Does anyone else feel like NON nursing students don't "understand?"

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Specializes in Case Manager.

It seems as though only nursing students can understand what nursing students are going through.

From my experiences, nursing is unlike ANY other major at my school. No other major requires a background check, lots of blood work, and an admissions process.

Yet all my non nursing friends and people who are OUTSIDE of the profession have the biggest misconceptions such as...

-You can work full time while going to nursing school.

No, you can't work full time, sometimes not even part time. This is not a major where you can just copy a friends homework, read a FEW pages, or BS a paper and call it a night. No, you have to read the material and KNOW what you're reading and how you actually apply the material as well practicing all the skills associated with patient care. Working 40 hours a week would be a lot more hurtful than helpful. This is assuming you have a job where you CAN'T or DON'T have "downtime" to study and do homework while working.

-"You're being fake!" "How come you never talk to us anymore?!" "I go to school full time and have [x credits] and I still manage to go out and party every weekend!"

It's not that I'm being fake or trying to avoid you, it's just that between the patient research, drug research, and reading that has to be done between lecture, lab and clinical, I literally have no 'extra' time to do such things. Every week, we learn something different and if I were to just skip a week, it would have a domino effect for the rest of the semester. Or I'm not going out that Friday night because I was at a clinical all day... and they only get longer next year!

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It just gets annoying when other people perceive me as being lazy, unwilling to work, etc... I tell everyone, including perspective employers that school comes first and that I will NOT work 40 hours a week if I can't at least get some studying done while on the job (I don't tell them the last part haha, just the working full time part). I've spent way too much money, time and effort to jeopardize it all by trying to be a 'do it all' and work 60 hours in a non related field while doing school full time as well.

I don't know, maybe the people around me just put education as a low priority because they constantly try to undermine it anyway they can.

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I understand and agree with you. I made the decision to surround myself with like-minded people and you should try the same. I need people either in the medical field or headed in that direction around me, to help better prepare me. My friends that aren't in college or want to party all the time can't help me get my degree!

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I totally agree that most other students do not have this heavy workload. However, a couple of my coworkers shocked me when they said nursing has got to be one of the hardest majors. I just smiled and said, "it's not a walk in the park that's for sure." I remember asking a junior accounting major if its normal to have a test every single week. Nope, not normal. I remember my friends asking to go see a movie or out to dinner on a weekday, and I just laughed. Now that I'm a senior and am used to the workload, it isn't that bad to me anymore, but there is no denying nursing school puts you through the ringer. The worst for me was not being able to attend a huge top 5 football game down the street because I had to go to work. All day I was watching as thousands of carefree college students tailgating and having a good time, while I was working. That was my FML moment.

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Specializes in Pediatric Hem/Onc.

I agree with you to a certain extent, except on the first point. People can and have worked full time while going through school, without a guarantee of study time at work. It's all about time management - and not having as big a social life for a few years :) I found time to be more my enemy than the workload. My first go around in college I was an English lit major. I had tons more homework and reading, but analyzing literature was a much easier process than learning the concept of critical thinking.

Just a differing opinion so the new folks don't get the wrong impression :)

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I agree with you to a certain extent, except on the first point. People can and have worked full time while going through school, without a guarantee of study time at work. It's all about time management - and not having as big a social life for a few years :) I found time to be more my enemy than the workload. My first go around in college I was an English lit major. I had tons more homework and reading, but analyzing literature was a much easier process than learning the concept of critical thinking.

Just a differing opinion so the new folks don't get the wrong impression :)

I think that whether this is possible depends on three things, the specific program, how much time the student needs to do well, and the student's definition of "doing well."

For many people, it's not possible to work full time while going to nursing school.

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I think that whether this is possible depends on three things, the specific program, how much time the student needs to do well, and the student's definition of "doing well."

For many people, it's not possible to work full time while going to nursing school.

But there are also many people who can't work full time while in school for anything else. It all depends on the specific circumstances.

In response to the OP:

I agree that it's much different being a nursing major (I'm a nursing major at a 4 year college where the number of nursing majors is about 7% of the school population, and most students are traditional 18-23 year old college students)...but I completely disagree that you don't have any extra time. I'm doing well, but I still hang out with my friends almost every weekend. It's all about time management. I work my tail off Monday through Thursday, take Thursday night off, do what I have to do Friday, and have at least Friday night and Saturday to be with my friends.

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But there are also many people who can't work full time while in school for anything else. It all depends on the specific circumstances.

I agree that it's much different being a nursing major (I'm a nursing major at a 4 year college where the number of nursing majors is about 7% of the school population, and most students are traditional 18-23 year old college students)...but I completely disagree that you don't have any extra time. I'm doing well, but I still hang out with my friends almost every weekend. It's all about time management. I work my tail off Monday through Thursday, take Thursday night off, do what I have to do Friday, and have at least Friday night and Saturday to be with my friends.

I never said that no one can work full time while in nursing school, I said that it depends on three different factors. You've only addressed one of them.

I think that some people can not work full time while in some nursing programs, depending on their individual definition of "doing well."

I also think that the volume of work is much higher in a nursing program then in many other degree programs.

These are not absolutes, there will always be exceptions, but they are generalities.

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I never said that no one can work full time while in nursing school, I said that it depends on three different factors. You've only addressed one of them.

I think that some people can not work full time while in some nursing programs, depending on their individual definition of "doing well."

I also think that the volume of work is much higher in a nursing program then in many other degree programs.

These are not absolutes, there will always be exceptions, but they are generalities.

I was only saying that regardless of what their major is, there are many people who can't work full time while going to school. The rest of my post was about me personally...it wasn't related to your post at all!

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I was only saying that regardless of what their major is, there are many people who can't work full time while going to school. The rest of my post was about me personally...it wasn't related to your post at all!

Ok...so?

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Ok...so?

So I didn't need to be addressing anything else in your post.

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Specializes in Acute Care Pediatrics.

My favorites are the people who say stuff like... "They are letting YOU work giving FLU SHOTS?! They LET YOU DO THAT KIND OF STUFF?" Dude, I'm a third semester nursing student. What do you think I do in the hospital all day? Knit?

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Specializes in Case Manager.

Well just some specific information regarding my specific program.

-At 78% or less or any care plan, test, or lab quiz is a fail.

-It has a 95% NCLEX pass rate.

-Nearly 30-40 people drop/fail out before the program is complete. (we only let 100 in per year.)

-Exit exam required before taking the NCLEX

-Our program starts clinical rotations the first week of our program... so we basically come in running.

-Attendance is very strict.

-It IS an ADN program... but it's very competitive and seems very good so far.

Either way, it seems like my program moves very fast and requires strict attention.

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