A Success and Failure

I too was a 4.0 gpa student before coming into the nursing program as were a lot of the students in the program with me. You learn that it is almost impossible to make all A's and B's and you will be okay with that. Not saying that you shouldn't strive for those A's, but don't beat yourself up when you don't make them.

C = RN !!

You've done great work thus far, and you will bounce back. Think positive, you're a star! No one can hold you back except yourself. Find out why you flunked, and move forward.

This is and isn't unrelated, and I don't know if it will help you feel better or maybe worse... At my school, currently 70% is C, 80% is B, 90% is A... A's are rare, there are many B's, and there are even more C's on tests. So you're definitely smarter than most of the people at my school!

[Our new nursing director would like to raise the standard to require an 80% as passing.]

I know it is disappointing, but just continue to do your best! You are NOT a bad student. As you said, you don't do the bare minimum so just find out where you went wrong and correct the problem. You will be able to get a better grade next time (even though an 82 is still awesome!)

This is discouraging, but you are placing too much emphasis on "flunk." You say "I don't flunk," but on this one exam, you earned a grade that is less than you'd like. EVERYONE fails at something in their life. It sounds as if you might have extremely high expectations of yourself. This can be a two-edged sword. On one side, you will try very hard. Just don't get caught up in the other side, obssessing over every shortcoming.

I am a classic type A personality, extremely driven and 4.0 through all of nursing school, master's, and doctorate. Guess what? I still have failed. Grades alone will never measure success. When I first started as a nurse, my extremely high expectations of myself made me want to learn as fast and as much as I could. This was a great thing. What was NOT great would be the nightmares I would have where I dreamed I had forgotten to care for a patient all day. One day, I forgot to give a medication. I was 45 minutes late. Our facility allowed administration one hour before or after on most medications. The medication was given within that frame, the patient was fine, but I obssessed about it for days that I had compromised the patient's care. This all seems so silly and ridiculous to me after all these years, but at the time I was traumatized and convinced I was a terrible nurse.

Today, I realize that I am human and will make mistakes. I will have days where I can never give the perfect care to each patient that I would like to give. I will have days where I hate my job and am spread too thin. But there are also those wonderful days where you know you've made a huge difference. I can honestly say I am really proud of what I accomplished in school, but by "accomplish," I refer to what I learned, not the grades I achieved. My grades make no difference now. I don't wear my pretty 4.0 transcripts to work. None of my colleagues or patients know about my grades. What matters is that I learned. I learned (and continue to learn) what is needed to safely and compassionately care for my patient. I learned that none of us are perfect. Perhaps most importantly, I learned that none of us will ever know it all.

Don't put undue emphasis on the grades. Yes, they are important for grad school, but focus on all the information you are learning. Revise how you study. Use NCLEX books and read all the rationales. Some day you will find yourself on the other side as a nurse and you will be amazed both at how much you've already learned and how much you still need to learn. I know you are very discouraged right now, but what did you learn from the material you studied?

Welcome to Nursing School, where every answer is right and you still get it wrong.

Great grades doesn't equal a great nurse. TRUST ME. So, what concerns you more?

I too was a 4.0 gpa student before coming into the nursing program as were a lot of the students in the program with me. You learn that it is almost impossible to make all A's and B's and you will be okay with that. Not saying that you shouldn't strive for those A's, but don't beat yourself up when you don't make them.

C = RN !!

Ok, this totally irritates me. C=RN is NOT an acceptable goal!!!

Nursing school is not like what we did in our pre-reqs. It requires not only understanding that content but understanding how to actually use that information. We were wired to focus on grades to get into nursing school, but now that 4.0 is NOT our goal. Now we need to focus on the content and application of the content. Yes, if you have mastered the content & can successfully apply it then good grades should follow. But rather than focus on your grade and your GPA, you need to prioritize. Your patient isn't going to care whether you had a 4.0, but they ARE going to care that you know what the heck you're doing.

Ok, this totally irritates me. C=RN is NOT an acceptable goal!!!

Nursing school is not like what we did in our pre-reqs. It requires not only understanding that content but understanding how to actually use that information. We were wired to focus on grades to get into nursing school, but now that 4.0 is NOT our goal. Now we need to focus on the content and application of the content. Yes, if you have mastered the content & can successfully apply it then good grades should follow. But rather than focus on your grade and your GPA, you need to prioritize. Your patient isn't going to care whether you had a 4.0, but they ARE going to care that you know what the heck you're doing.

Um, if the school adheres to that standard, it clearly is an acceptable goal.

Um, if the school adheres to that standard, it clearly is an acceptable goal.

It's sad that aiming for the lowest possible threshold is deemed acceptable. I definitely wouldn't want someone with that mindset taking care of me or mine.

It's sad that aiming for the lowest possible threshold is deemed acceptable. I definitely wouldn't want someone with that mindset taking care of me or mine.

I don't think anyone said anything about aiming. Just that don't beat yourself up over things. No matter what, at the end of the day C=RN but still do your best. 'Tis all!

Welcome to Nursing School, where every answer is right and you still get it wrong.

Such a simple statement and yet so very true!

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. I felt bad about it for the day, but Im over it now. Especially when I found out course average was a 76. I did bad but it could have been much worse. I also know that I did not study as hard for this exam as I did for the other I got a A in because we had them both in the same week back to back. I focused more on one exam and kind of neglected the other, so that was my fault. I will make the needed corrections and do better next time. Im lucky that I have pretty awesome professors so far who really go out of their way to try and help the students do well, so I have no complaints on that end at all. It was all on me, and Im confident I will do better.

Thanks for lifting my spirits guys!