Nursing application essay

[sherrynieto]

I am applying to a few nursing programs in WA. Most of the essay requirements are pretty straight forward, but my most desired school's essay question is trumping me.

"What are your barriers or challenges and how do you plan to mitigate them to ensure your success?"

Now, I could just be freaking myself out, but I am having a hard time coming up with a barrier that isn't going to be a negative. Please help! The direction I am going to take is something along the lines of... stating in all honesty what my actual barriers will be, and have been in past experiences and state how I have overcome these barriers. For me, it is finding a healthy balance of studying and family. I was a young mother (18) and was in the finance industry for many years. I worked my way up to the top of the ladder and found myself managing eight employees. Being the youngest of most managers at the time, I was a target and often had to prove myself and my abilities. Each step to get to where I was required dedication and passion for what I did, meanwhile caring for my son (he's now 19). He is a well rounded, and great kid on his own path of success now. Should I include all of this in an essay?

[gere7404, BSN, RN]

The prompt seems to be looking for what kind of challenges you'll have while going through their program, and what kind of plan you have in place to mitigate them. You can definitely include your story about raising your child successfully as a young mother while working and achieving manager status, maybe tie it to that you've overcome adversity that was greater before with your story, but be sure to touch upon what the prompt is asking -- what challenges and barriers do you face​.

[sherrynieto]

Thank you! The only barriers I see without having experienced being a nursing student is in managing the amount of course work and maintaining competitive grades. I have no intensions on merely skating by, I truly want to be well informed for when I make my way into the work force, and my standard of studying is going to be very high. Also, I have a habit of taking extra time to allow myself to absorb different concepts. Not that I am slow learning, but sometimes while others are moving on, there I am in the corner reading the chapter over and over again until I can fully comprehend the material.