Nursing school effect on life?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi all,

I am a Medical Assistant in Urgent Care and have been for 5 years. I want to do more with life in the medical field and have decided to return to school for a BSN. I have to take 1-2 years of pre-reqs and then 2 years in a nursing program.

What I want to know is do you still have a life outside of the nursing program? I hear soo many horror stories of losing friends and relationships over nursing school.

I will be working 10-20 hours a week at my current job (just to pay bills). I have no kids, I'm not a party type, but I do have a loving boyfriend. He's already told me that he will do all he can to support me through these next few years, but with all humans, we need personal time. How do you all manage this while going to school?

Hello! As another poster mentioned if you have good time management skills, you will easily be able to maintain a social life while in nursing school. I graduated in 2011 magna cum laude, and all four years of nursing school I worked 20-24 hours/week as a CNA, went out almost every weekend with friends, ran or exercised 3-4 days per week, and maintained a relationship with my boyfriend at the time. I used student loans to pay for my books and tuition and worked to pay bills and to have cash for spending. Of course there were weeks I felt overwhelmed, but they were few and far between since I had good time management. You will find the same to be true once you graduate and are working as an RN...time management is key. Good luck in your endeavors![/quote']

Now this is the kind if post I like hear! Thanks for the input... Because I don't want to have to give up all the things you listed and plus I am a wife and mother of two grade schoolers. I am super worried about what the extra stress could do to my body so I want to have the time to exercise 4-5 days a week. Making time for my family and friends is very important me.

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In my experience (as a student grad student, and teaching in nursing programs), a lot of the students who tell horror stories about having no free time and no life while in school are people with poor time management skills. Yes, you can expect nursing school (as a full-time student) to be at least the equivalent (in terms of time and energy) of a full-time job. However, if you are able to focus and manage your time and energy, and use them wisely, you can still manage some time for family, friends, and personal interests. In fact, IMO, it's v. important, for your own well-being, to maintain a personal life outside of school.[/quote']

Exactly!! Wise words. It's all time management. If you don't have time for your friends and family or whatever, it's your fault.

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Specializes in Pedi.

I don't know what all these people who claim to "have no life" because of nursing school do with their time. There is ample time for non-nursing stuff if you know how to manage your life. Nursing school was college for me- I was involved in MANY extra-curriculars and was an officer in at least one club beginning with my sophomore year. My senior year, I was the president of one and on leadership committees/boards in several others. I am pretty sure I had a test the morning after my 21st birthday. Did that stop me from going out for my first legal drink at midnight (and having a few illegal ones before that)? Not in the least. I had plenty of time to party with my friends. I never studied on weekends and feel that I had a totally normal college experience (save for having to take a medical LOA, but that didn't have anything to do with nursing).

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Specializes in Nursing Management.
I don't know what all these people who claim to "have no life" because of nursing school do with their time. There is ample time for non-nursing stuff if you know how to manage your life. Nursing school was college for me- I was involved in MANY extra-curriculars and was an officer in at least one club beginning with my sophomore year. My senior year I was the president of one and on leadership committees/boards in several others. I am pretty sure I had a test the morning after my 21st birthday. Did that stop me from going out for my first legal drink at midnight (and having a few illegal ones before that)? Not in the least. I had plenty of time to party with my friends. I never studied on weekends and feel that I had a totally normal college experience (save for having to take a medical LOA, but that didn't have anything to do with nursing).[/quote']

I box and sleep lol but I will be the first to admit I have poor time management skills, but they are dramatically improving out of necessity.

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I would say I have a life. I have nursing school friends, but otherwise it's mostly my boyfriend and our mutual friends if I hang out with people outside school. And family of course. I live with my boyfriend since the 2nd semester of nursing school, so that helps.

If you want a social life you need to make time for it, as well as everything else to keep your sanity. You don't need to spend every moment studying, honestly. Make friends and form study groups. My cohort likes to go out for margaritas at the end of semesters and last clinical days and such.

You're only a slave to school if you let yourself be. Sure, it does take up a lot of your time, but not all of it. And when you're just doing pre-reqs it especially shouldn't be that bad, social wise. At least it wasn't for me. Nursing school is another animal, however.

