i am half way done with nursing school and i am to the point where i cannot stand half of my class. i am a pretty average student, not the best and not the worst. i’ve never worked in the healthcare field and the first time i stepped into a hospital was my first day of clinical. i just wanted to share my annoyances…as the student who didn’t have a heads up of what to expect. i wish i was forewarned about the social aspect of nursing school because in reality you would be spending about 2 years with the same people and you are going to have to learn to tolerate them.
i have categorized my “annoyances” from most annoying to least annoying, although some people fall in several categories. (i really do feel like the stressors of nursing school are taken a toll on me causing me to be annoyed about everyone and everything but hey, here it goes)
1. the very competitive nursing students.
you may have been the smartest student in your anatomy class but now there are about 50 of you sitting in that classroom. each and everyone striving to be at the top of their class. a few of them are going to shine brighter than you. it is a very annoying feeling. you will develop some negative feelings towards them and try to find a few aspects of life that you are better at than them. well don't. befriend them, if anything they are a great resource
2. the students who study less but get better test scores.
i sat down to take my very first test in nursing school and i was stressed. i studied every single day since the lecture, i felt like i knew everything. the girl who sat next to me was also stressing but only because she crammed the night before. i got a 70% and she got a 95%. how is this fair? several people have told me that not everyone is a good test taker, i’d rather have a nurse that studies a lot then crams, etc, etc. umm no. she clearly knows what she is doing and her test scores prove it till this day.
3. the complainers. your instructors are people too, with their own personal lives, kids, hobbies, friends and some are still completing some sort of upper division courses for higher education.
teachers don’t get paid well; they don’t do this for money. they obviously love nursing and teaching. they are the most compassionate bunch of nurses you will ever meet. and guess what? at some point they have all been nursing students. it has recently become a pet peeve of mine, when i noticed a trend of several students constantly complaining about how much they dislike their teacher. if you don’t like something, tell the teacher! it's as simple as that. 99% of the time there is a fair rationale as to why they put that question on the test or why they gave you projects back to back or why your clinical schedule is so crappy. and the other 1% of the time? well, human error, don’t hold a grudge. and please don’t complain about teachers to other teachers, so incredibly unprofessional. they are collegues.
4. know-it-all's.
there will be at least one. the know-it-alls are in a completely different category as the competitive people or the people that get better test scores than you. if you state that you are unclear about something they will pull you aside and explain it to you in their own individual way. i know it sounds like they are trying to be helpful...but it won’t feel like that. it will feel like they have officially taken on the role of a teacher without anyone asking them to do so. when coming to class you almost expect them to jump up there and start lecturing. they correct the teacher, they interrupt lectures but most of all they think they are better than everyone. there were a handful of them in my class and it got to the point that when they would start talking i would deliberately ignore every single word they were saying, important or not. and the whole entire time, the only thing i wanted to remind them is that we are in the same classroom, learning the same subject; at the same level of nursing school so please do not act like you are above all. so if i could go back and do it again knowing this what would i do differently? i would ignore their behavior because two semesters later, they have been put in place several times by instructors and one of them failed a semester. (disclaimer: i am by no means happy that they failed out i am just trying to stress the point that even if people act like they know it all, they clearly don’t know it all)
5. those who don’t have to work while in nursing school.
you may come across a few people who constantly talk about how they are so grateful that their significant other is able to support them while they go to school. they can’t bare the thought of having to work while completing their education. and they will verbalize this every single day, after every single test. and here you are working full time because that is the only way you can support yourself. some call them fortunate, i call them annoying.
6. the ones who already work in the health care field.
it’s a tough economy out there. in case you haven’t heard….not many places are hiring new grads. the only worry in my mind at this point is passing nursing school. sooooo with that said….why is it so important to tell everyone, everyday that you have a job lined up for you because the clinical manager loves you oh so very much. if you say it once, that’s great j if you say it again after you are asked, that is awesome. but if you announce this to the whole class during the discussion of what they will do after they graduate… then that’s just boastful. not a single person would say, “hey good for you, look at how fortunate you are” and if they do they are lying.
anyway…well this is my little rant. whether you are in nursing school or waiting to enroll in a nursing program…this is what you should expect. i promise…there will be at least one person in your class that falls in each category…can’t wait to graduate so that i never have to see these people again!
how about everyone else? what is your annoyance with the social aspect of nursing school? i’d love to hear that i am not the only “annoyed beyond belief” one out there.
ahahaha Sherri!! hilarious!! i have a few classmates that are like that and i always have to remember to stop my recorder when they do that because let's be serious... i don't want to be hearin' ur stories when i go home... i already had to listen to them the first time, there's no need to hear them again on my own time at home!... seriously?! we know this stuff happens, we don't need to know ur stories!
