Failed at pre-nursing and pre OT. What to do now?

[dsh0012]

I'm currently a college junior right now majoring in psychology. I originally entered college with a dream of becoming a nurse. The college was famous for its nursing program and was notorious for being highly competitive. I didn't make it in since I couldn't get high enough grades in the prereqs. It was mainly the science prereqs b/c I'm pretty bad at science. I've went to tutoring and had friends who were very smart in science to teach me and they advised me to switch to something that was non science since I was having such a hard time.

I was very discouraged and transferred after deciding to switch to OT major at another school since a portion of the prereq's were psychology classes and I had taken a lot already. I didn't do as great as I hoped to for the prerequisites, especially for the anatomy and physiology classes. This brought my prereq GPA down below the required GPA so I didn't get accepted to the OT program.

I got so discouraged after not getting into OT and it made me think whether I should be doing anything related to the health professions because I did so poorly in the science classes. I'm currently taking a couple of introductory business classes but I'm not doing so well in those either. I don't have any interest in the content and I just don't feel motivated to really learn it.

I never really imagined myself as a business type person and it's not really what I want to do.

I kinda feel like a failure right now because I've tried twice trying to get into the health professions with nursing and then OT and I failed in both of them. The only thing I've ever had a passion for is nursing and it's the only thing I've ever pictured myself doing in the future. But I struggle so much in the science classes and I get bad grades in them. I go to tutoring and ask TAs and professors questions, but I was never able to grasp it.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I just feel really bummed out and unmotivated in my psych classes right now. I'm really worried about what to do after I graduate and I need some advice whether I should continue to pursue nursing or completely switch gears to find something I can get good grades at.

[WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I hate to say this, but not everyone that wants to be a nurse will become a nurse.

The sciences are paramount to nursing. If you are having trouble with time management now, pre-nursing, you are in for a rude awakening should you ever get to the nursing phase. You need to step back from the nursing dream because time management is important in ALL aspects of life, not just school. You need to figure out a solution to your time management troubles and then move on from there.

[love.live.laugh]

What are you asking? Are you asking if you should be a nurse? I would say no. Your post is top ten most negative and depressing post on here. You have absolutely nothing positive you say about yourself. You just keep saying how you fail everything and you can't understand anything. If this is how you feel about yourself then you should find a career in a service industry with no actual challenge. Possibly fast food or retail. However even those careers have some challenge in them. Whatever you are doing now IS NOT WORKING. You are "failing" every class and have no interest. If you really truly want to be a nurse you would study more...50 hours a week or more if you REALLY wanted to be a nurse. You don't fail a class and just quit. A career like nursing is a challenge for a reason. They don't just hand out nursing licenses to people who "want to" be a nurse.

You are lacking any backbone and toughness. A setback and you quit? That is your solution to a challenge? I had bad test scores while getting my BSN..not one time ever did I even think of quitting. I was on a mission and went into animal mode.

You may want to see a therapist or identify why you have developed a pattern of quitting things. Take a class..any class..work hard and succeed.. Build on that. If you get a bad grade..do some self analyses. How are you studying? What worked? What didn't work.

It is up to you. Some people are content with job with zero challenge and that is fine. We are all different.

I don't mean to derail this post, but I am in a similar position as the OP (I just started a thread) and I have to say that your post has definitely opened my eyes, thank you.

[Leonardsmom,LPN]

As others have suggested, the first thing that I think that you need to do based on what you have said is to first start to understand how you learn and to improve your studying habits. You mentioned that time management is an issue for you, when you have taken classes did you keep a planner, schedule set times to study and such? No matter what you decide to do, if it is to continue to pursue nursing or another college degree there are some basics that you might need to work on getting down first. I have several different tools that I use for planning out my studying time and to keep myself on track of what is going on. I my kitchen/ studying area I have a calendar erase broad that I fill out each month and write down any quizzes, tests or papers that are due. Then I have another dry erase board that I divided into 7 columns for each day of the week. Each week on Sunday I fill out the board, I schedule out studying time each day, reading, taking notes, reviewing class lectures. I also mark down my class times, my work times, chores or tasks that I need to complete and my TV show that I watch each week. As the week goes on I can adjust my planned out week on the board as needed but it helps to set up goals for me to achieve. I have another dry erase board that I list out any projects that I need to do on, when they are due and what needs to be done for them, research, writing, proofing, etc. I also have two cork boards that are set up right at my desk area that I pin my syllabuses too, directions for any projects that are due, research notes for papers I am working on. This way everything is right where I can see it and I don't have to worry about something getting misplaced in the shuffle of paper work. Each person is going to have different things that work for them, the secret is finding what works for you :) If you are able to, I would suggest for at least a semester or two just taking a class or two, so that you can spend time learning how to manage your time and work on developing effective studying habits. Sometimes taking it in smaller steps will help to set you up for success.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

How are you financing this?

If you are taking out student loans, there may be a day of reckoning that will haunt your financial life for a long while.

If you are using saved funds, there is likely an end in sight for it.

I am not trying to sound nasty but you need to consider this aspect too.

Have you worked with a career advisor?

My guess is that perhaps health care may not be for you unless you can fix the academic part.