Do Not Underestimate the Difficulty Level of Nursing School

[BeTheLight1145]

I appreciate this post! I am ready for the challenge of nursing school. I realize it will be far from easy and it will be very different than my pre req classes. I volunteer at a hospital on a weekly basis and lately I have been meeting burned out nurses that HATE their job. It will not discourage me, but I take it all into consideration. This post will be filed away in that mental cabinet. Best of luck to you!

[ShelbyaStar]

Thank you so much! I am going straight for my BSN and have many general ed requirements (chem, writing, etc) covered already from a previous degree so I'm HOPING it may be a little easier on me. I won't be counting on it though.

[mee9mee9]

I'm taking out time from school to be a CNA and then apply for nursing school in a few years.

[amberdawn85]

Then those who do it without neglecting their children. I don't think 1 and 3 year olds will understand that they are less important than a school.

[Lifelonglearning]

Many thanks to Tenjuna. The whole thread is filled with helpful advice

[Shinnichi, ADN, RN]

This is a great thread, and I love that the OP posted follow up info! I'm bookmarking this as well, and I'm buying the Critical Thinking book as I post this. And though I won't start nursing school for a few more months, I'll be buying the Saunders book soon, too. :)

Thanks-- to all of you-- for giving advice and sharing experiences to help those who have yet to enter nursing school. I hope to do the same in kind.

[tenjuna, MSN]

It's been 3 years since I originally posted this, and wanted to give some updates to my journey and maybe some more helpful advice.

A few weeks ago I finished my BSN, which I took online with Western Governors University (wgu.edu). I finished it in 9 months, and I followed my own previous advice with finding a balance between studying and life outside of school. I still spent 40-60 hours a week studying and doing class work, but I found by doing this time in restaurants, bars, and such outside of home I could still feel like I had a life while getting work accomplished. Not the ideal solution for everyone I know, but I didn't want to repeat sitting at the kitchen table for countless hours. I was also very lucky that the state of Iowa paid me a training stipend so that I didn't have to work during this 9 month period.

In any event, I highly recommend getting your BSN as soon as you are able. 65% of nurses do not get their BSN or higher degrees, and frankly this is going to be a mandatory thing eventually. Just do it and get it over with. The BSN portion wasn't nearly as hard as the first 2 years was, at least for me.

I have since changed course away from Orthopedics and OR nursing work and instead recently became an Informatics Nurse (deals with data analytics and electronic health record training). To that end I am starting a Masters in Informatics later this year, and then finally a Doctorate of Nursing Practice next year.

It's somewhat amusing looking back and remembering how difficult the nursing program was 3 years ago, as now it's trivial...but I do still remember the horror of that first bad exam...I learned to not underestimate anything in nursing, and that memory has helped me many time in the last 3 years.

The Critical Thinking book I linked previously is still hugely valuable to me in my daily practice. I have actually read that book many times over the years. I very highly recommend it.

Otherwise there is some great advice in the comments, I encourage you to read through them all.

I wish you all the best of luck in your nursing journey, and hopefully I will be updating this post again in 3 years as Dr. Cross.

[Emmasmom03]

It is funny as I was kind of the opposite. An a/b student before nursing school, but that was with no studying really. Maybe it is become I am/was a perpetual student, but nursing school, while it was challenging, was not that difficult. I found I just had to do the reading and actually listen in class. No notes taken throughout nursing school and I made all a's and b's.

[dorkypanda]

tenjuna said:

It's been 3 years since I originally posted this, and wanted to give some updates to my journey and maybe some more helpful advice.

A few weeks ago I finished my BSN, which I took online with Western Governors University (wgu.edu). I finished it in 9 months, and I followed my own previous advice with finding a balance between studying and life outside of school. I still spent 40-60 hours a week studying and doing class work, but I found by doing this time in restaurants, bars, and such outside of home I could still feel like I had a life while getting work accomplished. Not the ideal solution for everyone I know, but I didn't want to repeat sitting at the kitchen table for countless hours. I was also very lucky that the state of Iowa paid me a training stipend so that I didn't have to work during this 9 month period.

In any event, I highly recommend getting your BSN as soon as you are able. 65% of nurses do not get their BSN or higher degrees, and frankly this is going to be a mandatory thing eventually. Just do it and get it over with. The BSN portion wasn't nearly as hard as the first 2 years was, at least for me.

I have since changed course away from Orthopedics and OR nursing work and instead recently became an Informatics Nurse (deals with data analytics and electronic health record training). To that end I am starting a Masters in Informatics later this year, and then finally a Doctorate of Nursing Practice next year.

It's somewhat amusing looking back and remembering how difficult the nursing program was 3 years ago, as now it's trivial...but I do still remember the horror of that first bad exam...I learned to not underestimate anything in nursing, and that memory has helped me many time in the last 3 years.

The Critical Thinking book I linked previously is still hugely valuable to me in my daily practice. I have actually read that book many times over the years. I very highly recommend it.

Otherwise there is some great advice in the comments, I encourage you to read through them all.

I wish you all the best of luck in your nursing journey, and hopefully I will be updating this post again in 3 years as Dr. Cross.

woohoo! Congrats. I'm almost done with an ADN program and am contemplating doing rn to bsn online. Do you recommend wgu why or why not? What did you like or dislike about the program? Do you have any tips or info for future students who are thinking about doing rn to bsn with wgu? If you could redo your rn to bsn what would you do differently?how soon did you enroll in wgu after graduating from your nursing program?

[tenjuna, MSN]

I very highly recommend WGU. It was cheap, it was fast, it was easy. I waited almost a whole year before starting though in hindsight I have no idea why I waited, it was very easy in comparison to the ADN.

[tenjuna, MSN]

Here I am 3 years from my last post as promised lol.

I did finish my MSN in Nursing Informatics online last year with a 4.0 GPA from University of Mary (umary.edu). Good school but pricey. I would still recommend Western Governor's if they have a program you are interested in!

I just enrolled this week for my DNP in Nursing Informatics after taking a year off. 7 years of nursing school is draining to say the least I needed a break. This program should be 22 months and then I am all done, just a little over 10 years from the day I started my journey.

What I learned from the difficulties of the ADN program have been carried with me throughout this entire journey. Do not underestimate it, make a plan to get through it, and make sure everyone around you understands that this is more important than going out or playing video games or whatever.

I do have to laugh a bit at how crazy those initials years were, I spent most of it entirely lost. I now understand that this is normal, so if you are feeling like the world is going to end, trust me it isn't. You will get through it too, just keep your eyes on the prize.

❤️

[dorkypanda]

On 5/9/2019 at 12:04 PM, tenjuna said:

Here I am 3 years from my last post as promised lol.

I did finish my MSN in Nursing Informatics online last year with a 4.0 GPA from University of Mary (umary.edu). Good school but pricey. I would still recommend Western Governor's if they have a program you are interested in!

I just enrolled this week for my DNP in Nursing Informatics after taking a year off. 7 years of nursing school is draining to say the least I needed a break. This program should be 22 months and then I am all done, just a little over 10 years from the day I started my journey.

What I learned from the difficulties of the ADN program have been carried with me throughout this entire journey. Do not underestimate it, make a plan to get through it, and make sure everyone around you understands that this is more important than going out or playing video games or whatever.

I do have to laugh a bit at how crazy those initials years were, I spent most of it entirely lost. I now understand that this is normal, so if you are feeling like the world is going to end, trust me it isn't. You will get through it too, just keep your eyes on the prize.

❤️

Hi there! Are you doing DNP online or at an in person program? Do you recommend doing informatics online? That's so amazing you are continuing your journey after a long while break.