Is nursing school as bad as they say?

Nursing Students General Students

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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!

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.

Please, please, please strive to be better than that. Don't settle for mediocrity. As my instructors always said, "I would much rather be treated by a nurse that received all A's than a nurse that settled for all C's."

Nursing school is hard, but as others have said, it's definitely do-able. I did it at age 37 with two teenagers and a husband. I worked part time through school. I actually did a lot of sleeping in my car between classes and work (school was an hour away from where I lived). Be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort but also understand it's probably not as all consuming as many people would like you to think. You have to find a balance that works for you. Best of luck to you!

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I had posted an article asking the same thing like, how many hours do you normally or should put in? I always thought nursing school was like A&P where you have to put in 20-30 hours a week studying..but maybe it's not that much?

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Hi Sarah, I just finished nursing school last year. Out of the 43 students we started with, we graduated with 29 from our original cohort. My GPA was about a 3.7 also when I started nursing school and I never got a final grade below an 86%. It is A LOT of work, but you can totally do it. Although, I do remember asking myself dozens of times, "How in the world are there so many nurses out there, this is so unbelievably hard!" The most difficult part wasn't passing exams, writing care plans, preparing for clinicals, or writing papers. Retrospectively, the most difficult part was convincing myself that I could get through it, no problem! Sometimes, you may feel like you can't do it, but you will have a much better experience in nursing school if you stay positive and take some time for yourself. Good luck!

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Specializes in ICU + 25 years as Nursing Faculty.

1. The nursing school experience is different for different people... in the same program.

2. Yes, nursing school can be a huge pile of work. However, I have seen MANY, students work part-time, be active parents, be active in extracurricular activities, AND be quite successful.

3. How you respond is hugely important. You may have noted a theme from many students and grads about their emotional distress in nursing school. That is something that the student brings to the program... not something that the program imposes on the students. Getting good control of emotional dysfunction before starting nursing school makes things much, much less crazed. Read up on "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy". It is a tool that you can use to help manage your own unhelpful emotions.

4. My experience was that I carried 17-19 credit hours while in nursing school (I was pursuing a non-nursing minor too), I worked 20 hours per week, and I got more than adequate grades. I found plenty of time for recreation.

5. Having really good reading skills (high speed and high comprehension) and great test taking skills will remove much of the stress and drama of nursing school.

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I've been a RN for > 45 yrs and remember well, the difficulties of schooling. Time management is repeatedly brought out here but let me tell you, you are going to need it in today's workforce. Nursing is tough because you are taking care of peoples' lives; and what could be more important than this? Remember why you are doing what you are doing-your purpose for going into nursing. Godspeed 💕

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5 looks like my weakness..but I don't work and I'll be using my GI Bill for school plus I don't have bills or parents to worry about with.

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This is all good news for me. I've been stressing about what I'll be able to handle because I'm going to have to work full time to keep my insurance, I have a 1 year old (although she will be turning two about the time I'm expecting to get into nursing school), and then classes/clinicals will be 5 days a week, plus trying to find time for my husband in there too. It's good to hear positive stories from other people that are in the same boat.

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Specializes in ICU + 25 years as Nursing Faculty.
5 looks like my weakness..but I don't work and I'll be using my GI Bill for school plus I don't have bills or parents to worry about with.

If you are saying that reading is your weakness, but that not working will neutralize that weakness... you are sadly mistaken. If reading is your weakness...FIX IT!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

Don't let anyone else's difficulty with nursing school freak you out. Worrying about how difficult it will be will only make it more difficult for you. Instead, think about how interesting it's going to be and how much you're going to learn.

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If you are saying that reading is your weakness, but that not working will neutralize that weakness... you are sadly mistaken. If reading is your weakness...FIX IT!

I can read, it's just conceptualization is the hard part...

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