Is this right for me?

reg.nurse · Sep 9, 2011

Hi all,
I'm new here, so I hope I am posting this in the correct location. I'm looking for some advice. Here's my background:
I'm a 22 year old female with a previous Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Math degree (graduated in May of 2010). After weighing the pros and cons of grad school, I decided it wasn't right for me. Initially when I started college, I began on a pre med or nursing track (for whatever reasons, I changed my mind halfway through). I decided shortly after graduating that I wanted to go back to school for RN. I found an ASN program relatively close to where I live, took my required admissions test and scored very well, and I was accepted into the 18 month accelerated option. I was ecstatic, I couldn't wait to start. I have always had a HUGE interest in the medical field, and felt like I was headed in the right direction.
I started my first course this summer. Did very well, learned basic skills, etc. I just started back for the fall, and I'm feeling discouraged. I'm doing great, but I constantly feel like I'm jumping through hoops. I dislike all of the theory coursework and the seemingly pointless assignments, although I realize it's importance, at the same time it's incredibly intuitive at this point. I really enjoy the clinical skills we're learning though, but I am definitely nervous about our first real day of clinical coming up soon. I've heard horror stories of people getting into the field and hating their jobs, their coworkers, the politics, and so on and so forth. I'm terrified I may be making a horrible mistake. All of my previous degree was paid for by scholarships, but now that I am going back to school and have a previous degree, I don't qualify for anything but unsubsidized loans. I'm already out several thousand dollars for school. I don't know if I'm just in a funk right now or what, but I can't help but have this nagging feeling like I'm potentially making a mistake. It all felt so right to begin with, but I'm just discouraged by the course content. I LOVED school during my first degree, enjoyed nearly everything about it...but I just feel underwhelmed by the material at this point.
So nurses, does it get better? Is nursing school just always about politics and hoop jumping? Does anyone regret all the stress of school after becoming employed? A very large part of me still feels like I'm headed down the right path, I really do have a heart for working with people in this type of setting...but I just don't know if it will all meet my expectations when it's all said and done.
Thanks for any advice that can be offered!

Okay, First off do not try to downgrade nursing school or nurses period. Guess what, I really am highly intelligent but do not need to go around and try to tell everyone else I am.

Let me show you how intelligent I really am.

(1) your 22, You have a dual degree bachelors of psych (which I happen to have to, imagine that) with math? Is that what your degree says, bachelor's of math and psych? Okay, so bachelor's take 4 years to complete. However, you state when you began college you went pre-med/nursing track and got 1/2 way through the program, which is 2 years. Uh oh, how could you have done that and be 22? Plus, I have all the courses needed for pre-med because I am going to take the MCAT's after studying myself. Pre-med and nursing track are not synonymous by any means.

(2) Don't forget the time it takes to take the test to test in, get the seat, and start the school, and go through 1 semester which is 4 months, and you are in your second semester.

Umm, your lying about your age or your lieing about all this schooling. Why did you decide to graduate with a dual bach psych/math and not go into anything and instead go into school for nursing which you already did once and quite. Not logical at all.

(3) Since, you did half of a pre-med or nursing program course you would have most of your degree done between psych, math, and 2 years of a pre-med/nursing program. I had many courses completed from my psych degree.

(4) YOU do not like THEORY but you HAVE A PSYCH DEGREE. PSYCHOLOGY IS FOUNDED ON THEORY AFTER THEORY AFTER THEORY???? Wow.

You do not like the assignments because you call them purposeless (nothing in nursing school is purposeless, obviously), but then you say that you know there important, but they are getting intuitive already? Basically you negated the assignment statement, and we are left with the assignments are intuitive already. The assignments have intuition? That sentence does not seem to be postuled from a college grad.

I have a question about an early psych topic, and nurses are very intune with Erikson and his THEORY. What you are not taught in nursing school is the maladaptive extentions of the intervals of each stage. What are the maladaptive extentions of Erikson's THEORY.

How about freud's theory of the Id, ego, and superego explained by a bachelor's of psych?

I cannot stand mistruths at the cost of others validations.

Now, I am an R.N. and I have a psych degree really. You probably liked Psych so much more because it was so much easier than nursing school. Psych is not challenging, almost everyone has a psych degree and only 25% of nursing program students end up making it to the end.

You can work with patients with your psych. degree, my issue was I wanted something more, harder, something to be really proud of so I decided nursing school.

You really should not have much theory in second semester? You should be overloaded with science pathophys, A & P, Micro, and chemistry which are not easy but how I love science classes.

What classes are you taking, you talk about a low grade nursing class you should be past and no other class. You said you liked learning skills, what skills are you learning without the fundamental understanding of the provisions surrounding a skill?

How are you out thousands and its just your second semester? Plus, if you got scholarships for psych you should have no issue finding many for nursing. If you previously had scholarships you would know how to find them and you would have found numerous abundant amounts of nursing scholarships. Since you did so well in psych, you should have qualified for multiple scholarships. For example, I won 5 nursing scholarships because I did really well in nursing school.

I am really intelligent, so intelligent that I know anyone who makes it through nursing school is above average intelligence. As a matter of fact, I graduated with a 3.45 at the top of my nursing class (and I actually had to work for my grades) and I got an easy breezy 4.0 in gpa end in psych. Everyone has a psych degree or can get one, 25% of those who start nursing school graduate. Now that's something. Though I am really intelligent, like I have never met anyone smarter than myself and I belong to Mensa. I do not generally have to downgrade something difficult that essentially downgrades others in conjunction to know that intelligent and why would anyone ever go bragging about that.

