How much free time do you have while in school?

[TEXN]

I'm currently finishing up my prerequisites during summer school, take the HESI at the end of this month, and will hopefully start nursing school next Spring! I will be doing an ADN program but as soon as I grad, hopefully, and get a job, hopefully, I will start on my BSN.

My question is to both nurses and current nursing students... when you were in school, how much free time did you have? Enough for a part time job? The curriculum doesn't look that intense based on the number of credit hours per semester and the fact that I have already taken a lot of the core (Biology, math, English, etc) classes, but I could be very mistaken!

[ForeverDreaming]

I was a single mother throughout nursing school. My daughter was about 2 and a half at graduation. I worked anywhere between 20-30 hours a week throughout. There were times when I pulled all nighters trying to keep my head above water and times when I didn't have much to do. As many people have said, manage your time wisely. Choose being proactive over procrastination. Good luck!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

LVN program, 2004/2005: I did not have much free time due to the oppressive schedule (Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm). I did not work.

LPN-to-ASN bridge program, 2009/2010: I had a considerable amount of free time since I only attended school three days per week. I worked full-time throughout my time in this particular program.

Online RN-to-BSN program, 2014/2015: I had plenty of free time due to the asynchronous delivery format. I worked full-time 12-hour night shifts and completed this program in 10 months.

[Aliareza, BSN]

See how your program is structured, talk to some students in the program who are on their final semester of school, and base it on that. Pre-reqs were cake to me and I had plenty of free time. The first year of my ADN program was also very easy to me, and then the second year nearly killed me. I worked PRN the entire time, but in third and fourth semesters (that last year), I'd go months without working because there'd be a test nearly every week to study for. Lots of content.

I'd recommend that if you do work, find a boss who is going to be very accepting of your school needs and can allow you to be flexible with your schedule. Clinical days, class days, requirements etc changed every semester, and thus so did my work availability. Many places that hire college kids don't like that.

[johsonmichelle]

How much free time you will have will depend on various factors such as program structure, your time management skills, having a family etc. In my program, during the first semster you take three courses for the full semster. Starting from second semester and until graduation you take med surg for 8 weeks and a speciality course( peds, maternal - newborn , mental health) for 6 weeks, so its very intense. Only one girl in my section is working full time, a good portion of my class are either not working , working on a prn - part time basis. If you wish to work during the program make sure you have job that is flexible with your schedule. I was just offered a pct job in the hospital and lost it because they were not able to work with my school schedule. If the employer has a very strict schedule then do not bother working for them as your school schedule could change drasticallly during the course of the program.

[blackribbon]

I am one year out of school. I had very little free time but that said, I am a widowed single mother of 2 teenagers and what time wasn't going to school was spent sitting in bleachers or doing stuff with them. I recommend getting a patient care tech job where you want to end up if at all possible. The experience will both help you understand your school work, get you some extra cash, and (if you are any good), open the door for that first job which (at least in my area) is not easy to get.

I graduated with a 3.95.

[BertG77]

In my BSN program I have friends in my cohort who are hospital scribes or patient sitters ( working overnight shifts) and they do very well in class. I personally think having free time is manageable, just depends on the person. You'll do more reading than you ever did in your life, just depends on your ability to retain knowledge and your study skills/methods. I worked as a home health aid at the beginning of my first semester but gave it up as I needed to kind of acclimate to the program. Now I'm a CNA working per diem at the local VA hospital and love it. I feel like it's doable now as opposed to when I started.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I had enough free time to work a full time job.. Plus a little extra for a little fun.