What was nursing school like for you?

Nurses General Nursing

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What was nursing school like for you? Did you acheive or went beyond your attended GPA goal for prerequisites and/or your overall GPA in general? What was the most challenging part for you in trying to keep your GPA up in prequistes or nursing school?

•For me, (I'm just pre-nursing so not there yet) it was the dosage calculation part that got me on my admission test and basically math in general, so I ended up failing. Now I won't be able to retake the test for another 3 months all because I thought I was too smart to study and took it on a whim (literally the testing site is just a 7 min walk from my house). But I've learned my lesson.

Note: My inquiries are not attended to belittle anyone, I just want some uplifting motivation on how you was able to get through nursing school.

All responses are welcomed (even the negative ones lol).

Murse2954

14 Posts

I think the most challenging part of nursing school was the "fluff" pre-reqs themselves. For me they were what drove my gpa down. I showed up thinking I could get an easy A and of course I got a B lol. As far as nursing curricula I did study a decent bit when I could ( i worked full time and have 2 kids so it was very hard sometimes), not nearly as much as some of my classmates ( I have years of healthcare background to begin with so that helped decrease my study time) Some class mates say that they studied 8-10 hrs a day during the meat of our program ( spring of junior year) To me I think that is crazy study as much as your A ** can handle, because that is all the brain can absorb. My advise is to only study in small pieces and try to stay ahead of the game and not to cram. When you sit there for hours reading you are just reading word and not comprehending which during your nursing courses is what you really need to do. Nursing texts are awful reads to. Any questions let me know.

ANMpreN

46 Posts

Wow that is very informative. I actually start nursing school in the spring and the only thing that comes to mind when I think about it is clinicals and med/surg. I don't really think too much on the work aspect but I am sorta like you too, I believe I can go in and knock out all these classes as well (my school will be a direct entry so no pre-reqs are needed). And yeah studying 8-10 hours daily is like watching a movie with no sound. I've tried that method before and I definitely won't be going back to it.

Farawyn

12,646 Posts

I went to an ASN program, so everything was nursing directed- I already had a BA in Psych when I went.

It was great. I made the best friends. I cannot stress trying to form a school network, and have study groups enough. Bond with the other students. It really made the difference for me.

When I am at work I still see my notes from NUR203 or whatever in my mind's eye.

Good luck.

ANMpreN

46 Posts

I went to an ASN program, so everything was nursing directed- I already had a BA in Psych when I went.

It was great. I made the best friends. I cannot stress trying to form a school network, and have study groups enough. Bond with the other students. It really made the difference for me.

When I am at work I still see my notes from NUR203 or whatever in my mind's eye.

Good luck.

Thank you for responding! And I do agree with you on connecting with other students, especially since I will be attending a university and dorming with other future nurses. Also would you recommend that I should get my CNA license next summer? I'm just really nervous that it either may kill me physically or open my eyes completely about the nursing profession, and I may not want to do it anymore. But that'll probably just make me too naive, shielding myself from nursing realities.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
I I ended up failing. Now I won't be able to retake the test for another 3 months all because I thought I was too smart to study and took it on a whim (literally the testing site is just a 7 min walk from my house). But I've learned my lesson.

Lesson learned, right? Now you'll never make that mistake again. ;)

The big surprise and challenge for me was how much would go into clinicals. I'd been a CNA for a couple of years, and for those clinicals all we did was show up and work with CNAs on the floor.

Nursing school had us go to the hospital the night before and do a pre-clinical writeup. We looked up the pt's admission notes, their meds, any abnormal labs, and set goals for ourselves. Then we had the clinical sift and had to write a post-clinical report.

Prerequisites for me were pretty easy; nursing classes were a steeper learning curve as I learned to think like an nurse

ANMpreN

46 Posts

Thank you for responding, and yeah lol I've definitely learned my lesson, I am now taking out an hour a day to study for the test. Also I don't want to sound unintelligent but I honestly never thought of clinicals revolving around just learning how to be a CNA as well. I know we have to learn the general basics of actually being a bedside nurse, but I initially thought we would learn it all in the classroom. Wow, I guess I should do a little more research on it , and your post is actually aspiring me right now of wanting to become a CNA more than ever. I really want to be a very good nurse and if it'll help me to become that then I'll just go ahead and row with it.

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