First Day of Nursing School

Nursing Students General Students

Published

I wanted to start this thread again. I've seen so many posts about first days and have lived vicariously through those posts. Now, with that first day steadily approaching, I'd like to start my own thread. I start school on the 21st of August, and I thought that I'd go ahead and start a thread so that it will be good and ready for that first day post. As of now, I have pretty much everything done except I have to have my second PPD read on Monday. I welcome comments from everyone. After all, we are all in this together!

It has been neat to reflect on everyone's eagerness to start nursing school. I started (second degree program) the beginning of June and though it is stressful to manage your time, the material has been manageable as long as you go to class, pay attention, and test yourself on the concepts rather than just passively reading.

Most important tips I can offer:

1) Get your life in order! Make a checklist of bills to be paid, hang it on your fridge, and designate a day to pay them, so you dont accidentally forget (very easy to do when you're juggling studying, class, clinicals, etc.)

2) Catch up on sleep! Especially if you are not a morning person. And it is helpful to take frequent naps after lecutre because it actually helps your brain consolidate the information!

3) Vacuum your car (if you have one), get every bit of laundry done, and clean your residence from top to bottom. It is very difficult to manage a clean house once classes start, everytime you do the dishes or sweep you'll wonder if the time wouldn't better be spent studying. I try to designate one day a week to run errands and do chores.

4)It is good to schedule a little "me" time, whether that entails getting a Groupon for a massage, getting a glass of wine at happy hour after a long study session, taking a long hot shower, napping, cuddling with your kids/significant other/animal companion etc.

5) You can never have too many highlighters (if you're a paper/textbook person). I say this as a person that formerly hated highlighters and thought they were silly. You will be thrown a lot of information and it is really helpful to highlight the stuff that either doesn;t make sense and needs to be reviewed, or the really key information that teachers say will be on the test and NCLEX.

6) Most of all, try to relax! It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the material, or to get freaked out reading about the less positive aspects of nursing on All Nurses. Thousands of people in your place have succeeded, and you will too, if you remember how hard you worked to get into nursing school in the first place.

Nursing school, though overwhelming, has been a lot of fun so far :) I wish everyone on this thread the best of luck!

7) get a study group together from day 1. Don't rely on your group to teach you things, but use each other's brains as an added resource. I don't think I would have made it this far without my group! Everyone reads and studies on their own. Then, during an exam week (especially finals), we spend hours talking things out. People share little ways to remember things and talking it out will make things "stick". It's also a great way to make friends you can really count on to call when you're having an "I can't do this" moment.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Eh my first day was just like any other day of college though yes it was nice to actually start taking nursing classes. Now first day of clincal , that is coming up and I am looking forward to that

Up Vote Up Vote ×

how old can our vaccinations be?? I didn't think of that. I start classes on August 13th and have my physical on the 1st. I just thought I would need to get them again. (I'm 39 and just read your post).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
how old can our vaccinations be?? I didn't think of that. I start classes on August 13th and have my physical on the 1st. I just thought I would need to get them again. (I'm 39 and just read your post).

My school made us get titers (rubela, rubeola, etc etc) and if we didn't show immunity we had to be revaccinated. Hope that is of some help?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I start Aug. 26, I can't wait this is my last year

Up Vote Up Vote ×

yay~ my orientation is coming up in august as well! I'm really excited to start nursing school! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have registration and orientation on August 12, 13 and 14. Classes start on August 19. I don't know what my schedule will be like until registration. All nursing students register on the same day. I've already gotten 5 shots and have one more to go in January, the last Hep B. I don't have to have a background check and I assume the drug screen will be during orientation. All my information was just sent to the Dean's office, nothing done online. I just wish I knew what books we are going to be using so I can start tracking them down online. I saved hundreds of dollars on books for my prereq classes. I was very luck to get a scholarship for tuition and fees and a grant to cover supplies. Now I'm just counting down the days until August 19.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I start class on August 21! I just have to get a physical this week and BLS next week. The books we use are all electronic, costs 1,000 dollars but we don't have to buy anymore after that the whole program. The clinicals during our first and second semester are from 06:30 to 12:30 twice a week. I am so excited to get started!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I start in a 4 weeks also! Just starting to get ready and looking through the books. The information seems endless!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

This was the first that I had ever heard of getting 2 PPD tests done. My medical office thought that I was crazy!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CVICU.
This was the first that I had ever heard of getting 2 PPD tests done. My medical office thought that I was crazy!

Lol! I had all of my vaccinations already done. So I thought it was kind of strange reading here that some people had to get some shots done.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I start Aug. 26, I can't wait this is my last year

I start the 26th too!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment