Over the summer when I was reading this board and about what was going to happen to my life when nursing school started, I have to admit, I was skeptical yet still worried that they were right. No sleep? No social life? Emotional wreck?
Here is my experience after my first semester.
1) I never pulled an all nighter.
2) I got at least 8 hours of sleep every day.
3) I had enough of a social life that friends still knew who I was and how things were going.
4) I never had an emotional breakdown/crying session.
How I did this
1) I read all my textbooks before the semester started. The ones I didn't have the syllabi for I read cover to cover. I barely touched the books during the semester.
2) I had a planner and used it, trying to stay ~1-2 weeks ahead on papers.
3) I asked questions about questions I missed and concepts I didn't understand.
4) My goal wasn't to memorize information but to understand it.
5) I reviewed all information for all my classes at least 2-3 times during each week. No cramming come test time.
Things that helped me
1) I do not have a family.
2) I live with a parent figure.
3) I did not have to work, though I worked a little.
4) I have previous/current work experience in the medical field.
5) I have a previous B.A. in psychology.
Other information
1) I work every other Saturday night shift (7p- 7:30a) which made the first few Monday's after working really interesting.
3) I am in an entry level Master's program.
4) I took 5 classes which was 18 credits in total when "full time" is considered 9 credits.
Nursing school does NOT have to consume your life. Every person is different and every program is different. A lot of the positive posts get buried here and a lot of negativity show up in them. Not everyone fails a test, has a breakdown, or gets no sleep.
Do not let the "negative" threads worry or scare you or the positive threads make you think it's going to be easy. It's going to be what it's going to be for you in your own program. No one can tell you what that is going to be.
