the school were very good, I mistakingly assumed that all programs at the school would be this way. We're also bombarded w/ readings and assignments to turn in so that we don't have much time to review at home or have much chance to ask questions. Not that they would answer our questions anyway....