Current LPN Student

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I have not posted on AN in a long time. For those pursuing nursing, I just want to say keep at it whether your in the program or doing pre reqs. I struggled for several years trying to get into nursing school and I am soon to finish my first quarter of an LPN program. I wanted the RN program, but since I have no healthcare experience it is at least a start. I plan to work in either the hospital as a tech or a LTC facility once I pass my Fundamentals class. I will say that nursing school is a different learning experience then when I did my pre reqs. I am feeling confident that I will make it through the program and pass my NCLEX. I have noticed with exams in nursing school they allow you to develop or improve critical thinking. There is an excessive amount of material covered in lecture and lab/clinicals. It's a great feeling to know I can apply what I learn in class to real life situations. We have a teaching project due in 2 weeks and I already feel confident about delivering my presentation. Yes nursing school challenging at times but my instructor always tells us if you want something bad enough you will stop at nothing from reaching your desired goals. The key for lab/clinicals is practice every chance you get and you will get better and the key to lecture material is study and review PowerPoints, textbook material, practice doing NCLEX type questions as often as you can. I just wanted anyone devoted to getting into nursing school or those already in nursing school with struggles keep going!

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I had my first nursing school orientation on November 14. There was a quote on the board when I walked into the room - "Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard and succeed on purpose." - G.K. Neilsen

I agree, if you want something bad enough, you'll do whatever it takes.

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Thank you for the response , I am about to take my last exam before the final exam which is comprehensive so it has been moving fast as I only have 3 weeks after Thanksgiving break. My program is 12 weeks long and it's amazing how different nursing school is from doing the pre reqs. There is only 23 students in my cohort and what's great about it is they can teach me the hands on/skills part since they are all CNAs and many of my classmates have not been in school for sometime so as my instructors have said I have one of the highest grades in class. I have an 83% now and we have t the exam Monday and our final plus our projects and other homework to turn in. So I guess seeing myself progress more and more gives me the motivation to keep at it even though I know it's gonna get more challenging.

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Your LPN program is 12 weeks???

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Wow, I had no idea that they had LPN programs that short! No, my program is ASN. I seen your post when I was perusing through the student section a few days ago. I like to read about other students and future nursing students and I thought your initial post was very inspiring. You really give hope, and that's what a lot of us students need.

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Sorry , for the confusion I meant my classes are 12 weeks long so I have 5 quarters which my program is 15 months. I will be in the second quarter January 2nd it ends in April. I am expected to graduate in May of 2019. My quarters are 12 weeks. Our school don't do semesters so for every 12 week quarter we are in lab the first 6 weeks practicing skills then we go out to the nursing facilities such as the hospital or long-term care facilities the last 6 weeks of the quarter.I hope this cleared it up for you.

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Wow, I had no idea that they had LPN programs that short! No, my program is ASN. I seen your post when I was perusing through the student section a few days ago. I like to read about other students and future nursing students and I thought your initial post was very inspiring. You really give hope, and that's what a lot of us students need.

Thank you so much for your kind words. I know there have been times I wanted to give up because I never thought I would be successful until my actual first quarter of nursing school. My LPN program is accelerated. It is 15 months which is about the time it should take to become an LPN. Of course my transfer credits have really helped or will help. My entire program length is 95 quarter hours. So instead of us doing 9-12 semester hours I am doing 4 classes which each class is 4-6 quarter hours. In reality I am doing 16-24 quarter hours which is alot. I have 5 classes that transferred in from my other school which has decreased my total hours needing to graduate from 95 to 75.

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Thank you for this word of encouragement!! After years of taking pre reqs and then finally being able to apply to ADN programs only to be rejected by a couple, (and not to mention witnessing how incredibly competitive RN programs are in my state), I've decided to embark on the LVN ---> RN route. Just took my entrance exam and passed today and will hopefully be well on my way to starting my program in early May! You definitely have to be resilient in your journey of medicine.

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I'm currently an LPN and have also struggled in the past to get accepted into RN and BSN programs. I graduated in April (had the option for the 16 or 12 month programs, but I chose the 16), took the NCLEX in July, got a job as an LPN in September in an outpatient dialysis clinic, and I got accepted into my college's LPN-RN program. The program is accelerated, and our first course is a mixture of Med-Surge 1, Mental Health, and the transition from LPN to RN. One month in and I'm going crazy, but I'm loving it!

My best advice, though, is to just look forward. I wish I had decided to go for my LPN sooner, but I can't change the past. I faced a lot of rejection, but being part of such a rigorous program makes me realize that perhaps I did need that rejection. That is what pushed me to seek an alternative route to become a nurse. And here I am. Best of luck to you on your journey!

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