Be completely honest......

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So, is nursing school REALLY hard? I'm 24. I've been going to college part-time after highschool...taking one or two night classes a semester for Business. Just recently, I decided that I'm going to do it...I'm going to work part-time, and do the nursing program full time at a local community college. I'm kinda intimidated though....after looking through some of the threads, it sounds like a REALLY hard program. I have drive, and this is something that I'm going to go through with, but please tell me....exactly how hard is it? Lots of reading? Homework? About how many hours a night do you study?

I am a new student, havent even started pre-reqs yet! I love this post because I am also nervous about starting. I keep reading that "if you really want it, you can do it", thats why I keep coming here. The support is wonderful!

Can someone tell me why most students drop out, or fail nursing? Is it really that they didn't have the drive in them? Or its just too overwhelming? I have never taken on anything I have wanted for myself and actually finished it. I am so afraid I will "give up and drop out". Not a very good way of going into it.

I am going to give it my all, and then some. Thank you all for the wonderful support here. I know I would never be able to go for it without all of you!!! Now if I can just hang on.

sorry...i worked FT and took 18 credits...and i didn't find nursing school all that difficult. you will do fine- it is time consuming more than anything

Specializes in ER.
it is time consuming more than anything

I agree with that. I don't know how many times I have said that about my assignments this past year. Not INCREDIBLY hard, but time consuming.

I think it depends a great deal on your temperament and what you strengths and weaknesses are. Nursing school is one of those things that you just don't know how you will feel about it, or how hard it is for you, until you do it yourself.

YESSSSSSSSSSSS, but, I think so because nursing changes the way that you think! You really think outside the box a lot in nursing school and it can be very challenging at times. There is tons of reading and lots of assignments, test, quizzes, etc. Not to mention the need to "dance to other's music" at times when you really would care not to, but that's not only nursing, that's life. If you focus, focus, focus and put your energy into doing your best you'll be fine.

Well im planning to work during the day and go to clinicals at night.. i suppose ill just have to suck it up ;)

I hope nothing bad happens to me now, but it's not THAT HARD.

It's very very time consuming.

The material...I'm sorry, it's not EXTREMELY DIFFICULT.

It's just so different from the 2 years of pre-reqs, b/c you actually have to attend class everyday, and nursing school becomes your life pretty much. Not much of a social life anymore. And it's very stressful. But, we're not performing brain surgery here.

I think it's good and normal for everyone to be freaked out after listening to nursing students. It'll help prepare you. Ignore the people who say don't do it, and listen to the people who tell you it isn't that bad. Just don't be so scared you don't think you can't do it! Know that many people actually do graduate and get through it. I thought I'd flunk out the first month, but I'm doing ok.

Your spelling and grammar in your post were fine so you should do well in nursing school.

So very, very true! :rotfl: Anyway, it's not AS hard if you don't have to hold down a full time job, and have ALL your prereq's done. Get those A&Ps and Microbiology over with and you'll be able to focus on the nursing content. As another poster stated, its the amount of things you must remember that is difficult, not the actual topics (minus preload/afterload s**t!) :) . Give yourself plenty of uninterupted study time and you will do well! Good luck!

Funny how different people perceive it. Think outside the box? I thought it was the total opposite of that. I thought all manner of common sense and intuitive thinking was squashed in nursing school. There is only one way to do things, and that's the "nursing theory" way, which isn't the way it is in real life. In real life, you'll go back to thinking like a real person and use your natural intelligence and intuition to deal with everything. The other term I love in nursing school is "critical thinking", like nursing is the only career in the enitre world that thinks critically. The only other buzz word I heard repeatedly in nursing school was prioritizing. Now that one's important, but again, what they teach and what you do with that are entirely two different things.

I want to be an instructor one day and would love to change the way nursing is taught. Of course, that's just a pipe dream (the part about changing they way it's taught, not teaching).

Specializes in ER.
The other term I love in nursing school is "critical thinking", like nursing is the only career in the enitre world that thinks critically.

NO KIDDING! If I hear the term "critical thinking" again, or one more definition of caring, I am going to keel over, toes up! :p

So, is nursing school REALLY hard?

Yep, it's HARD. More than a fulltime job for most people I think. It's hard but not impossible though. If you are committed to keeping up with your reading and study and not leaving everything to the last minute you should make it just fine. You don't have to be Einstein (mind you, it would help with pharm! lol), but you DO have to be dedicated and prepared to work hard.

Specializes in Emergency.

yes nursing school was hard. nursing is hard. I guess what i want to say is that both are difficult, but difficult in different ways...... but it's the most rewarding thing I've done in my life. I love nursing. xoxo jen

Nursing school was only difficult at times for me. Very doable. I worked about 35 hours a week night shift while in school and did fine. Depends on how bad you want to do it.

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