Any advice on how to prepare for nursing school?

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Hi everyone !

I am 22 years old, and I'm currently a stay at home mom, battling through some health issues. After my son is a little older and my health problems are under control I want to go to nursing school.

Does anyone have any advice on how to prepare for nursing school? Things to read up on at home, volunteer work, joining a CNA program?

Thank you!

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Specializes in Progressive Care.

You may be able to start taking your pre-requisites at home online. I was able to take English 1 and 2, Nutrition, Statistics, Computers and a couple others online and they transferred. The lab sciences you have to take in person. Worth looking into especially if you have a little one at home. Check what the requirements are where you plan to attend nursing school. Good luck.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I took a break from school when my son was little, also. So I understand your choice to wait. I started prerequisites when he was 4.

If you can swing it, I like the Other posters recommendation to take online non science prerequisites first.

I earned my CNA when he was in 1st grade.

In case you're wondering: I started LVN school when he was in 2nd grade. And started rn school when he started 5th grade (this year)

It's possible! It just takes time!!

My best ways to prep for nursing were browsing AN for inspirational posts. And talking with moms I knew irl about how they feel about their nursing careers.

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I actually took my English 1&2, nutrition, psych, a computer class and a bunch of other classes that I'm not sure if I would need for nursing school at community college before I had my son. Hopefully they will transfer. Thank you for the advice !

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Thank you! Your experience does give me hope that it will happen one day. Right now it feels so far away. I took a lot of my pre reqs when I attended community college such as Eng 1&2, psych, nutrition, a computer class, some basic math courses ( because I missed a lot of the basics throughout schooling) I also took a lot of courses that I don't think would apply to my nursing degree. I'm hoping most of my credits will transfer to whatever program I choose.

I was just curious, do you recommend that I become a CNA before nursing school ? How do you think it has helped you?

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Specializes in Progressive Care.

If you work as a CNA while in nursing school, it could give you an edge with getting a job, especially if it's within the same organization. Any job that allows you to be an internal applicant (unit clerk, phlebotomist, etc.) has the potential to give you that edge.

If you are not planning on working while going to school and raising a family and just want to pursue the certification for knowledge reasons, CNA material is covered the first semester of nursing school. I kind of wish I had pursued phlebotomy before school so I'd be better at IV sticks, but it's harder to get a job as a phlebotomist than a CNA.

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Specializes in Home Care Mgmt, Med-Surg.

Learn how to study efficiently while doing pre-reqs. Perfect it during that time.

I don't know about where you live, but after the 1st year of nursing school, one is eligible to become a CNA w/o taking a CNA class. If you know where you would like to work after school, do try to get a CNA job there. However, this isn't an automatic express ticket to RN position once you get your license. I know quite a few smart, hard working classmates who waited a long time to get an RN position with their employer.

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