ACCEPTED! Tips & Advice Appreciated!

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I am beyond thrilled to announce that I have just received my acceptance letter in the mail and will be attending nursing school starting spring 2015! I am looking forward to starting this new chapter of my journey to becoming the best RN I can be! Along with my overly obnoxious excitement, I feel completely terrified and suddenly unprepared. Of course I have received the million page information packet with uniform order forms, lists of required immunizations, books and supplies that need to be purchased, and other items that need to be prepared during the coming months - and it's all a little overwhelming. I figured any tips or advice (personal stories always welcome) that anyone could offer for my first semester of nursing school would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so, so much! :)

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Get to know people! Spot the ones that can make you learn! It is almost impossible to survive nursing school without a group (currently a Junior in nursing school).

Get a rolling backpack that will fit your binders. I always like taking my material even for another class in case i have spare time to study. Buy high lighters and make sure you have a laptop you can take to school. I found making notes on chapters on a word document were a lot quicker than writing them out.

Practice everything you learn and plan ahead your studies. Read your chapters and make notes before the lecture, this will optimize your learning. Buy a voice recorder, nursing school is fast pace and many times you cant hear right of the bat hints the instructors give you about the test material. Lastly, dont work full time if you dont have to. If you are taking gen eds then it may not be a big of a challenge. But once you start taking nursing classes like patho, funds, med surge, etc even working 3 days a week pushes the buttons. Trust me thats what Im doing and im going crazy!

Congratulations and welcome to the journey. I am with you....

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Congrats! There are many threads on this topic that you might find of assistance. The best advice I can give you from personal experience: be a sponge! Soak it all in. There is lots to learn and know, but, you can do it. Best wishes.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

Great advice so far, but check if your program allows recording (ours does not).

Thank you.

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Congrats! I just got my acceptance letter a week and a half ago too :D I feel exactly how your described....sooo excited but beyond nervous and unprepared. Mostly just anxious to get started.

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Congrats! You seem very dedicated to what is to come. Stay humble and work hard. Good luck!

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Congratulations! I got my letter a week ago! I understand how you feel. Good luck on your new journey.

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Get sleep now, organize back up plans for everything, and get some meals in the freezer.

Next semester get Saunders NCLEX Comprehensive Review, and what ever class you have look for the Nursing Success books, Like Med-Surg for Success. These will prepare you for the NCLEX style testing that all your tests will be based on. Study each by content.

Good Luck.

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Specializes in ICU.

Sleep and relax now. I'm in my first semester and feeling exhausted. There is a lot of info. It's just a matter of organization really. Between check offs and lecture tests, sometimes I feel like there are not enough hours in the day. But I make time for family and friends. Your whole life cannot be nursing school.

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Specializes in NICU.

Congratulations! Im half way through my first semester of a BSN program and it is a crazy ride. Its all about your attitude in my opinion. You definitely need to make friends and have a good study group as someone said already. Ask questions and be opened to trying new things. Nursing school is unlike anything you have done before. I purchased the Saunders Nclex review book week 2 of the semester and it has helped me a lot! I can't express how important test strategies are. Definitely kick back and relax NOW! You can still have a life you just have to mannage your time. However, you do have to say no sometimes to family and friends but, they will understand if they really care about you. Don't let this scare you, you have made it this far and when your feeling down remember that. I am stressed and I even finally cried but, I am thankful and loving every minute of school. I can't wait to graduate next fall. :-) oh one last thing don't be afraid to ASK QUESTIONS!

Best of luck to you

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Specializes in Neurosurgery, Neurology.

Congrats! I know this is an exciting time for you! I'm currently in my first semester of nursing school, so here's my advice from that perspective:

1) Enjoy your free time and sleep now. Seriously. In nursing school, you'll not only have class and clinical, but you'll also have random meetings, study sessions, skills checks, papers, care plans, etc that will eat away at your time.

2) Be very organized. This kind of goes along with what i just said. There's so much to do, you need to be organized for each week to know what you have to do/read, when it's due, where you have to be, etc. I suggest getting a planner, and I also use the "reminder" feature on my phone a lot. I have binders for each class, as well as notebooks.

3) Study every day. Ok, maybe you can take a school-free day once a week...maybe. But I like to do something school related every day, at least for an hour or two. There is A LOT to read. Some people say don't read the textbooks since they are pretty dense. Me personally, I read everything. I read the chapter at least once, and go over my powerpoints and any notes taken in class. Youtube is also your friend. You can find great explanations for various things, as well as demonstrations of skills that you must know. Don't fall behind (it's very easy), start studying right after your first classes.

4) Get study guides. For me, I have at least once study guide for each class I'm taking. I use them when I'm reviewing for exams. I read the outlines they have, and do all questions. It's great for getting used to nursing/NCLEX style questions, where all the answers may make sense/be right in some way, but you have to determine the "most" correct answer for the particular thing the question is asking.

5) Flashcards for pharmacology. I think the general consensus is to make flashcards for the drugs you must know for pharmacology. Keep them with you at all times so you can go through them whenever you want. There will be a lot of drugs to memorize, so you must go through it constantly to get it to sink in.

6) Remember to relax. This is important. It's pretty easy to get overwhelmed in nursing school. There's SO much to do. Each week there's something else. But you need to take some time each day to just focus on yourself and de-stress.

Good luck! Nursing school so far for me has been very rigorous, but very doable. Stay organized, read, take time for yourself, get to know your classmates, practice everything, and enjoy the process of becoming an RN.

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I found that finding a good study group who is determined to make a commitment of meeting at a minimum of once a week help me tremendously. I also practice, practice and then practice some more NCLEX questions at every chance I can find.

Best of luck

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