Is nursing school really "the hardest thing you've ever done in your life"?

NorthernNurse BSN,RN · Mar 18, 2017

I used to think that nursing students were a bunch of whiners... then I went through nursing school. Every program is different so it's hard to make a sweeping general statement about nursing school. However, the consensus in my cohort was that it was the hardest thing any of us had ever done. About half of us were between 30 and 50 years old so it wasn't just a bunch of inexperienced young twenty year old's making these statements. Good luck to you getting your BSN! My program was accelerated too and I'm glad I was done with it in 18 months instead of 2.5 years!

Simplistic · Mar 18, 2017

Nursing school is only as hard as you make it to be.

de05432 · Mar 18, 2017

It honestly depends on who you ask. For me, it has been difficult and felt impossible at times. It also depends on the person and how organized they are, how their time management skills are, etc. Those things seem to make a huge difference in performance and stress level.

I would also be careful about assuming that people in their early 20's are inexperienced or whiners - heck, I would be careful about making assumptions in general. It won't do you any favors. There is nothing worse than someone with an attitude of "I'm better than these 20-somethings!" or a 20-something with an attitude of "I'm better than these second career students!"...that's a guaranteed way to not have any friends. Make sure you don't emanate this attitude, and stay humble. You'll get through!

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Mar 18, 2017

Law school and med school are both graduate programs. I think the majority of people who have chosen those career paths have a good understanding of the level of work and commitment that will be involved if they are to be successful. In contrast, students that enter nursing programs don't really know what to expect. I think many of them think that nursing school should be easier than it turns out to be. Some younger students may believe that nursing school is just an extension of high school; older students may think there's no way nursing school could be a challenge given what they've already accomplished, so neither group anticipates needing to dedicate several hours of time and effort outside of class to learning and applying the material, or struggling to make the grades they did in their prerequisties. It's not that nursing school is actually harder than the other degrees you listed, it's just that the students' perspective is different.

midwifemae · Mar 18, 2017

For me, a 32 year old married, full time working mother of 2, it is the hardest thing I have ever done-long term. But it is not harder than taking care of my kids who both have influenza and high fevers. That breaks my heart. Nursing school is hard, yes, but you have to be ready to manage your time and figure out how you learn and develop study skills that work for you. What works for one person may not work for another. It took me a few months to get that figured out.

jj224 · Mar 22, 2017

No. It was a little cumbersome with the busy work at times, but otherwise not very difficult. My bio degree was much more difficult.

MotoMonkey, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2017

Nursing school is only as hard as you make it to be.

I have found this to be so true.

I have made a conscious decision to not internalize other peoples experiences. If someone found nursing school or a particular class to be extremely difficult then that is their struggle, it is not mine. In the end I may feel that it was indeed difficult, but I cant let myself go into it with that mindset or else it will be like a self fulfilling prophecy, I think of it as conformation bias.

So my take away is that it may be difficult for you, or it may not. But in the end it is your own journey and you should not let someones experiences dictate your experience.

ItsThatJenGirl, CNA · Mar 22, 2017

I have found this to be so true.
I have made a conscious decision to not internalize other peoples experiences. If someone found nursing school or a particular class to be extremely difficult then that is their struggle, it is not mine. In the end I may feel that it was indeed difficult, but I cant let myself go into it with that mindset or else it will be like a self fulfilling prophecy, I think of it as conformation bias.
So my take away is that it may be difficult for you, or it may not. But in the end it is your own journey and you should not let someones experiences dictate your experience.

This is exactly what I've done, too. Excellent advice!

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2017

I put two years into a music degree, and felt that MUCH harder than nursing school. Between the pressure to perform well, the long hours in the closet-size practice rooms, long choir rehearsals, the academic portions such as music history (which requires you to analyze the genre, form, and construction of a piece by ear for a test. Linking the Medieval music Wikipedia page for a general idea of what was on our first test Medieval music - Wikipedia ), not to mention the general ed classes at my private college were much more rigorous than both schools I attended for my ADN and BSN programs. I'm pretty smart and had a near panic attack over a 100 level history class. To give you an idea of THAT one, literally the only dates I memorized for the class was 1914-1918. The rest of the class was exploring in depth the economic, social, political influences on and of WWI. Final exam was 3 essay questions.

Spine_CRNA, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2017

It's not hard.

Double-Helix's answer was excellent btw

chacha82, ADN, BSN · Mar 25, 2017

Mine was difficult. I was commuting and also working a few shifts a week at a great hospital as a CNA because I wanted to be hired there after I had my RN. It was a good foot in the door. My lowest term grade in nursing school was an 84, but that was still a C for us, if that gives you some context. The commute exhausted me. In my third and fourth semesters it was downright nuts - I would drive 70 minutes one way to be in class, come back, go to the hospital and work for 8 hours, collapse, repeat. But I wanted everything I was working for and in the end it was all worth it. When you have late night clinicals and a test the next day, it's rough. I'd get home around midnight, study quickly and sleep, up again around 5 to study then take the test by 8. I failed a test in the third semester, like a 74 or 78 or something, I just could not pass it. I still passed the class though and graduated on time. I would suggest working 1 day a week if you can swing it so the rest of your time is reserved for studying. We had one person working full-time throughout school, she was the only one who could manage and I know even she struggled.