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I just completed level 2 and have 1 more year for my ADN. I work 2 days a week (as an LPN). I feel like all I do is nursing. I do occasionally get to see my friends but its very rare since my days off I have to work. And during the week I have to study. I think it all depends on your study ethic. I have to read things 3-4 times over to understand it. You will be fine! Good luck! :)

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There is no "one size fits all" answer. Some people work, some don't -- then there's FT, PT, PRN, in the field or not, etc. to consider. Kids, no kids, younger or older, married/dating/single and so on. And just like with any other field of study, some people will grasp things more easily or quickly than others, with varying amounts of study time invested. I've just completed my third semester in a two-year evening/weekend ADN program with a reputation for being excellent and very tough. I don't have a fantastic work/school/life balance, but I am a second career nursing student with a bachelor in another field. I work FT as a paralegal. I go to school in the evenings and have clinical on Saturdays and Sundays. My husband does the bulk of keeping the house afloat and the dogs alive during the semesters, and with his shift work we don't see each other a ton, but we make it work. Do I see my friends and family as much as I did before nursing school? Of course not. But we keep in touch, I see them when I can, and they all know that this is a temporary situation that will be worth it in the end. (Also, I have a 4.0. I could have more time for a social life, but that would mean sacrificing my grades. Believe me, there are a few like that in my program -- they don't work, or they work a few hours a week and live with their folks, and they pass by the skin of their teeth each rotation, but they have fantastic social lives). There are some people who have zero life outside of work and school because they bust their humps to learn the material, and they aren't making all A's, but they are hanging in (unlike nearly 50% of the people we started with) -- and they are going to be great nurses. You know yourself, and you will learn how to priotritize. When it gets crazy, remind yourself it's temporary, and that it will be worth it in the end. Good luck!

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I am one week away from my pinning ceremony and I will say that, yes, nursing school is nothing like you can even imagine as far as feeling like there are not enough hours in the day to do all you need to do and spend time with those closes to you. But you will have time to do other things, how much time will depend on things like your job schedule, etc. Sometimes you will feel like all you can think about is nursing stuff even when you're doing other things but it's a temporary state and it's all worth it. If the people around you look at it as a sacrifice and respect the bigger picture then you'll have all of the support you need.

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I find it amusing that everyone assumes we all are enrolled or were enrolled in the same style program. Sure, it might be a bit easier to still be a social butterfly if you are taking a 2yr RN vs a 1yr RN, or going for a BSN part-time online vs full-time on campus.

I don't see my friends much. I've got three young kids, I'm enrolled in a 1yr RN course, my husband works OT, and I live 30 miles from anywhere. I lack the time, the energy, and the money to go out all the time. I'd rather spend my limited time with my family (I don't ever want my kids to miss me) and my long-suffering husband. :) Besides, if my friends were so damned selfish that they couldn't understand that my current life involves mostly nursing school with the occasional reprieve (in which I call them and catch up, maybe have lunch) then we have bigger issues.

I maintain contact with phone and emails. We are all busy young (or in my case, not so young) professionals who don't need all that partying and running amok to remain close friends.

And I like to think my time management is just fine, despite these overly-broad generalizations. Nothing like casting aspersions on an entire group of people one doesn't know to feel awesome about one's self, right? My grades, my family, and my sanity haven't suffered.

As an interesting anecdote, I've noticed that, at least in my class, the students who made frequent time with their friends are also the students that are not doing as well as they would like. Whether that chicken came before the egg, I am not sure.

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If you are single ( I consider a bf or gf still legally single) and have no kids you should have plenty of free time, period.

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I'm just in my first semester of prereqs so maybe I'm in for a rude awakening... but I do have a life. I aim to spend 2-3 hours a day studying. I still spend most of the evening with my fiance, I work part time, I work out for an hour almost every day, I have a horse that I go ride a few times a week, I hang out with friends and... I have straight As. High ones. I have a final this afternoon that I only need a 30% to get an A in the class and then another on Monday where I only need a 50%.

Again, maybe I'm delusional but it's not that bad if you manage your time and stay caught up. Don't let things sneak up on you so that you end up having to cram.

I do have the advantage of having a previous science degree so a lot of this stuff is pretty familiar to me and I'm not having to retake chem or a few other things. Still, I would think that having been a medical assistant that things will be similarly familiar to you too.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Telemetry, Med-Surg.

Nursing school is most definitely time consuming. I went full-time, worked 3-4 days a week in a nursing home and had a young child. I didn't have a lot of extra time, but I still had some time to do things like take my daughter to the zoo and enjoy a late night dinner with my significant other (now my hubby). I made it a point to save my studying for after my daughter went to bed, so I could spend my evenings with her. It requires a lot of focus and dedication, but you still need to make time for yourself and your family.

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