I think I don't want to be a Nurse anymore.

[guest723]

Hi everyone!

I am currently a Pre-Nursing student and I feel like I am going in circles as towards what I want to do with my life. I used to love medicine, the science behind it, etc. I thought I wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor. I always pictured myself working in a hospital, and was very excited to know I'd be starting a career in healthcare. However, I just am not sure if Nursing school is for me. This semester has taken a lot out of me. I am taking Psych, Chemistry, Anatomy, and English. In each class I have sustained a 100 average in that I worked my tail off to get (I studied A LOT, it did not always come easy for me believe me). This may sound stupid because I often hear that "pre-reqs are a breeze compared to Nursing school" but taking these pre-reqs for me have been nothing short of very difficult and I just know it's only going to get harder from here. Lots of times my frequent anatomy exams would cover nothing short of 100 pages from the textbook and I will literally be tested on it 2-3 classes later. Then at the same time as that anatomy exam I will have a psych exam, and then at the same time of those two exams I will have another weekly chem quiz and another weekly quiz for chem lab but because chem lab doesn't articulate with what we cover in lecture, it's like studying for another class...Then I have to count in Anatomy lab and complete the 80 weekly homework questions for chem. Then I have to read and stay on top of things for English and throughout most of this it's just been extremely hard! I have done that almost every week throughout this semester and I can't imagine it getting any worse. The dean of nursing at my college who advises my friend (the nursing school my college has is the toughest one around here) said she doesn't advise taking two sciences at once because both are actually heavily rigorous at our school...But we all know none of this compares to the rigors of Nursing school.

Did anyone else feel this stressed out while taking their pre-reqs and make them doubt about whether or not to actually pursue Nursing? Finals are coming up and I'm losing motivation. I am wondering if it's for me but although I am doing fine right now I am not sure if it's something I want to continue pursuing due to the significant amount of stress that comes along with it. I am looking for great advice from many of the knowledgeable people on this site.

Thanks everyone!

[caliotter3]

You should just finish out the semester and take a lighter load next term, as previously suggested. Spare yourself some torture. Also consider that you may be setting yourself up to implode with a serious illness by stressing your immune system unnecessarily. Believe me, I know how unplanned health problems can blow a well-oiled overextended work and school system out of the water. You could end up being more delayed than you would be by just spacing out these time/work intensive courses.

[Libby1987]

If the sciences do not come easy for him, then it's in his best interests to not take two together. It's not a "new thing"; more like a common sense thing....to put it bluntly with no intent whatsoever to offend anyone. This is not saying that it can't be done because he did it....but at what cost? Stress? Rethinking his chosen career path? It's easier just to separate the two courses.

I completely understand why it's common sense for a struggling individual to space out their pre req science classes. My question was to the dean advising in general to not take two science classes at a time, that I have never heard of.

For nursing majors it was pretty standard to take 1st semester Bio, 2nd semester Org Chem 1 and Anatomy, 3rd semester Non Org Chem 2 and Physiology. As a traditional student, not a working parent.

[ponymom]

School is the easiest and most stress-free part of this whole nursing thing. Right now you are only responsible for your grades, that's it. Give yourself a bit lighter workload next semester.

School is nothing compared to real-world nursing.

Btw I took microbiology, a&p, and pharmacology all at the same time. I aced them all. And I came from a factory skilled-trades background, with no prior healthcare work experience.

You've got this..

[Soliloquy, MSN, APRN, NP]

People change their major all the time and if nursing isn't what you want to do, good for you for acknowledging it and being open to making a change. I'm not going to come down on you. You have a right to change your mind. :)

Figure out what it is you actually want to do. I'm a nurse now and I'm glad I did it and continue to do it...but I'd also like to become a psychotherapist. I think I'd feel the most joy being a self employed counselor.

[djh123]

If you have 100 'in everything' then you're ahead of most people, so I don't know why you say it's so hard. I busted my butt in pre-reqs but didn't make all A's, although I thought I did great: about a 3.7 GPA in pre-reqs. You shouldn't have any problem w/nursing school.

[Cali_foRNia]

I don't know how helpful my advice will be to you but I hope you can gain something.

When I was working on my undergraduate degree in Biology, I had several friends of mine that were struggling in some of their science classes. Some of them failed a class or two, and some had even failed a clinical rotation. However, many of them were able to get their license and become great nurses.

