So many nursing majors in my class!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hey everyone! I'm taking my prereqs, and in my sociology class, every single person in the class is majoring in nursing. There are 32 of us. Is this seriously what its like? I read things on here constantly about the field being flooded... Is it really this bad?! I've been told many of these people will end up not making it or changing their minds, but its freaking me out a little bit.

Have you experienced anything like this?

The chem class I am taking at my CC is specific to the state BSN program I'm applying to. There are 30 people in the class and I think about 70% are nursing majors. However, even in the past 2 weeks about 4 people have dropped. This is typically the pattern in the Science pre-reqs I've taken. My A&P I class last spring began with 40 and ended with 10. It's all about weeding out the weaker students.

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I've taken chem, but I'm saving A&P for a semester so I can take it alone to give it 100% my all and get an A. I hate to sound rude, but I hope the number does drop. I'm sure someone will read this and take what I'm saying the wrong way, but is it even possible that this many people truly want to be nurses? The dirty aspects of the job and all? I find it hard to believe every last one of these people are really up for every aspect of the job and maybe some of them think its just about handing out pills all day. Yikes.

Majority of pre nurses really don't understand what it takes to be a nurse. They don't understand it's more than just passing pills to patients as you say. When they realize that it's more to being a nurse, they freak out and all of a sudden want to change their career. Or if it's too late, and they have started to be a nurse, then not speaking for all, but those are the nurses you see on the wards looking so miserable looking like they don't want to be at work. It's a shame but the nurse field is being flooded with they just looking to have a stable career type nurses, making it even harder for the true dedicated, work their orifice of nurses struggling to find a job. I'm just taking A&P by itself this semester because i too wanted to focus 100% on the class.

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Majority of pre nurses really don't understand what it takes to be a nurse. They don't understand it's more than just passing pills to patients as you say. When they realize that it's more to being a nurse, they freak out and all of a sudden want to change their career. Or if it's too late, and they have started to be a nurse, then not speaking for all, but those are the nurses you see on the wards looking so miserable looking like they don't want to be at work. It's a shame but the nurse field is being flooded with they just looking to have a stable career type nurses, making it even harder for the true dedicated, work their orifice of nurses struggling to find a job. I'm just taking A&P by itself this semester because i too wanted to focus 100% on the class.

I hate to sound like I don't want others to succeed but what you said about nurses who aren't dedicated to the job and are miserable... That's exactly my point and it really bothers me. People say it makes no difference if your heart isn't in it and I may have thought so too until I had a relative in the hospital who was treated like a nursing school mannequin, like he wasn't even human, by a nurse. I'll be honest, I hate to think of competing with people like that for a job.

Best of luck to you in A&P this semester!

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Specializes in Maternal Child, Home Health, Med/Surg.

Yeah, it kind of terrifies me the amount of students all competing for the same spots. Like, in my AP and Micro classes..it's horrible. There's about 40 of us, and it seems like 95% are all pre nursing students. Granted, we all have a lot in common, but we're all also fighting to get into a 35 spot program.

It's just so nerve wracking..

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I don't understand why some people feel the need to questions other people's motive for choosing a career in nursing. it seems that some folks want to get into nursing but they don't want the competition. they don't want to compete for a spot in a program and they don't want to have to compete for job. it seems like because they feel that only they have true passion for nursing, everyone else need to get out of the way to make room for them. Nursing is and should should be a competitive field, the only relevant point is whether or not the person has the capacity to be a competent nurse. Just because you think you have true passion for something doesn't necessarily mean that you will be any good at it.

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What about this... my 30 something niece who already has Batchelor of Science in Public Health and is a Child Life Specialist (not even sure what she does), but because she isn't making the money she wants to make has decided that she needs to go to nursing school. She have never in her life ever wanted to be a nurse. She barely made it through her college classes to get the degree she has. She didn't work a day while in college and is crying on her parent's shoulder's that her $17.50/hr is not enough and because she works in the hospital, she thinks she will just go get a nursing degree, after all she sees all those nurses and she can do that, without even knowing what it all entails. I get furious when people just want to go to nursing school because they think it big money when there are those that have dreamed of getting their RNs, who have to pay their way, get loans, etc and struggle to make the dream come true. I am an LPN and am taking my pre-reqs to get my BSN. I have been an LPN since 1997 and have had to work full time so my dream of becoming an RN has had to wait. I had given up hope until I have a Partime BSN program that I can take classes at night and do clinicals on the weekend at Brenau. They don't accept a lot of students but it is the only way possible, since I have to work. I knew a girl once who had a degree in Social Work and she never even used her degree, and then she decided to go to RN school, she got into the program and dropped out the 2nd Semester because she shook when she tried to take a pulse and when she tried to give a shot. It ticked me off because someone who really wanted to be a nurse missed out because she took that spot. Schools used to do interviews or have you write an essay explaining why you want to be a nurse, all it seems to be know is based on Overall GPA, Science courses GPA and Teas, Kaplan or Hesi scores. I hope those who are do not have a burning desire, think of all of us that do and find something they have a burning desire to do and let us reach our dreams of getting our RN degrees.

