Is that hard???

[emde]

I'm a junior. I'll start my first semester of clinical rotations in three weeks (yay!). I've always been a A's student (a nerd since elementary school). I consider myself a good test taker; I like to take my time to read my tests, and I always get A's. I love challenges and questions that force me to think. The least amount of classes I've taken is four. I took seven classes once, I got A's in all of them. I'm also extremely organized, so I think that's what helps me. I can't wait to start nursing school to understand what is the difficult part of it!

I'd love to hear what you guys think! What is the hardest part of nursing school?

[Stephalump]

I don't think there's any one particular difficult part. Nursing school demands a lot of different things from you - some you'll be great at naturally. Some you'll learn along the way. And some you may just continue to stink at.

I found that it's a very individualized experience. My friends and I all struggled in some way at some time, but all differently. Whether it was school/home/work balance, time management, organization, motivation, test taking, comprehension, skills, application, interpersonal issues, personal crises...you get the picture.

Nursing school (for my friends and I, at least) was an exercise in having all of our flaws and strengths laid out on the table for all to see, and our instructors saying, "There you are. Do something about it."

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

You may find that making assessments and judgments in a clinical setting requires a completely different skill set from what you used in your previous successes in academics. Just be aware of that and do not be too hard on yourself if it's not an easy A there, because long teaching experience suggests that it might not be.

Keep working at it; so many easy-A kids get blown away when it isn't as easy as what they were used to, and they give up way too easily. If nursing school were all easy, everyone would get all As in clinical, too, and they surely do not.

[emde]

Thank you Stephalump. Your answer is really interesting and helpful!! :)

[RunBabyRN]

It's going to be very different from any other class you've taken. You will have to study differently, and you will work for an A like you've never worked before. What's hardest varies for all of us. For some of my classmates, clinicals were hardest. For me, they were my happy place, because I have extensive patient care experience. For some, it's peds or psych or maternal health. For me, it's pharm.

Your organizational skills will definitely come in handy, but they may also make you crazy when you don't have time to keep things as organized as you'd like. A classmate and I (we're about to graduate) were discussing the condition of our homes, as that's something that fell to the bottom rung of the priority ladder during school. My organizational side has been going absolutely nuts, and of course, I'm having surgery on Monday, so I won't be able to do ANY of it for a little bit, but I will be forced to sit and study for the NCLEX!

Time management is probably the hardest LIFE component for many of us, myself included. Nursing school will suck your time like you wouldn't believe. You'll constantly be finding new ways to make it work.