Do YOU enjoy nursing school?

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Specializes in CNA.

I am a prospective nursing student, waiting on a letter to come in the mail! Wish me luck!

I hear how tedious and gut wrenching Nursing school is. I hear how you cannot and WILL NOT have a social life; or life at that. I hear how extremely difficult it is; almost undoable.

I don't mind not having a social life and comitting my whole life to nursing school.

I don't mind the large amounts of studying.

I don't mind the hard work I will put forth..

But what worries me is that it's near impossible. Obviously it isn't since there are so many nurses and graduating nurses. But students nowadays are making it as if it's impossible to get through.

My question to you is:

Do you [did] enjoy nursing school?

Was it something you couldn't wait to get it over with bc it was just so bad?

Is it doable with a child? [i am a single mom of a 5 month old at the moment]

What are your inputs?

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Specializes in Operating Room.

It is not impossible. It just isn't a walk in the park. I made nursing school my number one priority and studied hard. For that, I graduated magna cum laude. While I did relatively well, I did not enjoy it because it was very stressful. I did enjoy learning but sometimes it was overwhelming. I was not on this site when I started nursing school, therefore I was not exposed to all the rants on here- which was a good thing. I get it, nursing students are stressed, but the things they rant about sometimes are silly. Doing a careplan isn't rocket science, people. Neither is the fact that you cannot miss class/clinical days. Or whatever else people post on here. My advice: Take it as a grain of salt. If you want to be a nurse, nothing will stop you.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

There are several single moms in my program and some that are pregnant. It is by no means easy but its doable... a lot of late (all) nighters lol. Also nursing school I feel does become a balancing games and once you really know how you study and you plan your time wisely you can and will have a social life. I spend time with my friends at least a few times a month, I also work part time. I have just entering my second semester of the BSN program and Im in third year.

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It's not impossible; I honestly don't even think its that hard. I made a 97 A in my last nursing classes with minimal studying, and very little stress. Yes, it's a lot of paperwork, writing, late nights, early mornings, and studying, but it is very, very doable. Have I given up my social life, no. Have I been forced to do nothing but study and read, no. Do I find myself constantly stressing about nursing school, no. Do I lose some sleep, yes. Do I have a lot of papers to write, yes. Do I tend to stay fairly busy, yes. Is it impossible, no. It's a lot of work, but a lot of it isn't all that hard. Frankly, I think a lot of the terrible rumors are nothing but hype. Don't let other people discourage you. Listen to the advice they give, but don't let them rattle your cage. What is hard for them may prove to be very easy for you. So far, I've yet to run into any classes or material that I found over my head, hard to grasp, or stressful. Yes, exams are always stressful, but that's a given. If you want to be a nurse, go for it. Don't be afraid to follow your passions, and don't be discouraged by others.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing; Geriatrics.

I have to say that I am truly enjoying nursing school so far. I have only completed Pharm, Fundamentals, and Nursing Informatics (I start Surgical nursing January 18th!), but I truly am enjoying it! I thrive off of stress in most situations, so the stress of all the readings, skills lab check offs, clinical observations, etc. helped push me to success! I feel honored to even be a nursing student, to be honest. My school currently has waiting list approaching 5 years! The road to nursing school was long for me with prereqs and the waiting list, but now that I'm finally here I don't want to screw it up! This is my dream and I'm going to work my butt off to get where I want to be.

To be successful, in part, it takes some common sense! Show up to every lecture and clinical, be prepared, STUDY in a way that works for you, manage your time wisely, and be DEDICATED! If anybody watches The Biggest Loser, you'll know that Dolvett always says "Hard work, dedication." That has honestly been my motto and has helped me get this far, and I know it will help me finish the program :) As far as having a child, I have a good friend who has two small children and she has managed to make 4.0's in all three of her nursing classes so far. It seems like the majority of my peers in nursing school have children already. If they can do it, you can do it! The woman I purchased my Fundamentals book from told me she got pregnant and had her son WHILE in nursing school! She said it was hard, but she did it! She is now a nurse and loves it :)

tokyoROSE put it perfectly that if you want to be a nurse, nothing will stop you! Find a way to make it happen :)

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Specializes in ER.