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Specializes in critical care.

This is sociology. Once you get to a&p, you'll see numbers drop. But yes, there will be more applying than there will be seats.

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I don't understand why some people feel the need to questions other people's motive for choosing a career in nursing. it seems that some folks want to get into nursing but they don't want the competition. they don't want to compete for a spot in a program and they don't want to have to compete for job. it seems like because they feel that only they have true passion for nursing everyone else need to get out of the way to make room for them. Nursing is and should should be a competitive field, the only relevant point is whether or not the person has the capacity to be a competent nurse. Just because you think you have true passion for something doesn't necessarily mean that you will be any good at it.[/quote']

Just like you don't understand my feelings, I can't seem to understand why you bothered to post this. My point: We're all entitled to our own opinions, even if others can't understand them. Have a good one.

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What about this... my 30 something niece who already has Batchelor of Science in Public Health and is a Child Life Specialist (not even sure what she does) but because she isn't making the money she wants to make has decided that she needs to go to nursing school. She have never in her life ever wanted to be a nurse. She barely made it through her college classes to get the degree she has. She didn't work a day while in college and is crying on her parent's shoulder's that her $17.50/hr is not enough and because she works in the hospital, she thinks she will just go get a nursing degree, after all she sees all those nurses and she can do that, without even knowing what it all entails. I get furious when people just want to go to nursing school because they think it big money when there are those that have dreamed of getting their RNs, who have to pay their way, get loans, etc and struggle to make the dream come true. I am an LPN and am taking my pre-reqs to get my BSN. I have been an LPN since 1997 and have had to work full time so my dream of becoming an RN has had to wait. I had given up hope until I have a Partime BSN program that I can take classes at night and do clinicals on the weekend at Brenau. They don't accept a lot of students but it is the only way possible, since I have to work. I knew a girl once who had a degree in Social Work and she never even used her degree, and then she decided to go to RN school, she got into the program and dropped out the 2nd Semester because she shook when she tried to take a pulse and when she tried to give a shot. It ticked me off because someone who really wanted to be a nurse missed out because she took that spot. Schools used to do interviews or have you write an essay explaining why you want to be a nurse, all it seems to be know is based on Overall GPA, Science courses GPA and Teas, Kaplan or Hesi scores. I hope those who are do not have a burning desire, think of all of us that do and find something they have a burning desire to do and let us reach our dreams of getting our RN degrees.[/quote']

Thanks for understanding what I was trying to convey in this post. Someone else took the time to lecture about how no one has a right to question what makes someone want to become a nurse.

In the state of New Jersey where I am from, there are now officially more Accelerated BSN programs than there are "regular" ones that offer first degrees to students with no extra credit or time knocked off.

Its not exactly a secret that people who can't find work in fields like accounting or whatever else have the mistaken idea in their heads that the field of nursing always has a plethora of jobs available and "how hard can it be to hand out pills all day?" So they go spend 18 months learning what the rest of do in 2 years or more.

As much as some people like to play devil's advocate and post on others threads with their opposing views, this will and is going to hurt the field. The more saturated the field becomes, the lower the hospitals are going to pay for us. Too many people in one boat causes the entire thing to sink.

So yes, I do kind of wish that either 1. The economy would hurry up and get at least a little better already so people can stop jumping on the nursing bandwagon for the wrong reasons or 2. They find an interest in another field because the shortage is over and there are thousands of us who won't be able to find jobs.

