I respect the "venting" that has been expressed in the other thread. Some of those posts have made me chuckle, some have made me shake my head and say, "good grief." However ...
It's not all like this.
My experiences (and others') have been very different. All of my instructors but one have been unfailingly supportive (and there's always one, ya know ... that's just part of life). They consistently demonstrate intelligence, a thorough understanding of material, competence and compassion. Never have I witnessed someone being ridiculed. A few students have been called on the carpet from time to time, but with good reason.
Our curriculum has covered more material than I ever thought I could cram into my brain, but ALWAYS with real-world relevance. (that's what critical thinking means -- not being able to twist semantics in such a way that would make a logic professor chuckle). All of our classroom and clinical instructors currently practice, apart from their faculty positions, so there has been no disconnect between classroom and clinical.
Have I loved every minute of it? No. Have I ever thought that I would really rather have a root canal with no meds than do ONE MORE BLEEPING MED CARD? Yes. Have I ever muttered expletives as YET ANOTHER group project or concept map was assigned? You bet. But guess what -- I made it. In seven weeks I'll graduate, as a much different person than when I started nursing school.
Is it hard? Yep. But that's sort of the point. Choose your school carefully, then knuckle down for the long haul. You'll be glad you did.
To any instructors reading .... a big THANK YOU from this student nurse, soon-to-be-graduate-nurse. :) :flowersfo
