Almost over.........Kind of Long

jj, congratulations on your accomplishments!

i do appreciate you taking the time to let us know how things are going with you and the advise for keeping in touch with our fellow classmates.

what area have you decided on working?

here's wishing you all the best on nclex!

What a great post!! I hope my experiences are just as wonderful. :)

Congratulations on all of your job interviews and offers! I hope to be in the same boat in a few years! :chuckle

CONGRATS! Thanks for the info!!

Well

I never thought it would get here but, we are finally done with classes, clinicals and tests. Just waiting for my ATT for State Boards. The school mailed the letters of completion to the State Board on Wednesday, so hope to get authorized to take boards very soon. There are 25 of us graduating (started with about 75) and everyone passed the HESI except for one, he is retaking it next week.

We had our pinning last Friday and it was awesome!! There was not a dry eye in the place. We each wrote a little piece to be read while we got pinned, one student wrote to her family, "it is finally over and I promise no more cereal for supper!!" It was so true for all of us and shows the sacrifices we and our families made.

This all seems unreal to me, I almost feel lost without my head in a book all the time. I am ready for boards and have had 4 interviews so far and have 3 more this next week. Believe me when I say "you will be able to write your own ticket when you are done" The calls come in almost everyday, so think about what you want to do and stick with it, don't take the first thing that you are offered.

There is a wide open market for nurses and it would be a shame to settle for less than you want after all the hard work!!! Most of the grads already have jobs lined up and are just waiting to take boards.

Also don't forget to take lots of pictures during your school/clinical times; we did and one of the students put them together on a memory disc and set it to music. We played it at pinning and it was a big hit. Some of the memories made us laugh and some made us cry, but they were our times. This is a great pinning idea, so don't forget the camera!!!!

One last idea for everyone still in classes, before it is over make a list of everyone's phone numbers and e-mails. We are planning to have a reunion sometime down the road, and it will be easier if everyone has the list of contact information.

Best of luck to everyone and God Bless.

JJ

I loved reading your post! Thank you for sharing!

Update...got my Authorization to Test and will be taking State Boards on Saturday April 3rd. I love it when a plan comes together!!!!!!!!

I am interviewing Tuesday for two full-time dayshift positions at a large regional hospital in a nearby town. One is on a Nueroscience floor (brain trauma, CVA, etc) and the other is an Advanced Care ICU Step-Down unit.

I thought the positions sounded challenging so looking forward to interviewing and seeing what the units are like. This is soooo much fun!! Thanks for the replies.....JJ

Ahhh...JJ...what a wonderful thoughtful post. I look forward to being in your position. As far as the photos...we're already doing that. We've had some really fun parties and there's this one student who always has her camera with her and takes some great unexpected shots! Your post puts things into perspective for me--sometimes I feel so overwhelmed with the studying, the tests, clinicals, etc. etc. but reaching the final outcome is what it's all about. Best wishes and good luck to you!

Suzy :)

Congo rats, JJ, and best of luck to you! :)