"Note to New Students" Nursing School is not all bad!!!

[NursingStudent87]

I have been a member of All Nurses for a couple of years now... Im in the middle of my 3rd semester at a 2 year RN program in upstate NY that is notorious for being extremely hard! There are so many posts about how hard and awful nursing school is and I just thought that some people need to hear the other side! I am not going to sit here and say it's not difficult because it really is! I am struggling with the testing this semester as the questions increase in difficulty every semester. But I am still here... Currently with a grade of 81 (78 is passing in my program). For me nursing school is a crazy mixture of stress, terror, happiness & sadness. Chances are you wont pass every exam and its not the end of the world if you fail something. We ALL have our strengths and weaknesses. I just finished my Maternity Rotation which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED!!! But I didn't do so good on the tests (Passed one but not the other). I have days where I absolutely hate going to school and days when I absolutely love it!!! All of my instructors have been amazing and I have made the BEST of friends while in this program. I think that the friendships I have formed have kept me sane through this process so far!!! I cry with them but I laugh a whole lot more!!! If I don't happen to make it through this time around I wont give up!!! Im GOING to be a nurse even if it takes me a little bit longer than anticipated . But I REALLY want (and plan to) graduate with this class "my class" in 7 months!!! So for those just starting out or those who will be soon but are feeling down, scared etc. I swear to you its not All Bad!!! Try not to take other people's experiences to heart... Learn for yourself how it really is!!! Remember its ALL about perception. You will struggle and excel in different areas than your peers. Im sorry for the rambling... But I do hope this helps to ease the minds of some people!!! And just to be clear' On most days I am really very proud and happy about being a nursing student! You earned your seat so be proud!!! And Remember... If it was easy' Then everyone would do it!!!! Good Luck and God Bless :nurse:

[Kaysmom8]

I just wanted to say that it can be done we have one guy in our class that works as a tech in the hospital. I personally don't work and admire those who manage to do so. One other thing is the guy in our class has a great relationship with the nurses on his floor and he's told me they are a tremendous help because he can ask them questions on things he may not understand in lecture and that's a great advantage to have. If you can work and do school then by all means go for it!!!

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Nursing school (and really ALL schools that are intense in nature) is all about balance. When you take on such a tough load, you have to re-evaluate how everything needs to fit together to return to a balanced state. Think about it like homeostasis. Our bodes want to return to homeostasis whenever it's disturbed from it, and it'll try to make that happen even with that extra stress still there... it compensates! So, when we throw Nursing School in with everything else, we destabilize things. Sure we can get along for a little while in that unbalanced state, but sooner or later, it'll catch up with us. So, seek balance and things will generally be OK.

In my particular case, I had to balance school with FT work with family life with sleep... and as difficult as it was to make things balance out, I'm now in a good balanced place with everything, so I'm not constantly stressed out, sleep deprived, and whatnot... Believe me, it's a whole lot easier once you're back in "balance."

Nursing school is completely doable... it just takes a little effort to make that happen!

[krisiepoo]

I agree! I'm in my last semester and I have seen at school (and here) that the people who seem to have the hardest times are the people who are too focused on being perfect. The perfect grades, being the perfect clinical student, having the perfect... whatever it is. If you learn to enjoy the experience and take it as it comes, you'll have a much better time of it.

I work FT and go to school on nights/weekends so it's been a struggle but OH SO WORTH IT... I will also add that exercise has been my savior. Everyone has time for 30 mins to break a sweat and it helped me remain sane (or as sane as I'll ever be, LOL). I actually trained and ran a marathon while in nursing school and I only started running while in nursing school

I've found that I'm a 'B' student in nursing school and I'm A-OK with that :)