Exaggerations about nursing school

MB37 · Nov 8, 2007

While nursing school is definitely very difficult and time consuming, everyone who said, "No one gets As," "Kiss your spouse/family goodbye until graduation," and "You will eat, sleep, and breathe nursing school" was exaggerating just a bit. I get As (so far, knock wood), and while my free time is limited, I do make sure my husband and I do something together one or two nights a week. I just need to schedule it a little and make sure my work is done. Now, when I got my first degree, I spent about 6 nights a week on a barstool/at a frat party and still made As and Bs - I don't think that's possible in nursing school.

beth66335, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2007

" Nursing instructors are uncaring and won't help you." Our instructors are very kind and while they won't do it all for us they tells us all the time,"Come talk to me and I'll help if I can."

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2007

"No one gets A's in any nursing class"

I do and in ALL my classes as do a couple of others in my class. Although they do bust their butts getting those A's. I am one of those oddities who really doesn't study in the way that most do, I am lucky that I am able to absorb and retain the lecture info just by listening. Others take pages and pages and pages of notes, rewrite the notes, study for days and are able to get their A's. It IS an exaggeration that no one gets A's. BUT its not uncommon to have an A student w/pre-reqs start to see their grades slip into the B range..and its all good with a B too. So don't EXPECT to get a's just because you always have. and if you do get those A's..feel good!

"you will never see your family"

I see my family, and friends, not as much as I use to or as much as I like but I do see them..frequently. I am able to be at every sports practice and game that both my daughters participate in along with all teacher/parent meetings etc. Hubby and I always have time alone together. You will be swamped until you figure out your "groove" so to speak. Once you know what you need to do, how you need to go about it to get it done, and what works best for you, you will soon see that you do have time to do things other than things that are NS related. Take that time to have some YOU time.

"all the teachers just want to fail everyone"

I've had nothing but teacher who go out of their way to help students grasp the info and pass the class. Yes, there are some teachers that I didn't care for, but I never felt that they were going out of their way to see anyone fail.

"clinical instructors are the Devil"

Nope, not mine. all of mine were dedicated in helping us to grow our wings, spread them and fly solo as soon to be nurses. Mine were always trying to build our confidence in our skills and assessments.

"oh, if you have CNA experience, you'll have a cake walk through nursing"

OHH how UNTRUE this statement is. and sadly, many of my classmates, who are CNA's, thought that hey, I can be a nurse, I've seen what they do..not much in their opinion. and once IN the clinical setting these same students looked like deer in the headlights when push came to shove.

I think you get out of nursing school what you put into it. One person's experiences are not set in stone for the next. Go into NS with your eyes open and with your homework done. Know that it will be one of the hardest things you do in your life, but it is not outside of your grasp and it is not an impossible dream. Ask questions, accept the answers and if you don't understand that answer ASK more questions. Let your teachers know that you are starting to feel like you are falling behind when it starts..not when you are so far behind there is no catching up.

I wish you the best of luck as you start your journey on this long and bumpy road. Know that the end of the journey is SOOO worth the time and bumps

trepinCT · Nov 8, 2007

I guess it all depends..for me, the whole kiss everyone goodbye is pretty true..my hubby works 2 jobs and we have 4 kids..one of his jobs is a firefighter and it takes him away many weekends and nights so that can mess up study time..I have a much more narrow window to work with and I focus any free time for my kids and hubby....I dont have chunks of hours at a time to study, so I have to do a little here and there..that sucks all free time..unless I have a friend willing to meet me at 4 am!! LOL

amyk_ncsu · Nov 9, 2007

They told us that it would be very very very hard to keep a job while in school. I have not only kept my job, but I still have enough free time during the week to not go nuts.

justme1972 · Nov 9, 2007

That the instructors didn't care was a huge myth.

They don't care about the students that are not making the effort, nor should they. People signed up for the program so they should be ready to make the sacrifices to get through it.

A lady had a baby and was written out for 4 weeks...they are letting her make up her clinicals over Christmas break. I have heard about schools not even allowing for that, but you would be required to accomodate if you were working a job.

What was true? That you can't get an A in our class...at least with our structure.

We only have 25 questions on our exams, if you miss TWO questions, you get a B.

No one in our entire class has an A as of this week.

allthingsbright · Nov 9, 2007

Hey guys:
I'm curious about everyone's experience. Was there anything you heard/were told about NS that now looking back, you feel were
exaggerations?
Is there anything about NS that you wish WAS exaggerated?
Thanks

For me the content hasnt been that hard--just the HUGE amounts of content that have freaked me out. Yes, I did get a grade letter lower in most my classes (I get about a 90% in each class which is a NS B and not the pre-req A's I was used to). I heard my program was unorganized and that has proved true, sadly.

Basically, everyone said nursing school would be hard. It is harder than I thought it would be--but honestly, no one said how rewarding it would be at the end. I am so proud of myself for making it through this (I grad in 5 weeks). It is bittersweet!

sbg23 · Nov 9, 2007

While nursing school is very stressful and whatnot, I think that people get themselves too worked up. It seems as though everyone in my classes are so worked up about everything that they try to take on too much at once and let themselves down. All you need to do is take thing one step at a time and not freak out about every little thing. Eventually it all comes together and you can't stress yourself out anymore than you already are. I can't help but laugh a little when people are about to cry in the middle of class b/c they are so stressed.

NikkiRN_BSN · Nov 9, 2007

I heard my program was unorganized and that has proved true, sadly.

My program takes disorganized to whole new levels. It sucks because this seems to be adding to our overall stress.

I don't think the material in nursing school is difficult. I think the sheer volume of information is what stresses people out. Its a good opportunity to begin learning time management. With that being said, I am certain there is something growing in my kitchen but I refuse to deal with it until it A: grows legs, walks into my living room and refuses to share my laptop OR B: It's Christmas break :lol2:

Oz2 · Nov 10, 2007

With that being said, I am certain there is something growing in my kitchen but I refuse to deal with it until it A: grows legs, walks into my living room and refuses to share my laptop OR B: It's Christmas break

Lmao! :lol2: :lol2:

That's how I've been getting through it too. You gotta prioritize.

future L&Dnurse · Nov 10, 2007

I think the "you can't have a life of any kind outside of nursing school" and the "nobody ever gets an A, all the A students are B students in nursing school" stuff was grossly exaggerated.

However, I'd LOVE if the "you'll feel like you're writing fifteen papers a week" and the "learn to survive on four hours of sleep" things were exaggerated, too.

six months and counting ....