That irks me to no end! I've read so many posts on here where people state that "your grades don't matter!" Are you kidding me?
I bust my butt to get A's. I think my grades reflect my work ethic and my willingness to learn. I am not content etching by as average. I do not want an average nurse caring for me. I do not want to be an average nurse caring for others. I want to be the best nurse that I can be, and I hope that others that currently don't think likewise drop the mantra that a C is good enough. Even if an employer may not look at your transcript, those grades should still "matter."
Well I can't remember what I got in College.The only thing that mattered was that I became a registered nurse and what I have learnt since qualifying.
If you did the same training as I did (which I think you did) then we didn't get grades, we had pass or fail. The only things we were graded on were our clinical skills in our placements and they were graded as. Things like dressings technique, total patient care, medication administration, multidisciplinary team communications, ward management. Can't remember the rest.
poor, average, good, excellent.
If you scored a poor then you had to redo the skill, if you scored poor twice then you were out.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
c=rn
that irks me to no end! i've read so many posts on here where people state that "your grades don't matter!" are you kidding me?
i bust my butt to get a's. i think my grades reflect my work ethic and my willingness to learn. i am not content etching by as average. i do not want an average nurse caring for me. i do not want to be an average nurse caring for others. i want to be the best nurse that i can be, and i hope that others that currently don't think likewise drop the mantra that a c is good enough. even if an employer may not look at your transcript, those grades should still "matter."
i've never had a interviewer for a job ask to see my transcripts although i carry them with me. nor have they asked me about my grades in school. and, i have never been asked permission of any employer to get access to my school records. as a manager i was never directed by my bosses or human resource departments to ask for this information either.
grades are subjective. an "a" by one instructor can be equal to "c" level work by another. i think the whole grading system needs to be done away with. however, we are stuck with it because we are such a huge society with so many people to train and must have some means of evaluation that everyone will accept. back in the middle ages there were just masters of a trade, journeymen and apprentices. no grades. you worked and learned from your mistakes and experience.
once we are working rns, grades have no more significance. the yearly evaluation we get is most close to a grading and because it is confidential no one else sees it. unless an employee tells other employees how they rated, no one else knows how their work ethic was "graded".
"I think most of the "good students" have acknowledged that they wanted good grades for their own benefit. That's fine if someone is happy with their C's...but personally, I knew I was capable of more. I set the bar high for myself. I think all people were asking for is for the tolerance to go both ways."
Look, I went to a competitive BSN program that I had to have a 3.0 to get in. In fact I had 98 credit hours from a community college in things like calculus, anatomy & phisiology, and college level english prior to starting my BSN with a 3.7 GPA. I was a near strait A student prior to nursing school and I didn't want to be anything less. My school was hard. My GPA dropped to a 2.9 by the time I graduated due to all the Cs I made. I don't know how the rest of you all's schools were set up, but there was no way that anyone in my class could drink on the weekends, spend time with friends or family, have any sort of social life, and pass school let alone achieve an A. My classmates and I lived and breathed nursing and each other 5 days a week for 2 years. This is why I think the statements like "grades don't matter and C=RN" should not really get on anyone's nerves who makes decent grades. Those who made strait A's knew that those of us who were making all C's weren't fiddle farting around. In my school you couldn't get a C and be screwing around. In fact those in my school who were getting A's, while the were just as worn out by the work as we were, seemed to have a little easier go of it because they were able to comprehend the material better and faster than those of us who did poorer. They weren't freaking out as badly about getting kicked out of a career that they badly wanted because they were a little further from the possibility than I was.
I can't understand how anyone was able to party it up on the weekends and pass nursing school, much less get A's. I also don't understand a strait A student slighted because a C student was slacking off. C students did not slack off in my school. I must have been very fortunate in my classmates because we all worked hard together and supported each other. We cheered for our classmates who got honors at graduation because we knew it was hard for them. They cheered for me and those who didn't get honors because they knew it was hard for us. We liked each other so much that we paid a professional photographer to take our picture together out of our own pockets. I don't think it is like I came from a school with a small amount of students, there were 35 in my graduating class. We started with 60 and were sad to see those who failed go, because we knew they were trying hard. I just don't understand how anyone can feel upset because someone says "grades don't matter." They don't. The accomplishment of becoming a nurse does.
Thanks for the post. While I believe that grades do matter and I am upset when I get a C in a class; I know that I am trying hard balancing nursing school and a full time job coupled with a husband and two kids. I know that I'll be a great nurse because of the other skills that I posses. I don't think that a C makes anyone happy but there is so much more to a great nurse than grades.
It is fine to disagree, but don't insinuate that someone is a bad parent just because they study hard.
That's a low blow.
I don't believe that's what was meant by myhalo's statement. My understanding was that myhalo was saying...."you're fortunate that you were able to continue studying after the kids went to bed, and that there wasn't a time when you had to forgo the studying for an illness or the like."
That might just be my own perception, but I agree with that opinion. My son had a serious illness when he was very young, and it resulted in many sleepless nights in favor of helping him through his pain and suffering. I would not have been able to rely on studying after "bedtime."
"you're fortunate that you were able to continue studying after the kids went to bed, and that there wasn't a time when you had to forgo the studying for an illness or the like."
I work a full time job and a part time job and have to manage a disease that doesn't like to be managed. I have to pay bills and help out with my junkie brother (which in itself is a full time job).
Don't assume that those of us that get A's have 'easy' lives and no responsibilities. It's called operating at 100% efficiency all the time. It's called sacrifice. It's called being driven. Some people do it. Some don't.
Don't assume that those of us that get A's have 'easy' lives and no responsibilities. It's called operating at 100% efficiency all the time. It's called sacrifice. It's called being driven. Some people do it. Some don't.
I work a full time job and a part time job and have to manage a disease that doesn't like to be managed. I have to pay bills and help out with my junkie brother (which in itself is a full time job).
Don't assume that those of us that get A's have 'easy' lives and no responsibilities. It's called operating at 100% efficiency all the time. It's called sacrifice. It's called being driven. Some people do it. Some don't.
I don't think anyone was assuming anything. I certainly wasn't. I was simply making an attempt to clarify another statement. Nothing more...nothing less.
And you're preaching to the choir. I would be "those of us that get A's," and I did so while paying for my own education with my full-time job....as a single mother of a child with Leukemia and another child diagnosed with epilepsy....and no outside physical or monetary support.
I do happen to agree that someone who doesn't have any additional outside stressors would be fortunate. I did not, in any way, imply that everyone who gets A's is free from additional stress and is always fortunate. To reach such a conclusion is illogical.
I might be missing them, but I really don't see any posts on here that are bashing the C students. If there is, I don't agree with them. I think that a student should be proud of a hard-earned C. In my class we only had a few that breezed by with C's b/c they just didn't care. THOSE were the students that said "C=RN", not the students that were busting their butts for their C's.
I stand by my dislike of the statement "C=RN". It is one thing to do the best you can and earn a C. It is entirely different to tell yourself, "Well, who cares? C=RN!" Statements like that reflect poorly on our profession, IMO. Why even bother to do something if you aren't going to give it some effort?
I just want to add that if (according to some of you) doing the best I can, putting in the most effort I can, and doing a good job makes me a snob, then consider me a very proud snob.
XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN
1 Article; 3,020 Posts
If you did the same training as I did (which I think you did) then we didn't get grades, we had pass or fail. The only things we were graded on were our clinical skills in our placements and they were graded as. Things like dressings technique, total patient care, medication administration, multidisciplinary team communications, ward management. Can't remember the rest.
poor, average, good, excellent.
If you scored a poor then you had to redo the skill, if you scored poor twice then you were out.