Not being funny- curious about the nursing program

[DermNP2Be]

Hi all! As the title says, I'm in no way trying to be sarcastic- just extremely curious about what I'm getting myself into. I was formerly a biochemistry major pre-med, but was going through a stressful divorce and did not continue (got early admission acceptance to med school too!). But after 3 yrs of going back to customer service which I hate, I began researching nursing due to the planting of ideas from others that knew I loved medicine. Now I'm just finishing a couple of prereqs for the application to the BSN program- I have an Associates in Science (Chemistry)- for application for early admission decision in October (for Fall 2007 entrance), and from everyone I talk to, they say the nursing program is HE**! What is it like? What makes it so bad/hard? Tell me please so I can feel more prepared!

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

sometimes if you run a search, someone else has already asked the same question and has gotten a million responses. here are a few threads i found for you. good luck.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f213/whats-nursing-school-like-96501.html

https://allnurses.com/forums/f198/just-how-difficult-nursing-school-going-160135.html

[beckybn2]

It's not hard. Just time consuming. You spend 75% of your mind and time in nursing school. But i'm sure med school is tougher, just in a different way.

Good luck.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Some people find it very hard, some people less so. Most would describe it as very difficult, or challenging. Frankly, if anyone described it as "easy", I might wonder about the level of challenge of that particular school of nursing. Some schools are just harder than others. In my area, for instance, there is a school that accepts students who have failed out of my school....and they almost always (maybe even always) go on to graduate, and with better grades. Converesely, there have been no students who couldn't make it in that school who went on to succeed in mine.

In my school, the best students-- the ones who get amazing grades and are incredibly smart--talked about how difficult the program was. Never once heard "it's easy" or even "it's not hard".

It's time consuming above all. And frequently quite subjective. That's one of the things that makes it "hard". Unlike humanities courses, for instance, where if you do the required assignments and get a numerical grade that passes tests, you pass the course. In nursing, a large component of the coursework are labs and clinicals, with accompanying skill evaluations, where most of the time there is no grade, just pass/fail. People can have A's and fail clinically, although it's pretty rare. More often, someone will do better clinically and not cut the academics. But I'm sure that that, too, varies by region and school.

The bottom line is this: if you're used to working hard for something and are willing and able to put in LOTS of study and practice time, you're most of the way there. Brains and determination combined.

I have two small children (who got 3.5 years bigger between my start time and graduation!). A supportive husband was crucial for me; as long as you have a good support network of people you can count on, you're good to go. :)

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

I did not find the material to be difficult. BUT... I found the program to be demanding. It is very instense. So much to learn, so many papers to write, care plans to write, clinical preparations, etc. in so little time. If you are good with time management and don't mind studying, (and have family that will let you study) you will be fine.