Nursing School: Officially the Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

ggmugsy · May 26, 2010

Thank you for your post! :) I'm starting NS in the Fall and it's nice to hear it's hard, but doesn't quite kill you.

CBsMommy · May 26, 2010

I think it's hard too but manageable as long as you don't get behind. I got behind a little last semester and just couldn't find the time to get caught up. Thank goodness I got through it and now on to the next semester!

RhodyGirl, RN · May 26, 2010

Nursing school is definitely difficult, but not impossible. It's a tough thing to explain to people who aren't going through it! :)

The good thing about NS is that it really does fly by-- I feel like I just started yesterday, and I will actually be graduating this coming year.

Good luck with the rest of your journey.

werkinit · May 26, 2010

Thanks everyone!

YES, nobody gets it!! Even all my friends who were in RN school before me & told me all their stories...I never really got it until now.

My family, my friends, my boyfriend...they think I'm just eternally crazy and "over-reacting" but it's seriously hard...and exciting all balled up into one. I've always been very accomplished in school, so nobody believes me when I say it's a struggle sometimes.

And you're right, it's already flying by SO fast already. Just finishing up the 1st semester & looking forward to diving back in for more.

itsmejuli · May 26, 2010

The hardest thing about nursing school for many people is learning to be selfish. You have to learn to say "no" to your friends and family. Your number one priority in nursing school is your studying.

FredPuma · May 26, 2010

I didn't think NS was going to be as hard as everyone said it was, either. I knew it would be tough, but not as crazy as it is.

And no one seems to believe me when I tell them how hard it is and how much time it really takes out of my day. I've always made A's, and have managed to keep them in NS so far as well. But it takes so much more work than it used to. My boyfriend thinks I'm just purposefully ignoring him now. He thinks I'm being lazy when I tell him that I need more sleep and can't wake up early to hang out with him since I'm taking night classes.

Thank God for summer vacation.

brittany_micah · May 26, 2010

Ok, I know that everyone keeps saying that it's hard and hard to understand if you are not a nursing student. I will be starting this fall and cant help but to be scared to death by all of the horror stories, I'm even questioning whether I should attempt this. I always heard how difficult A&P was, after finishing it I look back and realize it wasn't hard...just time consuming. I had to figure out different ways to learn and memorize it. Things that helped me to understand it and how it worked. Is that how nursing school is? Time consuming and you have to figure out the best way you learn, but still doable??

FredPuma · May 26, 2010

Everyone told me A&P was terribly difficult, and I didn't find it that hard, so that was a lot of the reason I blew off comments about nursing school.

NS is different because you have to learn to think in a completely different way. It's not just time consuming, and memorization, it's application. You have to apply facts that you've learned to situations you've never been in. And I don't know about other schools, but at mine they have a nasty habit of offering 3 "right" answers in multiple choice, and 1 "really right" answer. So you have to be able to really think about things, prioritize the answers, and change the "right" answer depending on one little word in the prompt.

It's not just that the subject matter is difficult, they expect you to operate on a level of understanding that is twice what your hardest pre-req class demanded.

But if you keep up with the reading, go to study sessions and reviews, and answer nclex-esque questions to help you study, you're on the right track.

werkinit · May 26, 2010

I had not problems w/ any of the pre-requisite courses either. Chem, A&P, Micro, no problems!

RN school is different b/c there's the combined stress of actually learning how to think "critically" like an RN in a clinical setting with real people & real (potentially life-threatening) problems. Sure you have people watching out for you but it's still a lot to take in...and the amount of information is immense. It's far more than just memorizing content, it's putting together lots of different pieces of that content, analyzing it & making critical judements about what to do next...quickly. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, running your butt off doing things you've never dreamed of, all while trying to master tremendous amounts of information. It can make your head spin!

It's totally time-consuming and @ times nerve-wracking. The testing content covers very broad bases but might test you on minutae with, as mentioned above, 1 wrong answer, 3 right answers, and 1 REALLY right answer. Sheesh. Those tests make my brain ache.

That said, it's also intensely fascinating. I can't BELIEVE some of the stuff we can do with the human body. There is just so much to learn, and so many areas you can focus on. That's part of what makes it so exciting. I spent a day hanging out in the radiology department and while it was interesting, it was pretty boring. They just shot x-rays all day long...but nursing - now there's some dynamic, ever-changing, fast-paced, interesting work! :up:

lorazepam · May 26, 2010

Ah...yes. Wait till you come home crying. We all shed some tears during this journey. Seriously, when you pass your NCLEX, it will be WORTH IT! Good luck to everyone.

ggmugsy · May 26, 2010

So . . . I'm buying my books early and doing some reading, trying to keep my head in the game and start thinking like a nurse. I've read through the threads about how to prep for NS, but what do you guys recommend?