I need advice on my fall semester schedule.

TUhopeful · Jul 15, 2012

I don't have children so I can't give advice on going to school while being a caretaker. However, I have taken all of the classes you mentioned and found all of them to be pretty easy as far as nursing pre- reqs go. The most time consuming for you will be the biology class but don't drop that because you NEED to start your science classes. If I were you I would drop human development or public speaking if you need to lighten your load. Good luck!

DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN · Jul 15, 2012

You could spend your whole life trying to figure out which class is going to be easier, but the truth is only you can answer that question. Which of those subject is easiest for your particular skill set and which subject interests you more? Every professor is different, and just because I tell you that my online Sociology was easy with 3 papers and 3 tests, doesn't mean that yours will be as well.

What I would recommend, is maybe sign up for two of the three, look at the syllabus the first couple days of school and then drop the one you do not think will work for you!

Good luck

delawaremalenurse · Jul 15, 2012

what does your advisor recommend based on your timeline and institutional requirements?

lovedijah · Jul 15, 2012

I agree with the other poster. It will just depend on which classes you find more difficult based on your interest and skills.

BUT since you've been out of school for so long, you may have no idea what to expect. Sociology is pretty basic stuff. You may end up with a "hard" teacher, but the material isn't rocket science. When I took public speaking is what mostly giving speeches and basic stuff on how to project your voice. Human growth was harder than sociology, for me. It was a lot of reading and a lot of theories. If you're worried, I would drop that.

BetterThanFiction · Jul 15, 2012

I have 4 children & when I started back in school my youngest was 8 months old. I took ALL of my courses online because I could, for the most part, make my own schedule to work around the kids' schedules. Depending on the type of learner/worker you are, you may have no trouble. The only classes I would suggest NEVER taking online are anatomy & physiology courses. They were tough with a capital T!

The online courses you're taking shouldn't be too difficult as long as you have good time management skills & discipline.

Good luck!

Sent from my iPod touch using allnurses.com

zoe92 · Jul 22, 2012

I love online classes because they are easy to work around. I suggest a planner to make sure you can remeber when the assignments are online. I found all three of those classes easy, but what would make them hard is the professors. Maybe try ratemyprofessors.com and see if they have decent ratings? I use that website a lot when choosing which classes to take at the same time.

Jennie.K · Jul 22, 2012

Do you have a minimum credit hour requirement? If not, I would drop two of the online courses if you can. Also, are you the sole care provider? When I first started school, I was working full time and had a 3 year old and a newborn. I actually started classes before my maternity leave at work was over. Starting with 10 credit hours, I was turning into a crazy person. I dropped down to six and was okay.

However, I worked about 50-60 hrs a week as a legal assistance and had a husband who worked nights and wasn't supportive

Anyways, online courses are great bc you can work them into your own time. On the other hand, online class are way more time consuming. You have to actually read the text books and teach yourself the material. In a classroom, you can participate in a lecture and not open the boom or only use in for reference (I'm referring to non science courses).

Good luck and follow what you think works best for you and your current situation.

bunnyfungo · Jul 23, 2012

What I would recommend, is maybe sign up for two of the three, look at the syllabus the first couple days of school and then drop the one you do not think will work for you!
Good luck

I agree with this. I'm taking 2 classes online right now and I have a 2 month old. It's a little crazy sometimes but I do get a lot of reading done while I'm breastfeeding One of my classes is Intro to Soc and I would say that it isn't hard, but it is a decent amount of work. We have to answer discussion questions for every chapter and then respond to two other students. Plus quizzes, tests and an 8 page paper. So, while the material isn't difficult to grasp, it takes up a lot of time.

You'll really just have to look at what the requirements are for the classes. And it also depends a lot on how much help you have at home. Trying to get my husband to take the baby so I can take my tests uninterrupted is sometimes like trying to pull teeth lol

Also, just out of curiosity, how do you take public speaking online? When I took it on campus a bajillion years ago we had to give a certain number of speeches. How do you do that online

meeep, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2012

I took speech online. We had to record our speeches on video and submit them.

NICUmiiki, DNP, NP · Jul 23, 2012

I took speech online. We had to record our speeches on video and submit them.

I was just about to ask about that.

Recording a speech is still different than getting up in font of people sounding like you may know what you're talking about. You can talk about techniques to relieve public speaking anxiety, but you never really get a chance to practice them.

phuretrotr · Jul 23, 2012

I took speech online. We had to record our speeches on video and submit them.

I was wondering how that worked!