Failed at pre-nursing and pre OT. What to do now?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I'm currently a college junior right now majoring in psychology. I originally entered college with a dream of becoming a nurse. The college was famous for its nursing program and was notorious for being highly competitive. I didn't make it in since I couldn't get high enough grades in the prereqs. It was mainly the science prereqs b/c I'm pretty bad at science. I've went to tutoring and had friends who were very smart in science to teach me and they advised me to switch to something that was non science since I was having such a hard time.

I was very discouraged and transferred after deciding to switch to OT major at another school since a portion of the prereq's were psychology classes and I had taken a lot already. I didn't do as great as I hoped to for the prerequisites, especially for the anatomy and physiology classes. This brought my prereq GPA down below the required GPA so I didn't get accepted to the OT program.

I got so discouraged after not getting into OT and it made me think whether I should be doing anything related to the health professions because I did so poorly in the science classes. I'm currently taking a couple of introductory business classes but I'm not doing so well in those either. I don't have any interest in the content and I just don't feel motivated to really learn it.

I never really imagined myself as a business type person and it's not really what I want to do.

I kinda feel like a failure right now because I've tried twice trying to get into the health professions with nursing and then OT and I failed in both of them. The only thing I've ever had a passion for is nursing and it's the only thing I've ever pictured myself doing in the future. But I struggle so much in the science classes and I get bad grades in them. I go to tutoring and ask TAs and professors questions, but I was never able to grasp it.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I just feel really bummed out and unmotivated in my psych classes right now. I'm really worried about what to do after I graduate and I need some advice whether I should continue to pursue nursing or completely switch gears to find something I can get good grades at.

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.

Have you figured out what you were doing wrong yet? Did you take too many courses at once? Did you focus on studying?

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The sciences are a HUGE part of healthcare related fields. If you are struggling to make it through these courses, then nursing school is going to be difficult. Does your school even allow you to retake courses? And have you looked into healthcare related professions that weren't so science heavy...like administration type professions?

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I suggest that you go to your school's learning resource center (or whatever they call it) so that you can be assessed as to what your "best" learning style is. It's possible that you aren't learning the material because you're not working with the material in a way that is most efficient for you. I'm not saying that you have a learning disability, though it's possible that you do. Many people do. It's also possible that there's an emotional component involved as feeling "down" or "discouraged" can also make it more difficult to learn things.

Don't foreclose going into healthcare... it just may not be "your time" to get into that right now. Once you figure out what's holding you back, you should do just fine.

Best to ya!

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Have you considered applying to a different school for your ASN/BSN, perhaps a less rigorous one? This will allow you to progress into your dream career while giving you time to study up.

For example, my dream of all dreams was to study at Columbia School of Nursing (close to my favorite dosa cart in New York), but after my TEAS and TOEFL it became painfully apparent that my English just wasn't there yet. Now I am taking my BSN in a private university with a slightly less awe-inspiring pedigree. At the same time, I am taking intensive language tutoring and hope to try Columbia again for my DNP.

You absolutely, definitely must master the sciences to be a good nurse, but you do not need to put your future on hold while you do.

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Specializes in ICU.

I think unless you figure out why your not retaining the info, you are going to fail every class. How

much studying are you doing? Are you completing the homework? Are you looking at outside resources?

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I think it's the time management...I always try to put it more time for the science courses and not put it in as much effort for the other ones. Maybe it's the fact I don't know how to organize time to study for my classes..

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I've thought about going into other non-science healthcare careers, but wasn't sure what kinda options are out there and would be a good stable job as well?

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

Medical assistant?

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
I think it's the time management...I always try to put it more time for the science courses and not put it in as much effort for the other ones. Maybe it's the fact I don't know how to organize time to study for my classes..

In any of the allied healthcare fields that require some kind of lengthy training, time management as a student is crucial to success. A good rule of thumb for blocking out time to study is to take your per-course load in units and triple that for how many hours you should devote to studying for that class per week. Your 5 unit course usually means about 15 hours per week studying for that class. That's only a couple of hours per day.

One book that I found absolutely invaluable to my own success is this one: Conquering College. It's ISBN is 0963511106. It was last in print in 1992, but there are copies of it to be found. While the concepts in the book are generally in the "duh" category, they're presented to you in a way that by using them, you actually might be able to study more efficiently. I did OK the first time around, in college, but the second time through, I re-read that book and basically followed what's in there. In my first go-round, I was a B-C student. I became a 4.0 GPA student going into Nursing School and maintained >3.0 GPA throughout, while working full-time and raising a family and graduated with honors.

My own time management was horrible and I had to get much, much better at it and this provided me a good framework that I could work with to make it happen. Don't get me wrong... my office is a mess, but I know where everything is in there, but my daily schedule runs right on time. That's a by-product of having to work full-time while going to school since about 2006, and full-time working and studenting from 2011 through 2014.

You must learn to manage time efficiently and it's a skill that can be learned. I'm sure that this isn't your only issue that needs work... that's why I suggested the things I did earlier in this thread. If you truly want to do well in college and be able to get into any program you desire, figure out what it is that's causing your issues. You might just be surprised at what you can do...

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Not everyone can become a nurse. Don't make the mistake of confusing 'ability' with 'intelligence'. There are some super-smart successful people out there that are simply not wired to be successful in math or science or literature or foreign languages.

There are brilliant nurses who have to struggle with composing meaningful written communications. I know someone who is a very talented writer/ professional musician... but she has never been able to balance a checkbook. One of my offspring has been very successful in tech education/career, but only scraped by in any class that required writing. I'm just saying we're all unique. The key to success is to play to your strengths rather than beat yourself up trying to achieve an unrealistic goal.

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

What are you asking? Are you asking if you should be a nurse? I would say no. Your post is top ten most negative and depressing post on here. You have absolutely nothing positive you say about yourself. You just keep saying how you fail everything and you can't understand anything. If this is how you feel about yourself then you should find a career in a service industry with no actual challenge. Possibly fast food or retail. However even those careers have some challenge in them. Whatever you are doing now IS NOT WORKING. You are "failing" every class and have no interest. If you really truly want to be a nurse you would study more...50 hours a week or more if you REALLY wanted to be a nurse. You don't fail a class and just quit. A career like nursing is a challenge for a reason. They don't just hand out nursing licenses to people who "want to" be a nurse.

You are lacking any backbone and toughness. A setback and you quit? That is your solution to a challenge? I had bad test scores while getting my BSN..not one time ever did I even think of quitting. I was on a mission and went into animal mode.

You may want to see a therapist or identify why you have developed a pattern of quitting things. Take a class..any class..work hard and succeed.. Build on that. If you get a bad grade..do some self analyses. How are you studying? What worked? What didn't work.

It is up to you. Some people are content with job with zero challenge and that is fine. We are all different.

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