what u wished u knew b4 NS

Nursing Students General Students

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What do you wish you would have known the semester before you actually started the nursing program?

Specializes in ER, CCU.

How i study the best. Didn't quite figure it out until my junior year in the program, and with that my gpa would have been higher!!

That the answer is always "Yes, ma'am. You are absolutely right." I learned the hard way that I'd have to keep my mouth shut and keep my thoughts to myself. NS is not the place to share your thoughts and opinions.:nono:

Hopefully, not all schools are as bad as mine about this. There are only a select few instructors who actually let us practice critical thinking without acting like we are challenging their knowledge if our thought process is even slightly different than theirs. It's very sad and discouraging sometimes.:banghead:

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I was also going to say that I wish I had a clue that they were going to own my ass. If I had a dime for the times in my first semester I muttered to myself "I'm a grown woman who do they think they are?" we could go to lunch on me, lol. The good news is that you get used to it and just learn to go with the flow. When they say jump all you need to do is know how high. :)

How broke i would be as a result

Specializes in pediatrics.

To take it one semester, one week, one clinical day at a time! If you think about all the papers and tests and care plans you have to do you'll go crazy and feel completely overwhelmed. I found if you take it one thing at a time it becomes manageable and it all gets done! You can all do it- I graduate with my BSN day after tomorrow!

I wish I had known how much harder senior year was compared to junior. I breezed through junior year w/mostly A's and got too comfortable, and ended up having to repeat 3rd semester med surg. After reading these boards for so long before school, I expected nursing school to be much harder than it was, little did I know it was that hard senior year.

To take it one semester, one week, one clinical day at a time! If you think about all the papers and tests and care plans you have to do you'll go crazy and feel completely overwhelmed. I found if you take it one thing at a time it becomes manageable and it all gets done! You can all do it- I graduate with my BSN day after tomorrow!

I agree completely! Especially if you tend to stress easily like me!

Congrats on your graduation!:yeah: How exciting! Hope you celebrate such an awesome accomplishment in a big way!:grad:

Specializes in Critical Care.

Great thread! I really enjoy this one!

I was also going to say that I wish I had a clue that they were going to own my ass.

True.

I also wish I had known how to juggle, translate hieroglyphics, use my feet like hands, and read with my eyes closed.

Those might have come in handy.

~cxJvak

I wish I knew how few hours of sleep I would be getting during clincal days. Because I live so far away from the hospital and how early they start us in the morning, it is not uncommon for me to have to wake up at 3:30 AM!

I also wish I had known that I was perfectly capable of working and going to school at the same time. I didn't have a job my first semester, and looking back in retrospect I probably would have made the same decision, but my pocket book is hurting because of it. Loans and scholarships don't cover gas money or food bills! Now I have a job again, albeit part time, but at least it is something. As it turns out, I am doing just fine juggling school and my job, and my grades are still in the 90s. It's a little more stressful, but very possible. I'm thankful for the extra change it brings me.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
I also wish I had known that I was perfectly capable of working and going to school at the same time. As it turns out, I am doing just fine juggling school and my job, and my grades are still in the 90s. It's a little more stressful, but very possible. I'm thankful for the extra change it brings me.

Great point! It has always irritated me when they say you shouldn't work if you want to be successful in nursing school. Many of us are grown adults and aren't willing or able to quit working. I graduated at the top of both my LPN and RN classes while working a min of 30 hours a week and ended with no debt.

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