Nursing schools do not have purposeless assignments, what assignments are you finding purposeless? Studying the theories of those who founded and defined nursing as a profession?

What hoops are you jumping through? There are no hoops? What is political about nursing school? What are you talking about?

Maybe the content of the nursing program is too difficult for you to understand therefore you are having this difficulty you are speaking of? Information pertaining to the end result of saving a person's life is really fascinating to me, idk. If your expectations will not be met by nursing education but your expectation were met by psych education, your simply in something much too difficult for you.

If the ability to save a human's life does not meet your expectation when all is said and done, you are in the absolute wrong place and you should quit now!!!! You are not capable of thinking to the depth a nurse must think and conceptualize information to the degree nurses do.

You sound like a person who is upset that the assignments do not count until after the 70% mark is achieved, otherwise the assignments are awesome freebies to lift up one's grade.

jdan88 · Sep 9, 2011

Woah, easy killer. I started college at 17, took 20+ hours most semesters, went summers, and knocked EVERYTHING out in 4 years, making me barely 21 at the time of graduation for my first degree.

So 1) I'm not lying about my age or my degree. I have a B.S. in Psych and Math (double major, not double degree. There is a difference). Psych=extremely easy until senior research proposals and projects, Math=extremely difficult, but I did very well in both. I also did very well in all of my science pre reqs for nursing (all A's). I even graduated with honors. Don't attack my intelligence or credibility without knowing a single thing about me besides the few paragraphs I posted to an internet message board. I chose not go go the grad school path because there is no money in either fields, and I felt a calling to go back to finish what I had initially started (healthcare).

2) I took 1 year off before I started RN school, I already had every pre req for the program, just had to take the admissions test.

3) Psych/Math theory (once you get into upper division courses) is MUCH different and more complex than nursing process theory (at this early point in the program, at least. I can't speak for later in the program because I'm not there yet). I'm not downgrading the difficulty of nursing school by any means, but as most people seem to agree, the nursing process stuff is for lack of a better word, boring. The clinical material, however, is much different. I find it both challenging and enjoyable.

4) As far as assignments are concerned, yeah, a lot of them are completely pointless. I'm sorry, but how is drawing a picture of myself when I'm 70 even remotely relevant to nursing? Research, group projects, all relevant. Pictures? Not relevant.

5) It's all politics. We can't even approach our instructors if we have a question about a previous exam question (very specifically outlined in our policy and procedures manual). A lot of the instructors are great, a lot of them couldn't care less about the students.

I am STRICTLY in nursing classes only, and it is technically my first semester (although we had 1 course this summer), so it's all nursing process theory aside from the clinical portion a this point. I have no more pre reqs, I did A&P 1 and 2, chem, micro, etc. is all complete.

I could continue to ramble on in response to your attack on me, defend my intelligence, etc., but I'm going to safely assume that no matter what I say, you aren't going to like me or my reasons for being in nursing school. I don't care, I don't even know you.

I will say that I have a huge heart for working with people in a nursing setting, and I place a huge value on the life and well-being of all individuals. These are good reasons to pursue a career in nursing. If I felt so poorly towards nurses and nursing school, as you accuse me of, do you honestly think I would pursue it? I never said nursing school was easy. Learning to do foleys, vital signs, sterile dressings, and the stress of med admins is completely different from anything I've ever experienced.

Next time, I'd use a little more discretion in your comments towards complete stranger. It's rude and uncalled for to attack me for simply looking for feedback on what I can expect later in school or a career as a nurse.

abakrn819 · Sep 11, 2011

That was pretty harsh, not at all what I got from your message!

Keep going with nursing, sounds like you have a good heart, and that is #1 for nurses! You can have all the brains in the world, but unless you truley have a huge heart and love people, you will more than likely not make it in the nursing world. Again, I HATED THEORY! I only liked clinicals, and hated almost every stupid, pointless assignment I did. But, give it your all, and try to find interest in every assignment somewhere and concentrate on that :) You are going to be a great nurse! Don't let anyone tell you different!!!

picurn1972, RN · Sep 12, 2011

I have psych BS and ABSN to be Rn, your job will be as challenging as you make it. From adrenaline junkies and resucitating traumas to actually running codes weekly, icu or floor, kids or adults there is a lot of variety then you can move to education, NP, or management. The one career choice with unlimited potential and room to change plus work 3 12's off 4 great for possible future family or travel the country. Benefits, sick pay plus i get 15% salary into pension and job security, well as long as we are competent and maintain licensure. Disliked SICU adults, miss the trauma not the adults, now doing PICU peds. Some trauma, some SAD trauma, but in the end its up to you. Struggling to make career choice make cons benefits list along with other career options and go from there. I follow policy but have no desire to make it! Hoops? Not so much, learning the ropes in ICU's another story. Good luck, don't know if it helped.

picurn1972, RN · Sep 12, 2011

FYI since your a psych major you will have noticed that most nursing theory is psych theories with a new name yet considered nurses original work LOL sorry RN's but it's true. And real nursing is way better than nursing school, my clinicals were nothing like my job now.