Did anyone hate nursing school?

Nurses New Nurse

Published

I am in second semester and I am just sooooo tired and run down. Every week I feel like quitting. I have an hour commute and 2 small kids so thats an added difficulty. Is it normal to dislike nursing school so much? I know Im probably just not thinking clearly at this point being so exhausted, but please tell me it all pays off in the end!

I, like many others worked toward this goal for so long, just trying to get in. I have always loved school. But since becoming an actual nursing student, I can barely get B's much less A's. I guess I thought nursing school would be so fun and interesting and full of cool new things to experience. But hard instructors and hours of clinical are more the case. And I feel so dumb all the time!

Just trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I need help seeing the good in it again. Thanks.......better go study!

Specializes in Med-Surg, ICU.

oh gosh I know I dreaded clinical days in the hospital like the plague! I know I asked myself countless times if nursing is what I really wanted to do. I realized the reason I dreaded my clinical days was #1 my instructor always had negative stuff to say about us and would chew us out in front of the patients #2 I was tired of feeling stupid and inadequate all the time. But now after being a new grad for three months I've realized how much I love being a nurse, love making a difference, and love seeing how far I've come. I learned so much in nursing school and through the mistakes I made. You never stop learning as a nurse, and the feelings of inadequacy and of feeling "dumb" will go away the more experience you get. Keep trying! It is SO worth it!:D Most days now I can walk out of work thinking "I love my job!"

Wow it makes me sad to see all you having hated the process of becoming a nurse. i LOVED all my clinical rotations and especially my preceptorship. No one (and by no one I mean me;)) likes getting up super early but I didn't mind it at all when it meant I was going to be helping patients and learning to become a nurse. My clinical instructors were great, i loved interacting with patients and their families. I had one day where I almost cried but after talking to my instructor about it I never felt that way again.

Specializes in med surg home care PEDS.

Actually for the most part I enjoyed clinicals, it was the CI I hated, not all just some of them, I am a second career student, spent years and years in the corporate world and was totally shocked to be yelled at, demeaned, and generally treated like an idiot. It was perhaps the worst experience of my life, my stress level was off the charts, never failed a test, love the course contents, but oh those CI's made my life hell. Thank God every day I got through it, but it took me months to calm down, for while there I thought I had PTSD, but I passed NCLEX and am now looking for my first job.

Specializes in Med-Surg.
Actually for the most part I enjoyed clinicals, it was the CI I hated, not all just some of them, I am a second career student, spent years and years in the corporate world and was totally shocked to be yelled at, demeaned, and generally treated like an idiot. It was perhaps the worst experience of my life, my stress level was off the charts, never failed a test, love the course contents, but oh those CI's made my life hell. Thank God every day I got through it, but it took me months to calm down, for while there I thought I had PTSD, but I passed NCLEX and am now looking for my first job.

I completely agree mb, I will never forget being yelled at and threatened with failure during my very first clinical experience. The hospital staff was empathetic towards us students because they had seen worse behavior from my particular instructor. Luckily I spent years working in mental health so this behavior did not phase me. I just treated that instructor the way I would anyone else with a mental illness with patience and the thought that I am not the one lacking self control. After the incident I never had a problem with the instructor again. If I had gotten upset or cried like some classmates had done, this behavior would have repeated with me as it did with them. I think most students have dealt with those nurses who eat their young, but it's an experience to learn from and become stronger.

Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy.

No, I didn't hate nursing school. It was a lot easier than I expected it to be. In a way I felt shortchanged that I didn't get as much opportunity as I would have liked to build my skills. ON the other hand if it had been any more stressful I don't know if I would have managed with all the other pressures in my life. And fortunately I did not encounter any horrible clinical instructors--the ones I had all WANTED us to succeed.

ME ME ME!!!!!!!! I'm in school now, and geez, I don't wanna get too worked up so i won't get into all the details.... but i HATE it!!!

But i have to say, it feels great to not be alone in hating it :D

! Lost !

(1) sanity

Height - diminishing

Weight - withering

Hair - mostly pulled out

Eyes - blood shot, very blood shot

Eats - Coffee, popcorn, Ramen Noodle, more coffee

Has recently developed a nervous tick and a taste for Hi-Liters

Can be heard grinding teeth

Last seen wandering aimlessly in direction of Dairy Queen

Answers to sound of 4:30 alarm, coffee, and call buttons

Known to rock and whimper clutching Teddy Bear

If found approach with caution as is know to be spooked by loud noises, due dates, APA, financial aid forms, and N-CLEX.

Specializes in Critical Care (ICU/CVICU).

I CANT STAND NURSING SCHOOL WITH A DEEP PASSION! UUUUGGGHHHHHH! Just thinking about everything makes the skin on my face want to melt off.

*I don't care for 85% of my classmates (so nosy, competitive, gossipy, and rude know-it-alls)

*I don't like the way the grading scale is, the absolute nit-picking on APA format, with a lack of nit-picking on what REALLY matters (like pharmacology)

*I don't like the fact that the instructors aren't willing to admit they are wrong! (even though *some* of my instructors are AMAZING!)

*I don't like waking up early for 12 hour clinicals and just standing around, feet hurting, practically begging for skills to do...just to find out that skills that we were checked off for, we still aren't "ready" to attempt.

*I HATE having to TRAVEL all over town and to different CITIES for clinical rotations for a "unique experience" AND still have to pay $$$$ for food, gas, etc.... WITH NO JOB!!!!

*I ABSOLUTELY HATE hearing how other students at other nursing schools aren't having any problem making A's and I can study ALL DAY LONG and not get past a B (I want to eventually get a Masters, so grades are really important)

I have gone though TOO MUCH with this program (being a minority in a close-minded homogenous school and city, car broke down and never got fixed, bummed rides to clinicals, used all my savings for taxis after a class mate left me on purpose, rumors and accusations spreading, unfair grading, ALL my close friends all left my school all at once, leaving me to face all of this alone)...and all this I still manage to persevere. I feel like I'm a pledge...but being hazed for 6 semesters!!!!!

I just want May to come soooo bad! I can't get the heck outta here without GOING COMPLETELY BESERK!!!!!! UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

Sorry for my rant guys, but i just can't take it.... I'm making it, but can't take it.

*Step off my soapbox and going to take a Ativan*

Specializes in Critical Care (ICU/CVICU).

Oh yeah.... But I LOVE interacting, communicating, and laughing with my patients. I think they are the ONLY thing that keeps me going!!!!

I hated every minute of nursing school, except when I take care of my patients when the instructors were not there to grade me. Nursing school was hell and I am so happy that I am back to earth now.

Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.

I think nursing educations is a hard subject to teach and to learn. So the learning curve and the challenge of becoming a nurse are build in the profession itself. I found the biggest deficit in nursing education is the lack of contact with patients and the hospital environment in a meaningful way. The clinicals are lame at best, students are just walking around the hospital looking for something to do and for the most part just trying to look busy, lost, looking at the nurse assignment board, charts etc, they are basically hospital tours. It's only in the senior clinical (kapstan) that we begin to learn what real patient care is and that is because you have one preceptor one on one. But it is also lacking dept, it is hurried depending on your preceptor it can be a horrible experience; and one of the worst aspects of it are the disconnect and the lack of coordination between the preceptor and the school. The preceptors also expect you to know everything...and that's where you might experience for the first time "nurses eating their young" (am I saying something strange here or does it sound familiar?) This was kind of my experience. I did learn a lot in class and it was for the most part a very enjoyable experience.

Specializes in ED.

Believe it or not it will all be worth it in the end and a distant memory real soon!

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