2. the students who study less but get better test scores. i sat down to take my very first test in nursing school and i was stressed. i studied every single day since the lecture, i felt like i knew everything. the girl who sat next to me was also stressing but only because she crammed the night before. i got a 70% and she got a 95%. how is this fair? several people have told me that not everyone is a good test taker, i’d rather have a nurse that studies a lot then crams, etc, etc. umm no. she clearly knows what she is doing and her test scores prove it till this day.
it's totally unfair. it's also unfair that the girl who sits next to me never works out and goes to the chinese buffet for lunch every day has a body like jessica alba, and i gain 10 lbs if i eat a tic-tac, but c'est la vie .
5. those who don’t have to work while in nursing school. you may come across a few people who constantly talk about how they are so grateful that their significant other is able to support them while they go to school. they can’t bare the thought of having to work while completing their education. and they will verbalize this every single day, after every single test. and here you are working full time because that is the only way you can support yourself. some call them fortunate, i call them annoying.
i'm one of those annoying non-workers (although i'm a single mom, which i consider a mitigating factor!) and i absolutely will tell people that i consider myself lucky and i can't imagine how people do this while working full time jobs-it's a compliment! my best friend in class has 2 kids and works over 50 hours a week-i have no idea how she manages it, but i give her crazy props for it.
i find most annoying
1. the people who do the bare minimum just to get through, and have no problem making this known to everyone.
2. the people who walk out of the room after a test and loudly annouce "wow, that was soooooo easy!". even if it was for you, it wasn't for everyone, and you are essentially calling the people who had a hard time with it dumb.
3. the people who always ask you what you got, and always say "ohmygod, i hate you!" after you tell them (actually this is one person)
4. the people who act a fool in clinical and make your whole school look moronic and get you banned from clinical sites
i am doing my prereqs right now but am still unsure of what college to pursue my degree at. i am in texas btw and wish to stay in the ftw/dallas/denton area. could any of you help me with this ? what are good schools in this area and some "ins and outs" of it.
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
2. The students who study less and get better scores. - I suspect some confirmation bias here. Do they really score that much better or study that much less on a consistent basis? Part of this is luck - they guessed well on key questions and scored high on this or that test. I notice they tend to stray back toward the mean in general. If they really don't study, they suffer in lab and clinical. If they are just bragging about not studying, they do very well in all areas.
While there ARE people who feel the need to make up stories about this stuff, there are also people who really don't need to study much. I don't go around bragging about it, but I'm one of those people who doesn't have to study much. All through school (K-12) I always got straight A grades, and now that I'm 40yo (starting NS in the fall) I've still been getting straight A grades in my pre-req and gen-ed classes. (I don't anticipate that my grades will suffer in lab/clinical just because I don't study much -- if I've been an A student my entire life without studying, why would I suddenly stop being an A student?)
My 10yo is the same way -- he complains that he only ever learns anything in class on Mondays (when new material is presented) and then they just repeat the same stuff every day until they test on Fridays. He gets straight A grades (and I can assure you he spends ZERO time studying -- too busy playing with friends when he's not in school!) while other kids in the same class get Bs or Cs. He's not "guessing well" on the tests -- he just understands the concepts that were taught and is able to recall them on test day.
Some people just do better academically than others, just like how some people are better athletes, or some people are better drivers (my husband can back up a 4-wheeled trailer practically with his eyes closed, while most people struggle with even a 2-wheeled trailer!), or some people are better cooks/bakers, or gardeners, or painters, or WHATEVER. I happen to understand things the first time they are presented, and I have excellent memory recall -- but I can't hit a wastebasket with a wadded up paper from five feet away (and don't even try to get me to shoot an actual basketball!). Honestly, who really gives a crap (and WHY would they give a crap?)?
How many hours you spent studying does not make you (or anyone else) a better or worse person, nor does it mean you'll make a better or worse nurse in the end than someone who studied more/less. If someone asks me how many hours I studied for a particular exam (noticed this mostly in A&P classes), I'll tell them the truth, but I don't say anything if nobody asks. I've always wondered *why* people would ask that type of question in the first place.... is there some kind of award or prestige for having studied the most hours?
