Working, Volunteering and Going to School?

[gchooljian]

I am looking for other people's experiences in attending Nursing School. Here is a little about me. I'm 31 and applied for my school's Nursing Program. I am due to find out in the next few weeks and am suddenly becoming nervous.

I work full time, running a construction company and I am also a Volunteer Firefighter. I am completely committed to being a volunteer and unwilling to let that go and am equally committed to becoming a nurse. For the past two years I've taken a heavy load of college credits completing all of my prerequisites along with all requisite courses except core nursing classes. I cannot afford to go to school and not work and being a firefighter defines a large part of who I am.

What I would like to hear is from those of you with packed lives that are going to school now or have already. How did you manage? How do you manage?

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I admire your moxie. I worked full time during undergrad, graduate & doctoral programs. I'm not unique - it's certainly doable. You may run into scheduling difficulties when you begin your clinicals. Hopefully, you'll be able to flex around the normally very rigid nursing school requirements. If push comes to shove, you may need to put your volunteer work on hiatus until you complete nursing school.

[tiny_nurse]

I think it's entirely up to how you plan your time. I work part-time and am in my 3rd semester of a 4 semester ASN program. I worked more in my earlier semesters, now there is a lot more studying, clinical paperwork, and clinical prep to be done. I think that you should start school, see how much of a work load you have and go from there. Maybe drop down to a certain amount per week depending on how your school schedule looks.

When I first started this semester, I was working 20 hr a week, now I'm down to 8. It's a pay drop, but I need all the extra study time I can get.

Everyone is different and can handle different things, feel it out in the first couple weeks and like another poster said: BE FLEXIBLE! :)

Good luck and congrats on starting Nursing School!

[gchooljian]

Thank you both for you experiences! I am talking to some other people I work with in different areas of life. I'm getting different perspectives. I'm still waiting to hear whether or not I've been accepted.

I've decided after talking to one of good friends to meet with an adviser next week and receive some information on how clinicals work, how often, the timing and other factors. I still would like more feedback and will work on being more involved on these boards, learning other peoples' experiences.