Help! How Hard & How Many Hours?

JerseyGirl1 · Mar 19, 2007

Hi...I may be flamed for saying this, but I don't think nursing classes are as difficult as many claim they are. This is (still) a female dominated profession, and I think women tend to get dramatic about the whole thing.

Yes, you will have to make a commitment to reading, attending lecture, and practicing skills.

If you really want it, start now and just immerse yourself in it; read avery news article concerning medicine, drug therapies, etc that you can get your hands on.

Start taking the prereq classes, and see where that takes you.

Hope this helps!

RN and Mommy · Mar 20, 2007

Hi. I figured since this is about 1st year nursing that you would have fresh memories of school. I'm considering going to nursing school. I am scared to death after reading the posts about needing to forget that I have any sort of life outside of nursing school. I have two girls ages 9 and 12. I dont have custody of them but I am afraid that if i go into school that I wont have any time at all to spend with them after school or on weekends for 3 or so years ( going to CC for an ADN and getting prereq). Is this really the case? Realisticly, how much time should I count on banking for going to class and studying? In this senerio I wouldn't be working. My job would be school. I am an average student. Am I talking 60hrs a week or am I talking 80-90? I know that no one can give me an exact answer, but if it is 60 or less I would think I would still have time to see my kids and be a part of their lives. I want to better myself and be able to provide a better life for my family but I'm not sure i'm willing to go forward if it means that I will be forced to be completely absenst from my childrens lives. Is it realistic that I might be able to count on studing or going to class between the hours of say 8am-6/7pm m-f and have a good amount of time on weekends to see the girls? Any insight anyone could provide would be exteremly helpful. Thanks so much!!

Well, my ASN classes were Monday thru Friday. Somedays all day, somedays not. Well, I worked 24 hours/week on the weekends all throughout nursing school with no studying on the weekends, so my answer is yes, you will have time on the weekends since you're not going to be working.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 20, 2007

NS is what you make of it. There are weeks that you'll feel overwhelmed, tired and feel like you've done nothing but study and then there are weeks that it clicks for you, you have all your papers done and life is nice and you get a break.

I went to class/clinicals M-Thurs and worked Fri/Sat all through NS until the last 3 months when I worked PRN. I own a business with my husband, we are very involved in my son's school and I have an 8 year old. I won't say it was easy but I also won't say that it was so time consuming my child forgot who I was.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 24, 2007

Hi...I may be flamed for saying this, but I don't think nursing classes are as difficult as many claim they are. This is (still) a female dominated profession, and I think women tend to get dramatic about the whole thing.
Yes, you will have to make a commitment to reading, attending lecture, and practicing skills.
If you really want it, start now and just immerse yourself in it; read avery news article concerning medicine, drug therapies, etc that you can get your hands on.
Start taking the prereq classes, and see where that takes you.
Hope this helps!

I don't think you'll be flamed (or at least, it wouldn't be fair) but you should know that not all nursing schools are created equal. Some ARE easier to get through than others (ask the graduates of a school in the same geographic region as my own, who failed my program and passed easily in that one). Not saying everyone who finds the curriculum easy HAD an easy program, but please recognize that some schools are, frankly, quite difficult. The competition for placement is such that they can pick and choose who fills the seats, and once that happens, they aren't usually too willing to have those seats graduate without a whole lotta work.

I don't personally believe it's "female drama" that makes us discuss the difficulty level of the programs we're in or have graduated from. I happen to believe that that's a stereotype that hurts us, actually. My guess is, you'd hear alot more complaints from the MEN in my alma mater who seemed to suffer the worst as students: they were the minority and had their own issues to deal with.

I tell anyone locally who is considering nursing school, or working on pre-requ's, to plan for A LOT of hours of study and practice. I tell them it is unlike any other curriculum they may have passed in the past. And I also tell them that the 50% of the freshman class that either fails out or drops out every year thought it would be either "easier" or "different" than what they found. Once they know all that, I offer to help in any way I can, because I know how hard it is to succeed in that program.

Actually, I suppose I could have worked alot LESS and gotten C's, but that's not my personality! And I'd hazard a guess that I've got alot of company in that regard :)

cardiac.cure03 · Mar 30, 2007

I went to school about an hour away from "home" for about 4-5 yrs. For certain reasons, my son stayed w/ his grandparents during that time. I worked part time during most of school and I was still able to get my son every weekend. There were times I probably would have been able to see him on some weekdays as well if he didn't live an hour away at the time. My grades didn't suffer from this either, I was still able to keep my GPA high.

I seen you said you won't be working. You should have plenty of time to see your girls.

As for studying... instead of picking a long time frame (4-5 hrs) to study, you may just have to study when and where you can.

But don't let some of the posts in this forum push you away from what you want to do. I believe it's SOMETIMES "overdone" as well w/ nsg school on this forum. (Don't get me wrong, there ARE challenges.) I'm sure it just depends on your school, professors, and what type of person you are. And me, personally, I probably spent an avg of 20-50 hrs/wk studying/writing papers/etc.

A professor once told me a good rule of thumb: The credit hrs assigned to each class is about how many hrs/wk you should spend on that class. For ex: You're taking Nursing 101 which is 4 credit hours and taken 3 times/wk. Take 4 x 3 and get 12. So in this theory, you should spend 12 hrs/wk on a class that is 4 credit hrs and 3 times weekly. So if you take 3 classes that are each 4 credit hrs and 3 times/wk, that would mean you should put in 36 hrs/wk for all 3 classes.

Hmmm.... just a "theory" though. :chuckle Hope I didn't make it sound too confusing.

Anyways...

Good luck to ya & Best wishes :)

Indy, LPN, LVN · Apr 2, 2007

You're probably talking 60 or less hours a week, depending on how well you study, retain, and use information. OB was my hardest quarter, we had OB and second quarter of med-surg at the same time that quarter. It kicked my butt and I spent an average of 6 - 8 hours a day on schoolwork, but took time off on weekends and limited it to 1-2 hours a day then. I didn't have a job, other than school and mommy, either. But then I consider myself lucky in that regard.

nj1grlcrus · Apr 7, 2007

I have four kids, and I am a nursing student. I miss some study groups to do things with my kids, but other than that, I can do both, you could too, go for it;)

colleennurse, ASN, RN · Apr 10, 2007

If you are not working you should be fine. I worked full time through my entire program, I do not have any children. I did pretty good in school, still had time to spend with my boyfriend and worked. What you should do is (when you get your class schedule) is make a calendar with the times you are in school, plan time in there for your children and the plan in your study time and stick to that schedule. You will know for yourself better when you start with the classes and you see what is required for you to get the grades that you want.

pedsnurze1 · Apr 15, 2007

What methods did you use to get through OB?

RNLisa · Apr 18, 2007

I got through nursing school with 3 children at home, and a husband who worked 2nd shift through most of my schooling (then went to nights), so I was the only parent here when they were home from school in the evenings, I also had a small child at the time as well.

I got through 3 1/2 years of school doing this, and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Mind you, I graduated high school with a 2.7 GPA, so I was in no way a genius student to begin with; but it happened, and my children were with me full time.

I don't see you having any difficulty with spending time with them. I worked part time as well (mostly weekends) during nursing school as well.

Just make sure you set aside "me" time and "kid" time and make it a priority!! Just as if you had a job and had to be there, make sure you do that with your kids. You will do it!!

I wish you the best of luck and let us know what you decide!

BSN_DEC_2006 · Apr 19, 2007

nursing school is a piece of cake, compared to your first couple of months as a new nurse...... everything is relative