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
i am doing my prereqs right now but am still unsure of what college to pursue my degree at. i am in texas btw and wish to stay in the ftw/dallas/denton area. could any of you help me with this ? what are good schools in this area and some "ins and outs" of it.
@Brillohead- I'd be really careful going into the Nursing program thinking that you don't have to study that much. Our program starts with 60- All with GPAs above 3.5- and that number gets weeded down to 40 after that 1st semester. It's completely different kinds of studying, tests, and expectations. And honestly it seems to be the students that have been in the workforce, people over 35, who have the hardest time readjusting to this.
I'll expect the most annoying people for you will be the 20yo completely oblivious student without any experience in anything who gets As on tests and impresses the clinical instructors by the amount of pharm they studied on their own before school started. Ha!
GOOD LUCK!!! and I really don't want to offend. I've seen this in action though. Even our 45yo Bob, who was a EMT and fighterfighter for 20 years... he knows the practical stuff but reads the questions wrong all the time and doesn't do that well on the tests.
ty brillo head. im just trying to weigh TWU vs UTA.
KWilson! Check their prereq requirements. TWU requires Chem, Womens studies, Multi Cultural, and statistics. BUT is supposed to be super awesome and supportive.
UTA requires a very basic math and not as many, if any specialized courses, AND is expanding their program by I've heard double! soon. But my experience with UTA was not that great. They like telling you how hard they are, instead of how close your goals are. ?
Hope it helps! I'm looking into the RN to BSN or RN to MSN programs now. I think I'll end up applying to TWU. :redbeathe
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
@Brillohead- I'd be really careful going into the Nursing program thinking that you don't have to study that much.
Oh, I'm not going into it all cocky and all that - I fully expect it to be difficult. But I also have a more-than-average amount of medical knowledge already from having to deal with an orphan disease (and no, I'm NOT going to be one of *those* students, just explaining why I've done more research than the average bear! ), and so I already know that I have a strong propensity for medical learning.
I'm the person that everyone (neighbors, friends, coworkers) always comes to when they have medical questions or need advice on medications. This type of stuff just sticks in my head for some reason -- always has. I'll read it in a magazine or book or whatever, and I'll be able to remember it and apply it years later.
But if you ask me a history question, all you're going to get from me is a blank stare followed by a recommendation to check out google.com! I've always HATED history (does it really matter which year someone was assassinated, or which year Country A invaded Country B???), and while I can retain that type of info long enough to regurgitate it for the test, after the test is over, the information is completely purged from my brain cells!
Anyway, my point is that everyone has different strengths. Some people really do get through nursing school successfully without losing sleep, and others have to pull all-nighters. As long as we all pass the NCLEX, though, I don't see why it really matters. If the "easy" folks don't look down their noses at the "not easy" folks, and the "not easy" folks don't resent the "easy" folks, everyone would be a lot happier!
Or, the quote that I love to use on my son (who is a hockey player):
"You worry about your own game. Plenty there to keep you busy."
~Herb Brooks
I think that quote applies in SOOOOO many areas of life... just think of how much peace we would have worldwide and through the ages if more people lived by that credo!
The only one of my fellow students that I can't stand are usually the ones that ask what I made on the last test. If I made a better score than they did, they don't like it and get huffy. If I made less, they rub my face in it. Either way, one of us is made to feel bad. We had a test today, I can't wait for this one person to ask what I made. I am going to put her in her place once and for all on Monday. There are a few of my close buddies that can ask and its ok, but they know who they are.
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
The only one of my fellow students that I can't stand are usually the ones that ask what I made on the last test. If I made a better score than they did, they don't like it and get huffy. If I made less, they rub my face in it. Either way, one of us is made to feel bad. We had a test today, I can't wait for this one person to ask what I made. I am going to put her in her place once and for all on Monday. There are a few of my close buddies that can ask and its ok, but they know who they are.
I have never understood why people do this. Like you said, it's a lose-lose situation. It's like asking a coworker how much they earn on the job. Did MYOB get lost between the last generation and this one???
. 
), and so I already know that I have a strong propensity for medical learning.
hvnzangel99
10 Posts
ahahaha Sherri!! hilarious!! i have a few classmates that are like that and i always have to remember to stop my recorder when they do that because let's be serious... i don't want to be hearin' ur stories when i go home... i already had to listen to them the first time, there's no need to hear them again on my own time at home!... seriously?! we know this stuff happens, we don't need to know ur stories!