I am in a two year RN program at a community college. I have a law degree, and I am studying nursing so I can do HealthCare Law or Medical Malpractice. No one at my school knows that I have a law degree (except the administrator), and I don't plan to tell them, because I don't want to answer legal questions for the next two years, or draw attention to myself.
Sadly, I am disappointed with many of my classmates in nursing school. They are very boring to talk to and somewhat blue-collar-ish. I am always friendly towards them, but half of them don't return my friendly gestures because they probably don't understand my nature (I am shy and reserved, but pleasant). My classmates in law school were just so much more interesting, and friendly! I got along great with all of them. I was expecting to really like my nursing classmates too, because I thought most nurses were really nice people. But these people are just working class snobs (they don't like anyone who does not act working class like them).
I probably should have applied to a Masters level Nursing program, in order to find people like myself in nursing school.
I was just wondering if others out there are a "fish out of water" in their nursing programs.
Ok, now it's time for me to chime in on this one... If nursing is beneath you, you probably shouldn't be going to school for it.
I am one of those lovely, wonderful, conversationalists you would've found in your 'Master's program' (let me point out the fact that you are NOT in one which is a point of its own) as I will be undertaking a direct entry master's program in my nursing career. I have my B.A. (History) w/disciplinary honors in my field, a very high GPA in humanities as well as science (I double majored in Biology), have written numerous theses as part of my honors program, member of honorary societies, took the LSAT, yes, and was well into tier 1 level schools. I ELECTED not to go to law school because I didn't think there would be any good conversationalists :). No, actually for family reasons.
First all of all pal most of the folks in nursing school are there for one reason and one reason only, and it isn't to engage in abstract, moot intellectual discussions. Leave that to philosophy, religious studies, legal studies... This just isn't the environment for it. Secondly, not everyone will be interested in having conversations about things you are interested in. For example, my main area of study in history is modern European history, with an emphasis on German and Russian history. Do you think I would find the topic of African tribal history too interesting? Not really--not at all actually.
Finally, the great conversation of nursing is patient care, patient care, patient care.
And what is so wrong with blue-collar? I frankly do not consider nursing to be a blue-collar profession but my fiance is a factory worker--that's blue collar. Sure he and most of his co-workers talk about stupid, irrelavent stuff while working because they haven't much else to talk about but that does not make them beneath you.
I have never heard of attending nursing school to enhance law skills. Even if this is true, perhaps your classmates can sense that you aren't in it for the right reasons. If you are a genuine, nice person, there shouldn't be a problem. People have a hard time disliking or being mean to a truly nice person. Who isn't being fake, a trait I have found most lawyers tend to possess.
Maybe your classmates seem less "interesting" than those in law school because you have not taken the initiative to get to know them...? It seems to me you feel you are above them (whether educationally or socially or whatever) and they are not worth your effort to engage in conversation.
Realize most people just want social acceptance by their peers and maybe your classmates feel as rejected by you as you do by them...
I felt the exact same way as Tooty. I don't think I'm an elitist snob, but I did expect to find intellectually curious, scientifically minded classmates. I did not.
That is unfortunate, my class was very insightful, curious and intellectual. We were a second bachelors degree though and had students with degrees that ranged from music to holistic medicine PhD... Maybe Tooty is disappointed because her class is generally younger and inexperience in the world and she sees that as boring...? Tooty, please do not discount these people they may have much more to offer than what you see on the surface and if not, enlighten them...
If she preferred drowning she would not have posted.
Actually, she's preferring to drown if she's waiting for someone here to give her validation for having that attitude of hers. If that is the case, good luck to her on that. :icon_roll
Hopefully, she chooses to self-assess and consider the feedback being posted, because she's getting a lot of good advice here, even in some of the more...tense...posts. But again, what she decides to do is up to her.
I was raised in an upper-upper middle class family. There was never anything that I can remember going without in my formative years. We had a waterfront summer home and I took my first trip to Europe at around 6 years of age.
I have a bachelor's degree and am 12 credits shy of a master's degree. I had a wonderful 15 year career in public relations and marketing communications. I got to travel all over the world for my job, and occasionally got to spend up to two months at a time living and working in places like Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Bologna and Florence.
Sophisticated little old me is now in my 40's and burnt out by a frenetic, insanely competitive corporate workplace environment and am in drastic need of a career change where the bottom line really is life or death, not a bunch of lunatics in suits acting as if their bottom line is life or death, when in all reality it's whether they're going to make bonus this year.
I, too, am in a community-college based ADN program. While I suspect that I am probably better educated and better-rounded than most people in my class, I don't think that's necessarily a badge of pride to be worn on my shoulder to prove my worth over another person.
