Juggling work and pre-nursing studies

WannaBeMaleRN · Jul 9, 2006

IMO you are taking way to much if you are working. First of all I wouldnt recommend taking Chem. and Anatomy together. Anatomy is going to devote more of your time than you think. It is a VERY hard course. I am not working and only have A&P 2 and Chem left to do and I am not taking them together. I am looking forward to taking A&P 2 by itself so I can concentrate totally on that one course.

aHolisticStudent · Jul 9, 2006

narcissistic,

If my math is correct it looks like you're planning on taking 14 credits and work in the fall. Have you ever tried to do that before? If not, I'd recommend trimming back your courseload a little bit. I go to school full-time, don't work, taking between 17 & 19 credit hours per fall & spring semester. That's a lot of work for me, doesn't leave much "me time", I couldn't imagine working full time and trying to handle near that much work.

At the end of the day it's your choice, you could always Withdrawl or AUdit some of the courses towards the middle of the semester if it turns out to be too much for you.

Either way, best of luck in the fall.

shock-me-sane · Jul 9, 2006

it depends. i did a similar schedule a little over a year ago. it worked out fine because i am pretty good in math and the college english class was easy, and i like chem (even though i had to work at it). so i could spend a lot of time with anatomy. i only was on campus 3 days a week and worked around 25 hours.

so i will say, it depends on how comfortable you are with the subjects and how much you plan on working.

sillygoatgirl · Jul 9, 2006

I went through an accelerated nursing BSN program, worked full-time and ended up doing 108 hour weeks for a year and somehow still fit in a run during my lunch breaks at school. It was the worst year of my life (the runs actually kept me *sane*. I am a pretty active, ambitious, motivated person, and even now work 60-80 hour weeks and still find time for all sorts of activities, so i'm a bad one to talk about courseloads and working. I was willing to sacrifice sleep for one. This is still a bad idea.

Ultimately, the above is to tell you you *can* do it. What you need to figure out is A. do you want a crash course in what you can do while you need to be scoring awesome grades, and B. do you want to suffer if you don't have to. If you have to work, then find a way to keep yourself sane in between, be incredibly selfish, and worry about what you *need* to worry about, letting other things fall by the wayside. Tell your friends and family that you need to hunker down for a while and be all about you.

You *will* make it through, whatever you choose. Just keep your head about you and "know thyself." Be honest with yourself about what you want and can handle.

narcissistic · Jul 10, 2006

Well thanks y'all. Actually I've got 17 units all in all but I'm defnitely thinking of dropping my Communications class which is only 3 credits, which means I've got Anatomy 101 (5 units), Math 96 (5 units), and Chem 100 (4 units). So I've got 3 classes left and I have to adjust my schedule for my job (if I get hired). I have to admit, earlier on I've been slacking but now I'm getting serious with my studies. I know it looks impossible for a student to take these difficult subjects together but there has to be a way right?

alilar · Jul 10, 2006

Well thanks y'all. Actually I've got 17 units all in all but I'm defnitely thinking of dropping my Communications class which is only 3 credits, which means I've got Anatomy 101 (5 units), Math 96 (5 units), and Chem 100 (4 units). So I've got 3 classes left and I have to adjust my schedule for my job (if I get hired). I have to admit, earlier on I've been slacking but now I'm getting serious with my studies. I know it looks impossible for a student to take these difficult subjects together but there has to be a way right?

I would have to agree with everyone else that your course load might be a little much. It is good that you dropped one. I do think that the less free time you have is sometimes a good thing. This way you can not put things off as easy and have to set time to study. I worked part-time, have two children, a home, and a husband and I did my pre-reqs this way. I made only one B but I only took 2 classes at a time. The last semester was the hardest I had A&P II and Micro, but I did it because that is what I had to do to get in. Best of luck to you and you CAN do it if you tell yourself you can.

cad4296 · Jul 10, 2006

You CAN do anything you set your mind to. Only you can say what you can or cannot do. I've heard a million times "you can't take more than one science at a time, you can't work full time, blah blah blah" Everyone's situation is different. You can do whatever you set your mind to doing. I work full time in the marketing industry, which on average I work a minimum of 50 hours a week, and even 60-70 hours some weeks. This summer I ended up taking 14 credits, including A & P 2 and microbiology together, on top of my 50-60 hour work weeks. I'm not going to say it was easy because it wasn't. And I haven't seen my husband in the past couple of months! But luckily he understands and supports me. It took everything I had in me and I was determined to get all A's. I've only got one grade back so far and it was an A in A & P 2. I think all in all I will probably end up with a B in micro and A's in all the rest. Point is it isn't easy, but nobody can really ever tell you what you have the capabilities of doing. I figure nursing is a high stress job anyway, might as well learn to work under the pressure now!

narcissistic · Jul 12, 2006

Thank you Cad. I was beginning to doubt myself. It's just that I feel that I owe it to myself to work harder this time around, you know? I actually want to do this for the first time ever with motivation.