Hi all,
I'm currently a sophomore in a BSN program. I will be 20 years old this march. I went straight from high school to my college and started prerecs, got accepted into NS first try and now I'm almost done with my first year of nursing school. I'm currently volunteering, but the only "real" job that I've ever had is fast food. I still live with my parents for now, to save money. We aren't rich by any means but they try their best to support me. I choose not to work during the school year because I know myself that it would be difficult for me to keep up with the program if I worked. I don't have my own car because I can't afford one... I use one of my parent's. Sometimes they have to give me rides to school and it's embarrassing because everyone else has their own cars and are on their own.
I can't afford a car because I don't work except for summers but that's what I chose to do because It's how I'm getting through the program.
My question is... am I too young/inexperienced to be in Nursing school? Most of my classmates are older than me, very many with cars and their own homes and children etc, and here i am still at home with my parents helping me get through school so that I can be a nurse. I know for a fact that some of them look down on me because I'm not "independent" and my parents are helping me get through this.
I even heard a few older students talking and I guess they didn't realize that I was there, but they said that they wouldn't let people straight out of high school get into nursing school... they should get out for a few years and be more experienced and then go and be a nurse. How true is this?
Will I not be as good as a nurse because I am young? Because I don't have much life experience? Isn't the fact that I can pass nursing school what really counts? I've talked to my friends and parents and they say that it's best to get it done while you're young. But I'm insecure and I feel like I'm out of place... and I'm starting to wonder if maybe they're right.