Full time work and Full time school

barcode120x, RN, NP · Nov 10, 2016

It's doable, but everyone is different. Since this is your first time doing this, you won't know until you try. Re-examine your study habits and anticipate how much studying you need to do per day/per week. Just FYI, expect to have different clinical days as you go through your semesters and hope your work will accomodate. I had a few prior nursing friends choose nursing school over work, while others chose work over nursing school. You may need to make a sacrifice at one point or you may be lucky and deal with both until you graduate. Remember, life can also get in your way like family, expenses, getting sick, failing an exam, etc. All that needs to be factored in. Still, I say it is doable. I had several classmates, mainly moms, that had kids and a full time job and passed the program/NCLEX. Good luck.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Nov 10, 2016

I worked full time and went to school full time. My work schedule was an 8-hour/day, 5 day/week deal. School was 4 days/week. Somehow I managed to make it all mesh. No, it was not easy. Yes, it was doable. At times I got far less sleep than I should have and at times, it showed. Just remember that usually school won't re-schedule things around you as they often have things pre-planned from the very beginning about where their students will go and when they'll go there to avoid scheduling conflicts with other programs. Be ready to be flexible about your clinical days. They may change a bit from time to time because of their scheduling needs. If their schedule doesn't change from what's published, that would be awesome and would make your life easier to plan things for.

caliotter3 · Nov 10, 2016

Be prepared to make drastic changes should the unforeseen happen, such as a serious illness or your car goes really kaput and you are left without transportation. And take to heart advice to keep work at work, personal life at personal life, and school at school. It is not a good idea to let nursing school personnel know that there are other things in your life besides nursing school. Nine times out of ten, they will show no mercy when problems arise, so don't expect them to be understanding about anything.

Xlorgguss · Nov 10, 2016

It all depends. I have worked full-time and done school full-time since the beginning (pre-reqs). Technically now school isn't considered full-time since it is 10 credit hours, but you best believe I have more work than when I was taking 16 credit hours. In my experience the best way to make it work is to have a job that is flexible with hours. The 9-5 jobs unfortunately are very difficult to work with. School says your top priority should be school. I have been fortunate that my program allows us to choose our class day (day or evening) and clinical day (1 of 4 days). This has been a bit help. I work as a PCT so there are 3 shifts. I used to do 5 8's and I honestly don't know how I managed. I was working 3-11 5 days and my two days off were class and clinical. I survived, but there was never a day off and I had to get my work done before work in the mornings. I have found working 2 16 hour shifts and an 8 hour one to be much better. I basically told my employer that this is the shift I need, and if you can't accomodate I need to drop to per diem and find something else. Well I got what I wanted and do 3pm-7am twice and a 3-11. I actually can sometimes get a bit of school work done on my overnight shift but not always. I usually get it done in the day after. Working and doing this has literally been the most challenging thing I have ever done. You become exhausted and it almost seems like there is no end in sight. You have to take it one week at a time and sometimes one day at a time. I've got 5 weeks left of school and then one semester left before graduation.

Analgesic · Nov 10, 2016

Thanks for all the support guys. My advisor said it should be good but she is basing that off my TEAS test and my grades. My clinical days are always Saturday since I am on the evening weekend cohort.

Analgesic · Nov 10, 2016

I am a healthy 24 year old so by the grace of god everything will be ok health wise. I'm single with no children. Just working and school will be my life for the next 1.5 years.

ksw1978 · Nov 10, 2016

I tried working 30hrs a week plus school and adding family life to the mix I was pulling 16 hour days most days. After 2 months of this I'm now laid up with pneumonia. So I'd recommend making sure you don't burn the candle from both ends. I'm going to quit work for the rest of school as it's my priority. Some people can cope with not enough sleep, and lots of additional family commitments alongside nearly full time work. I'm not one of them! The finances will be tough but short term pain for long term gain. I'll get loans to help pay for things. Only 3 more semesters.

SapphireKitten, CNA · Nov 13, 2016

I currently work 40 hours a week and am taking 16 credit hours this semester. So, yes, it's definitely doable! It's very stressful, and I'm very overwhelmed a lot of the time, but in the end it'll be worth it. Once I start clinicals, I'll have to change to a different, part-time job (my current job only offers full-time). It sounds like you're set with your clinical and class times though, so it sounds like you're all set.

I was to emphasize what caliotter said about unforeseen circumstances. Bad things happen sometimes when we don't see them coming. Cover yourself as best as you can now incase something happens. In other words, give it your all plus some at school as well as at work. I mean not just for your paycheck. This may be a given for you, but I wanted to share how it really saved my butt at my job! Not trying to brag, but I'm seriously one of the hardest workers at my job. I do everything they tell me to, plus some, all with a smile. At the end of a lot of days, I feel overworked and underpaid, but my boss and other superiors are a whole lot more understanding toward me when something unforeseen comes up. There have been coworkers of mine sick in the hospital, and the boss has still given them a mess about how they should be at work! On the other hand, I've had a lot of trouble with my car in the last two years. So when I asked if I could come in late one day to buy another car that morning, they had no issue saying "of course!" They even paid me vacation time for the hours missed. Also, my husband was sick and needed me to take him to the doctor earlier this year. I asked politely if I could have the next day off. They said, "oh my gosh, yes, you can even leave early today!" They're so understanding toward me. The difference? Those coworkers are lazy. They don't go above and beyond without giving any lip.

Just a piece of advice that I've found very helpful for me!

caliotter3 · Nov 13, 2016

PrincessLexx you are lucky indeed. Too bad more employers don't know how to show appreciation to their best employees.

t3mama · Nov 15, 2016

I am a healthy 24 year old so by the grace of god everything will be ok health wise. I'm single with no children. Just working and school will be my life for the next 1.5 years.

I'd say this would definitely work in your favor, as long as your job is flexible/willing to work with you, and isn't too stressful.

NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN · Nov 15, 2016

If you don't have kids or any responsibilities aside from work and school, you can probably do it!

That said, I used to work 30 hours per week, I took as many as 6 classes at a time (earning all As) while doing my pre-reqs, and still worked out 5x a week, had a homemade dinner on the table every night, and had time for family activities with my kids. I have excellent time management skills. But once I started the actual nursing program, there is no way in hell I could work. I can't even find time to work out or make dinner most nights any more. The nursing program is all consuming. Don't beat yourself up if you find that you can't continue to work full time. Good luck!