Thank you for asking this question Tammy. I start my ADN program on the 17th and I have started wondering the same thing! I am married with three small kids and my husband is a nurse who works 4-5 12's a week, not getting home until midnight on those days. I don't expect to have a social life but I'm wondering if my kids will start to feel neglected, if my house is going to fall to pieces, and if I am going to lose my mind. It's good to hear that not eveyone hates nursing school. I guess we just have to stay positive and like somebody on a different thread stated, to try to make it our own experience. I am trying to stay positive and plan to just take it one day at a time. That's really all we can do!

I hope you hear from your school soon! Good luck to you!

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overall, i enjoy nursing school! like the other posters said, you'll have late nights/early mornings (i am a night person, so the early mornings are the worst), a lot of paperwork, and a great amount of studying. i don't mind the studying because i am actually learning something interesting and as the information builds, it'll get more interesting (or i am a big nerd :specs:). now, i admit i get nervous leading up to clinical but once i'm interacting with my patient, i'm fine. i have a social life...kinda. sometimes, i can't talk to my friends on the phone because i'm studying but they understand. my friend is having a birthday dinner the week that i get back from winter break and she told me, "i'll understand if you can't make it because of nursing school". of course, i will do everything i can to be there but nursing school does take precedence over social activities. that's why i "party it up" with my friends, as much as i can stand during break. i didn't do as well as i wanted my first time around in college, so my priorities have changed. i make time for what i want to make time for...

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I forgot to mention in my other post how much I love nursing school. It's absolutely the best thing I've ever done. This semester is a little more hectic, and I am in class or clinical Monday through Thursday. However, that coincides with two of my other friends' schedules, and we usually try to go out on Friday night and do something fun. Having Friday through Sunday off is great because I can devote Saturday and Sunday to writing papers, studying, or doing anything I didn't get done through the week. Like another poster said, I am a night person, and the mornings kill me. We have night shift clinicals this semester, and it rocks. Nursing school is first in my life, and it does have a priority over almost everything else. If you are going to succeed, it kind of has to.

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I don't like nursing school at all. I do, however, like to sit and watch football on the couch with a bag of lay's potato chips. So, nursing school sometimes interferes with that.

I will say that it is not nearly as hard as I've heard many people say, but it does steal a lot of my time. Whether it's clinicals or studying there always seems like there is something more to do. My wife works, I have 3 kids, and I work as well. I'm here to tell you it's doable, just not pleasurable.

Good luck

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Seriously, I don't know. Its not that bad but it's a lot of work. Theres always little extra you have to do for you clinical so break is always ruined. Then you have to worry were your hospital placement is and when you do get it theres always all this training stuff to do. All this kind of little stuff drives me nuts.

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Sometimes I enjoy it. It can be exciting to learn all these new things and have new experiences. Sometimes I feel burnt out and just "over it". Last semester I was going strong until Thanksgiving, and then I had a hard time caring about anything. I just wanted it to be done and to enjoy xmas. It's not impossible imo. Just count on that some weekends, there's no chance of you doing anything but school work. My son was 9 months when I went back. I hate to say it but popping in a video and putting him in the jumper was a lifesaver so I could study. And my mom really helped out a lot by taking him for the day on the weekends. It's hard, but doable. Good luck!

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I have a love/hate relationship with nursing school. I love learning new things and have a feeling that when I graduate in March, I may feel a sense of loss and may even feel a bit depressed.

I have three kids and a husband who works the afternoon shift. My house is a disaster when I'm school and as a family, we don't get to do much because nursing school is expensive and time consuming.

Any stress related to nursing school is temporary. Always have a plan B, C, D, and E--this will help alleviate some stress.

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