Feeling a Little Overwhelmed...

BrandyBSN · Aug 14, 2001

It will be a little bit of a transition, but you should be just fine :)

40 is really not that large compared to many large universities. Professors will still know your name. A definate piece of advice though... Sit in the front and Center of class. It is easy to get distracted in a larger class, and sitting up front will make sure that you pay attention, and you have a better chance of getting your questions answered quickly.

Things will be ok, and jitters are normal. Good luck!

BrandyBSN

MollyJ · Aug 14, 2001

My experience (diploma, BSN, MSN) is that nursing classes are pretty "intimate". They may teach all 147 of you some things simultaneously, but by and far, they will break you down into some more manageable number. You cannot simultaneously have 147 people paired up learning to give bed baths or change an occupied bed all in one room. I don't think many schools have that kind of space. So you will find yourself in smaller groups. I came from a small basic diploma program and, for example, during our Maternal Child Health rotation, we didn't ALL go to L & D together. some of us were on peds, others on pp, others in nursery and others in L & D.

In my diploma program, likes did a lot of (but not exclusively) pairing with likes: young married nurses found each other, we dorm dwellers hung together, more mature students found each other. In my BSN, BSN completers hung together, not as fiercely as we did in our basic program, but we were more alike (and for the most part did not "mix" curriculums with the generics). In the MSN program, they did not admit and graduate us as a class since they allowed part time study in my MSN program, but you always managed to migrate from class to class and find SOMEONE you knew while you all herded to the pop machine at break AND nursing curricula is to be depended upon for putting you into groups to work on a project so that you get to know each other.

In my first sentence, I talked about intimacy. When you do labs where you undress for physical assessment, give shots to each other (in my time) and just spend so much darn time together, you do meet people you come to know and bond with.

I went to a very small junior college in the middle of a KS wheat field, then I went to a diploma program, where we probably had 28 to 32 grads, tops, and then I went to a medium sized college for my degrees, with huge lecture halls and large buildings. In truth, the big college is like living in the big city. I knew the health sciences building well, the LIBRARY well, the student union (where they sold chocolate brownies on the inconsolable days) and was forced to venture into other buildings occasionally. You don't have to do it all at once. It is manageable. In high school you think that being in the wrong classroom will cause you to melt with shame. By college EVERYONE has had the experience of being lost and so you plan ahead (go find your classrooms on registration day, go scope out the hospital before you have to be there for clinicals & usually that's part of your orientation to the hospital, at least early on) and try to leave yourself extra time for brain farts.

In order to go to college, I left the community I trained and moved to the "big" city, tertiary care hospital. Like most tertiary care centers, the building "grew up" in generations and there were plenty of places that you couldn't get to from one elevator. I worked the ED and unashamedly asked directions before I would take patients to the floor and carried a map in my pocket for many a month. But I survived only slightly scarred

Bottom line, is just take it easy. You will find some folks new to the campus like you and some folks who know the campus. Allow yourself extra time (parking and driving in the "big city" AND finding your target destination) and know you arent' alone.

I do admire you for going to the bigger setting. In the final analysis, you won't regret it.

essarge · Aug 14, 2001

Both Brandy and Molly give very good advice. My suggestion would be to go to the school a day or two early. Introduce yourself to your instructors and ask them about the classes you are taking.

Get involved with the Student Nurses Club. Allot of our students bring there kids to events that are sponsored by the club and the kids learn allot about healthcare as an added side!! You might want to get involved with the SGA on campus. As a single parent, and a commuter you would have a different angle to look at things and could help change some of the policies on campus that need to be changed. You can take your son to allot of the events on campus too. He'd probably really enjoy it and it would give the two of you some good time together when you are not studying!

I've done both the nursing club and the SGA, and plan on continuing until I graduate. As a non-traditional commuter, I represent that sector in the SGA and have brought about numerous changes for them. I enjoy the nursing club because we do allot of things in the community and you never know when "networking" will come in handy.

Enjoy school!! You are there because you want to be there, not because someone told you that you had to go!! Keep your son involved as much as possible because when he gets old enough, he to will be in college because, by your example, he wants to be!!

Good luck to you!!

kielydebra · Aug 15, 2001

hello, my name is debbie I live in London England. I want to share my experience of when I started my nurse training last year. I only stayed on the coorifice for three months and I had no choice but to defer and start again this september. I am 37 years old married with three sons. I went to college in sept 99 to get the qualifications that I needed and I had a wonderful time. The class only had about thirty people and I enjoyed learning. unfortunatly only myself and a friend made it through in one year. I got myself into a right state about starting Uni (not many people in England go to Uni) especially ordinary people like me. My first two weeks induction was ok. There were about 300 Yes 300 nurses in the lecture theatre they had the diploma and the degree nurses together. Then we split up and went into our own group. So it was only 150 nurses to a group. Which was a shock to me. I thought that we would be in classes of thirty. I am studing for the degree, however I was very surprised with the snobbery the other nurses had. Everyone was so busy kissing their own butts I cant make out for the life of me why they choose to be nurses. If they are looking down their noses at their own what are they going to be like with patients:confused: and as for the lecturers, they didn't learn my name or anybody else's, they didn't even ask your name! we just answered to YOU! we would have a tutorial where we were split up into small groups of thirty which is our own tutor group where we do learn each other's names, but that is only once a month. I got very depressed and demoralised so I decided to take a year out and think about my future career, I have decided that nursing is the job for me and this time I am prepared. My advice is throw out everything that you have learnt and open your mind and dont expect anything just take one day at a time. That is what I am going to do. Good luck debbie.

Robin61970 · Aug 16, 2001

As others said I make it a point to sit in the front of the class. I always arrive early the first week or so(never late) and make it a point to speak with my teachers. For the fall semester i emailed all of my teachers 2 weeks before the class is due to start and asked what I could do to prepare for their class. I am not one of those students not wanting to be noticed...I make sure they know who I am.......I think it is easier to interact with the teacher(ask questions or what not) when you feel more comfortable with that teacher........good luck...

pixxel · Aug 16, 2001

Nobody's mentioned office hours!!! Don't be afraid to go to your professors' office hours as much as possible. I'm still in the progress of learning the tremendous world of difference it makes to go even if you just to ask him or her to check a practice problem you did at home, ask a question about a lecture or anything else about the class no matter how small.... THAT'S how teachers get to know you on big campuses... and who knows - you might end up with a much better tutor then money can buy...