After graduating with a BS in Bio, I also decided to take the nursing route. Originally, like yourself, I had wanted to go to med school but thought that nursing would be a better fit for me. I was actually very good at school. I never had a problem with my grades or my classes. I graduated with honors and a great GPA. Yes, some classes were hard and there were some semesters that were overwhelming, but overall I did very well.

The problems did not occur until I started working as a nurse. I experienced a lot of negative things like older nurses "eating their young"; emotional stress from sad patient outcomes; dealing with rude doctors, nurses, and patients; and the stress of working in such a high risk job.

I know that in no matter what field I go into there is going to be some negativity that I am just going to have to deal with. But the added stress from fear that I have has caused me to realize that I am not cut out to be a nurse.

The best advice I can give you is to really examine yourself and see if being a nurse is actually what you want to do. I know you are having some issues with school, but for me that was the easy part.

The hard part is asking yourself these questions:

"Are you willing to go into a job where you can possibly be threatened with losing your license and your ability to work?"

"Are you willing to accept responsibility for someone's life?"

"Are you will to deal with the emotional struggle when situations go south?"

"Are you willing to enter into a high risk field where you may suffer physical disability or litigation?"

If I knew back in school what I know now, I would have chosen to never become a nurse. I would give anything to go back and change my decisions, but for now I am stuck going on my third year as a nurse and I absolutely can't wait to get out of nursing.

This is just my personal experience. Like I said earlier, many of my friends have gone on to become excellent nurses, and some of them were not exceptional in their academics.

I hope you can find this post helpful in some way. I wish you the best of luck!

[guest723]

If you have 100 'in everything' then you're ahead of most people, so I don't know why you say it's so hard. I busted my butt in pre-reqs but didn't make all A's, although I thought I did great: about a 3.7 GPA in pre-reqs. You shouldn't have any problem w/nursing school.

Well, I mean it literally takes me a while to understand this stuff. Maybe it's because I am trying to learn and apply the material as opposed to rote memorization, but it's not uncommon for me to spend sometimes 5-10 hours studying the material to get an A. That's what I'm trying to wonder: although I am excelling, because I am what you may consider a slow learner, I wonder if the Nursing school may fit me but I am not sure about that.

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

I am taking Psych, Chemistry, Anatomy, and English. In each class I have sustained a 100 average in that I worked my tail off to get (I studied A LOT, it did not always come easy for me believe me).

Strong work!

I often hear that "pre-reqs are a breeze compared to Nursing school"

Oh that is a load of scare-mongering crap.

Nursing school is not a cakewalk, but it is very different from your prereqs. NS is not nearly as conceptually hard as your science prereqs. Those prereqs form your broad foundational knowledge base that you can apply to analyzing nursing problems. Nursing school is a lot more about analysis, application of knowledge, and jumping through hoops. Conceptually, the nursing school challenge is fusing all your knowledge and applying it to critically analyze situations and choose the best actions with proper prioritization... that and human interactions + time management.

[guest723]

Strong work!

Oh that is a load of scare-mongering crap.

Nursing school is not a cakewalk, but it is very different from your prereqs. NS is not nearly as conceptually hard as your science prereqs. Those prereqs form your broad foundational knowledge base that you can apply to analyzing nursing problems. Nursing school is a lot more about analysis, application of knowledge, and jumping through hoops. Conceptually, the nursing school challenge is fusing all your knowledge and applying it to critically analyze situations and choose the best actions with proper prioritization... that and human interactions + time management.

Thank you!

Yeah, classmates of mine think it comes easy to me but it really doesn't. Lots of times this semester all I did was study and try my best and I found it actually pretty difficult to excel but I am doing it. I just hear some people say pre reqs are easy and I don't necessarily feel the same ways so it makes me question whether or not if Nursing school is for me

[DeeAngel]

This isn't about nursing it's about overextending yourself by taking on too much, don't the same mistake again and you will be good.

[chtzu, BSN, RN]

In my opinion, pre-reqs were harder than nursing school. Once you master NCLEX style questions, the rest of it is a breeze. If you work as hard as you're saying, you should be fine. Unless, this isn't something you love. That's where it might be hard.

[guest723]

In my opinion, pre-reqs were harder than nursing school. Once you master NCLEX style questions, the rest of it is a breeze. If you work as hard as you're saying, you should be fine. Unless, this isn't something you love. That's where it might be hard.

Yeah, I am wondering if it's something I actually wanted to do. As time progressed I've noticed that I've become less passionate about medicine and health sciences in general. At this point, I don't know what to do. My parents want me to go into Nursing, and if I told them if I didn't want to they'd be very discouraged and I'd feel as though I would have let them down.