Gsu Fall 2008

Congratulations Tarita!

I'm graduating from GSU's program in May, and I have enjoyed it so much. It's a great program. The professors and instructors are wonderful, and you will learn a ton.

Best of luck to you!

Michelle

Congratulations on graduating in May! I bet you are very excited. I am doing the accelerated progam. I am a bit nervous. Can you give me any advice? I wish you the best on the NCLEX and everthing!

I did the traditional program, b/c I have continued to work through school. We take all the same classes tho, so I was in classes with people in the accelerated program. It is very intense, they aren't kidding about that! But plenty of people do just fine with it. You just have to be committed to putting a LOT of time into school.

I think the best advice I can give you is that the first semester is very busy, and can be overwhelming. But, it gets better. You will be learning so many things that may be completely new to you. Do your best to soak it all in, but don't let yourself get discouraged. The things you cover in Pharm, Patho, and Basic Skills, you will come back to again in your clinical courses. One of the basic themes of nursing school is repetition. You will see the same concepts over and over again, in different classes, and then in the hospital. And, eventually, it will all come together. I'm completing my senior practicum right now, and I *finally* feel like I'm ready to be a "real nurse". I think a lot of people get overwhelmed that first semester, and get down on themselves, b/c they feel like there is so much still that they don't know. That's ok, that's how it is supposed to be.

Along with that, I would say practice, practice, practice. Practice your skills, practice your assessments. Unless you have prior healthcare experience, you will be ackward at performing the skills, and you will feel like you're just going through the motions, but not really "getting" the assessments. That's ok, too. It will come with time. Focus on knowing WHY you are doing what you are doing (i.e.,what are you trying to figure out when you assess a patient, what abnormals might you encounter), and memorizing the procedure steps for any skills. As long as you know what it is that you are supposed to be doing, you will eventually get better at actually doing it.

And the last thing I would say is, talk to your professors. You will be assigned a faculty mentor who may or may not be helpful to you. But, if she's helpful, go to her if you are feeling overwhelmed. But even more than that, go to your course faculty and your clinical instructors. They honestly are there to help you, and at GSU they really WANT you to succeed. Email them, call them, visit them in their offices...they will go over questions, help you practice skills/assessments, explain things that weren't clear in lecture, and give you extra advice. Be proactive about it, though...don't wait until you're in over your head.

Anyhow, I hope that helps you in some way. Good luck and enjoy it!

take care,

Michelle

Hi Tarita!

I'm starting the accelerated program at GSU in the fall as well. I'm nervous that it's going to be really overwhelming though. I guess we'll find out pretty soon! Look forward to seeing you in class!

I am a little bitter with GSU at the moment.

I will be graduating with a 3.6 GPA from a nearby college this May. I applied to the nursing program at GSU and was not accepted. Despite the fact that I made A's in Chem I, Micro, A&P I and II.

I just got the note telling me that they had a high quality of applicants, blah blah blah.

So, apparently, I'm not good enough for the nursing program, but GSU wants me to be in thier Honors program. *********

In class the next day, I find out that the girl that sits next to me WAS accepted in the program, despite the fact that she hasn't even finished her core classes, much less taken Micro, 2 Englishes, and her GPA is waaay lower than mine.

So, I'm going to AASU this fall, for RT. I think I'll enjoy it alot better.

Jennieb30, I look forward to seeing you in class this fall too. I cannot wait!!!

Congrats on getting accepted, I know you must be excited. I just graduated in Decemeber from GSU. It is a tough 2 years but well worth it!