I have some questions about nursing school...

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I am a pre-nursing student right now, and I will be starting my actual BSN nursing classes at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in August 2017. I just have a few questions about what nursing school is really like.

1. What are clinicals like? I've heard of them, but I don't know much about them. How soon after beginning the program will clinicals start? How long will we stay at one clinical site before moving to another one? I'm assuming I will be working under the direction/supervision of a registered nurse, right? Will I have a student from my class at clinicals working with me or is it just me?

2. With nursing school involving so many classes during the day, does that mean clinicals are usually done in the evenings/night?

3. What are some things that no one told you about nursing school that you wish you had known?

4. Will the classes I take have a lot less students in them than pre-nursing classes?

Thank you to whoever take the time to answer all these questions!

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I think it depends on your school. In mine, the first semester is entirely in a nursing home for clinical. The second and third semesters are a mix, as well as the fourth which is a preceptorship. Our clinicals are during the day (7-2), classes are also during the day and on campus, OB is online. The class size was similar to my pre requisite courses. There are 64 seats each semester split up in 2 main lecture groups. When we lose people, they are replaced the next semester with students that are granted readmission.

As far as things no one told me, it's more so what they DID tell me. Nursing school nightmares, how hard it is, etc... It is not THAT bad. The course load is a lot, but the material itself is not overly challenging.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

My school we are in skills lab and lecture the first 2 weeks of first semester. Then the next 4 weeks is lecture and Nursing home facility. Then the next 5 weeks is lecture and a hospital experience. Lecture is 2 days a week. Clinicals are 12h per week - either a 7a-7p or 2x 6h (Am and pm options).

Then other programs near me spend the first semester only in skills lab and theory and don't go to the real setting until 2nd semester.

This is alllll variable by program and what the BON requires. As a general rule you will probably have a rotation in a nursing home, med surg unit, psych unit, LD unit, peds unit, critical care unit. Your clinical placement and skills will correlate with your theory lecture.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

As far as things no one told me, it's more so what they DID tell me. Nursing school nightmares, how hard it is, etc... It is not THAT bad. The course load is a lot, but the material itself is not overly challenging.

This. So much this. Learning how to understand what the questions are asking is challenging. But the content isn't *that* bad - especially if you can think through the patho physiology.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.

If you are not yet a nurse could you please take nurse out of your username?

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