Is nursing school as bad as they say?

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Hello, my name is Sarah, and I was wondering if anyone had any insight on what their experience has been in nursing school. I have not been accepted to nursing school yet, but I will know in roughly a month. My advisor says that I should plan to be accepted, and start in the summer. I attend the University of West Georgia, and I've heard countless people online and in person tell me that nursing school completely consumed their life. I work part time as a CNA, and I have a long term boyfriend whom I only get to see once a week as it is due to both of our busy schedules. My first two years were stressful, but I managed to maintain a 3.7GPA. I'm wondering how much of a difference is nursing school from my prerequisites? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi! I'm a nursing student in my 3rd semester of my nursing program.

Definitely work on time management skills. Even if you're already good in that area, you might find that you'll need to brush up these skills a bit more after the program starts (let me tell you now: NOT a fun surprise!!!)

Generally speaking, you get out what you put in. Push yourself, but not to your own breaking point.

Good luck!!! :)

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Specializes in Emergency.

You've gotten some great advice already, and it shows the wide range of experiences in nursing school. I'm an older, second-career student in my second semester. I've found this time consuming but not crushing, you just have to be very organized. I use the class calendar and syllabus and work my way backwards, blocking out time for assignments, reading, review, class, clinical, etc. Breaking big projects into manageable chunks makes life much less stressful. Actually writing out a schedule (and sticking to it!) makes it so you can make time for date nights, or time to exercise or visit friends. You'll need those downtime moments throughout the semester to recharge your battery and remind you why you're working so hard!

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I'm in the same position. Mom with two kids, working part time and going to school/clinicals. It is a balancing act for sure and you do need to be ready to devote a ton of time to school but you also need to take care of yourself and make sure you are taking time for yourself. It sounds like you are very driven and absolutely capable of making this work. Good luck!

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Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.

I graduated from nursing school over two years ago. Looking back...yup, it was bad. In addition to the workload, I found it to be emotionally taxing as well. I was stressed out almost the whole time. Nursing school consumed my life. I didn't do much else. It wasn't so much that the material was hard, there was just so much of it. Having said that, I was driven to get straight As in school. I succeeded at that but as a result I made my own life quite hard. If I had to do it over again, I'd take a few Bs and possibly a C now and then and go out for a drink with friends once in while. I'm only half kidding.

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Specializes in IDD, and private duty.

I am an LPN who completed my LPN at 29. I already had a bachelor's in elementary education. I thought with my previous university back ground that the practical nursing program would be a breeze. After all, I had my BACHELOR'S, and this was just vocational school...HA! My practical nursing program was much harder than my bachelor's had been! So much to cover and so little time. I graduated with a 4.0 though!

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Nursing school is a huge time commitment, but it is doable. You have to prioritize what to spend your time doing. I know people that have families that do it, work 30 hours a week and do it, and some people that are involved in several clubs and do it. For my school it is difficult because the grading scale is raised (92-100 A, 84-92 B, and 76-84 C, anything less is failing) and that I only have 13 credit hours but it is about 26 hrs of class/clinical time on top of all the studying and papers. Every semester I have taken at least 18 credit hours and still managed. That being said, I love nursing school and that is what keeps me going.

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All I can tell you from my experience is this: I started my first semester last month and right now at this point I feel that it has completely consumed me. I work and have a 13 year old son and sometimes I feel so guilty because all I do is go to work then school and when I'm home I'm studying. There is alot to do between reading which is an enormous amount of material, preparing for clinical days, preparing for lecture and then throw in lab hours, practicing your skills, writing papers. It just seems to be so much work and I sit there and say, how the heck am I gonna do all this. It's definitely doable and most of the time I feel like I"m on autopilot just going through the motions but I have to say this, I made alot of new friends in nursing school and we have sort of banded together to help eachother through this. We set up a study group and so far, we have all grown close. I enjoy the class and the clinical days, but truth is it is alot of work.

I wish you all the luck on your journey!!!

Staci

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I feel like nursing school is one of those things that while you're in the thick of it, you couldn't imagine anything harder or more time consuming. Then you graduate and it doesn't seem like it was all that bad lol. I even miss it a bit now that I'm a couple months out (well the structure and my classmates anyway) :laugh:

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

It is more work than prerequisites, but it is not this all-consuming force that "they" sometimes make it out to be. I got married while in prereqs, but while in the program:

I had a baby (did the bulk of my clinicals before the birth so was able to comply with my CNM's postpartum activity restrictions), worked part time, sang with my church's worship band, went to my grandparents' house for Sunday dinner (a 50-yrear tradition with my Danish-American farming family), met my sister or mom for lunch, had the occasional date night with my husband...... definitely had a life outside of school. :up:

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Nursing school is kind of like taking Anatomy and Physiology I and II theory & lab at the same time, during a 5 week summer session. A lot of material to cover, unfortunately only 7 days in a week.

Adult student, second career, zero medical experience, with severe ADHD.

I'm great in clinical. Not a great test taker or organizer; theory was more stressful because of it. I study about 5 hrs day. Quick reader but truly comprehending the material takes me a variety of resources (teaching it, videos, etc).

I've worked throughout my program so far. Made time for myself and my family & friends.

Take it one day at a time, and if you learn to comprehend the material from the get go (no more memorizing. Have to apply it.) You'll be fine.

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To keep things real:

Just pass. No need to get that A.

You are no longer in a competitive.

Your cohort is your family.

Do your best to be safe and learn to be a critical thinker.

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To keep things real:

Just pass. No need to get that A.

You are no longer in a competitive.

Your cohort is your family.

Do your best to be safe and learn to be a critical thinker.

I get where you're coming from, but that's probably not the best advice for people who may want to pursue additional education down the road.

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