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What about this... my 30 something niece who already has Batchelor of Science in Public Health and is a Child Life Specialist (not even sure what she does), but because she isn't making the money she wants to make has decided that she needs to go to nursing school. She have never in her life ever wanted to be a nurse. She barely made it through her college classes to get the degree she has. She didn't work a day while in college and is crying on her parent's shoulder's that her $17.50/hr is not enough and because she works in the hospital, she thinks she will just go get a nursing degree, after all she sees all those nurses and she can do that, without even knowing what it all entails. I get furious when people just want to go to nursing school because they think it big money when there are those that have dreamed of getting their RNs, who have to pay their way, get loans, etc and struggle to make the dream come true. I am an LPN and am taking my pre-reqs to get my BSN. I have been an LPN since 1997 and have had to work full time so my dream of becoming an RN has had to wait. I had given up hope until I have a Partime BSN program that I can take classes at night and do clinicals on the weekend at Brenau. They don't accept a lot of students but it is the only way possible, since I have to work. I knew a girl once who had a degree in Social Work and she never even used her degree, and then she decided to go to RN school, she got into the program and dropped out the 2nd Semester because she shook when she tried to take a pulse and when she tried to give a shot. It ticked me off because someone who really wanted to be a nurse missed out because she took that spot. Schools used to do interviews or have you write an essay explaining why you want to be a nurse, all it seems to be know is based on Overall GPA, Science courses GPA and Teas, Kaplan or Hesi scores. I hope those who are do not have a burning desire, think of all of us that do and find something they have a burning desire to do and let us reach our dreams of getting our RN degrees.

Wow exactly what i'm talking about. Yet certain people (also on this thread) still feel like nursing is for everyone. I will say this, when you become a nurse, or you worked hard at it, but you are struggling to get a job or somebody who don't give a crap about being a nurse gets the job, then i would like to hear those peoples comments. SMH please.Those type of people are flooding the nurse field and for all the wrong reasons, and it's affecting the people who for years wanting to be a nurse, struggling to get a job. Nothing is fair in life, but it disturbs me. It does seem like you can get into nursing school with good grades, but for the wrong reasons. SMH

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I hate to sound like I don't want others to succeed but what you said about nurses who aren't dedicated to the job and are miserable... That's exactly my point and it really bothers me. People say it makes no difference if your heart isn't in it and I may have thought so too until I had a relative in the hospital who was treated like a nursing school mannequin, like he wasn't even human, by a nurse. I'll be honest, I hate to think of competing with people like that for a job.

Best of luck to you in A&P this semester!

I am nurse and it's just a job, no calling involved at ALL. I never understood why people in my nursing class thought about patients in their off hours. IT'S A FREAKING job where you are supposed to go home and forget about it.

You haven't even started clinicals yet, when you actually see what working in a hospital is like with crappy management, unruly patients and exhaustion you WILL change your tune.

This "calling" idea is utter BS. I had no calling, I like science, critical thinking and making a decent living like any other Joe out there. As long as the job gets done it doesn't matter.

NEWSFLASH: Nursing has always had flocks of people drawn to it and there is no boat sinking. Hospitals artificially keep nursing staffing low to created the largest gap in nurse to patient ratios to make money. It's simple economics. If you are mad because someone might get a nursing seat ahead of you even though they have no passion for being a nurse and it's just another job you need a reality check. People go where the money is (cough health care cough). People will always be getting sick hence there arw always jobs and money to be had. It's sad but true.

Signed,

Just another RN/BSN...

EDIT: NO ONE (much less a pre-nursing student) has the right to judge if a person's reasons for getting into nursing are for the "correct" reasons. (Unless you live in some fantasy land with unicorns and fairies.) Frankly, your posts scream selfish and it is quite obvious you want the less faithful to jump ship to open up slots for you and people who think like you. No matter how much the economy improves or even if less people go into nursing hospitals STILL don't like hiring new grads.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.
I am nurse and it's just a job, no calling involved at ALL. I never understood why people in my nursing class thought about patients in their off hours. IT'S A FREAKING job where you are supposed to go home and forget about it.

You haven't even started clinicals yet, when you actually see what working in a hospital is like with crappy management, unruly patients and exhaustion you WILL change your tune.

This "calling" idea is utter BS. I had no calling, I like science, critical thinking and making a decent living like any other Joe out there. As long as the job gets done it doesn't matter.

NEWSFLASH: Nursing has always had flocks of people drawn to it and there is no boat sinking. Hospitals artificially keep nursing staffing low to created the largest gap in nurse to patient ratios to make money. It's simple economics. If you are mad because someone might get a nursing seat ahead of you even though they have no passion for being a nurse and it's just another job you need a reality check. People go where the money is (cough health care cough). People will always be getting sick hence there arw always jobs and money to be had. It's sad but true.

Signed,

Just another RN/BSN...

Dranger, I agree 100% with what you wrote. If people need a "calling" in which they can "help people" there are many other ways people can volunteer their time. I want co-workers that are dedicated to nursing as a career and aren't afraid to speak up, advocate for better conditions and better wages, and won't be as likely to get burnt out.

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