I enjoy my classmates, and I think they enjoy me. Yes, I suspect most of them have led very different lives than have I, but I certainly don't feel different or apart from them. It could easily be that way, I suppose, if I were holding out unrealistic expectations of who they are and who I think they should be, and most importantly who I am. Instead. I focus on the things we have in common, and I've been surprised with the things I have in common with some of them.
You're not in law school. You're in a community college ADN program. Quit expecting them to aspire to the level of knowledge and intellect you experienced with your classmates in law school. And that's not saying they're stupid either. It's just that you and I have simply had more opportunities than others may have had, and we've been privelaged to have led interesting lives prior to entering nursing school.Well, guess what? So have they. It might not be your brand of interesting, but if you dial down your high-falutin' attitude long enough to get to know them, I think you'll be how surprised how diverse, interesting and intelligent they really are. At least that's been my experience.
If you loosen up and quit expecting your classmates to want to have protracted debates about the Supreme Court opinions of Thurgood Marshall, you might enjoy them more; and they, you.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I was raised in an upper-upper middle class family. There was never anything that I can remember going without in my formative years. We had a waterfront summer home and I took my first trip to Europe at around 6 years of age.
Your attitude is pleasurable, and I'm glad you're enjoying the company of your classmates at the community college. I feel that some of the best lessons can be found outside the walls of schools.
During my childhood, my mother's vehicle was repossessed by the finance company because she and my father could no longer afford to pay. We were evicted from one apartment building. An empty refrigerator was common in my household for a while. I remember one Christmas holiday when I received no gifts because my parents had no money to purchase any.
Since I was bred in a social class that is located on the bottom end of a division of labor society, I am going to bring a worldview to the table that is starkly different than that of the person who grew up in an educated, moneyed household. The best thing we can do is respect everyone's differences.
I think that last sentence hits the nail on the head "The best thing we can do is respect everyone's differences". There is no better advice in this thread. That statement transcends career and culture. If the OP gets nothing out of this thread, I really hope she/he takes that to heart.
I am the prince of a small country in Africa. I won't say which country as to shelter my identity. I have come to America to find my bride. I have enrolled in a Nursing program, as I have heard that Nurses are kind and wonderful people. I also have had trouble mingling with as you would say in your country "common folk". I understand the original posters position.
I am the prince of a small country in Africa. I won't say which country as to shelter my identity. I have come to America to find my bride. I have enrolled in a Nursing program, as I have heard that Nurses are kind and wonderful people. I also have had trouble mingling with as you would say in your country "common folk". I understand the original posters position.
There is quality to be found in all people, from all social groups. The most gracious and wise among us will strive to find that value and quality. As a prince, I would think that you have an almost moral duty to your country to seek this position-to represent and value a group of people whom, I would assume, might fit in with "common folk".
Money has nothing to do with "class", but as I wrote in earlier posts, I wish that everyone were taught basic manners. This is what's important to me. And, intelligence can be accumulated by ANYONE if they so desire, regardless of position. I do see the point of the original position, as a matter of fact, students I've encounterd at my community college are less LIKELY to show even very basic human courtesies. But, I try to see this as almost a different culture, and try to see the good underneath. It's there. We are more alike than we are different.
Adams_Mommy_07
199 Posts
Ok, now it's time for me to chime in on this one... If nursing is beneath you, you probably shouldn't be going to school for it.
I am one of those lovely, wonderful, conversationalists you would've found in your 'Master's program' (let me point out the fact that you are NOT in one which is a point of its own) as I will be undertaking a direct entry master's program in my nursing career. I have my B.A. (History) w/disciplinary honors in my field, a very high GPA in humanities as well as science (I double majored in Biology), have written numerous theses as part of my honors program, member of honorary societies, took the LSAT, yes, and was well into tier 1 level schools. I ELECTED not to go to law school because I didn't think there would be any good conversationalists :). No, actually for family reasons.
First all of all pal most of the folks in nursing school are there for one reason and one reason only, and it isn't to engage in abstract, moot intellectual discussions. Leave that to philosophy, religious studies, legal studies... This just isn't the environment for it. Secondly, not everyone will be interested in having conversations about things you are interested in. For example, my main area of study in history is modern European history, with an emphasis on German and Russian history. Do you think I would find the topic of African tribal history too interesting? Not really--not at all actually.
Finally, the great conversation of nursing is patient care, patient care, patient care.
And what is so wrong with blue-collar? I frankly do not consider nursing to be a blue-collar profession but my fiance is a factory worker--that's blue collar. Sure he and most of his co-workers talk about stupid, irrelavent stuff while working because they haven't much else to talk about but that does not make them beneath you.