Nursing School Schedule??

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What is yours like? I just finished applying to an ADN program and was looking at the classes they offered to get a sense of what my schedule would be like. I found that:

5 hours of lecture per week, broken up into 2 sessions, either over two days or in the morning and afternoon of one day.

2 hours of Lab

12 hours of clinicals, over 2 days, either 7-1, 3-9, 4-10.

Every semester constitutes ONE 9 credit course

I do not know why I am surprised, I guess I thought there would be more hours of lecture in there. Whenever I take Pharmacology, it is a separate 3 credit course and there is another 1 credit course that is Contemporary Concepts in Nursing during the 4th semester.

There is an intro to nursing course that I would have to take over 3 weeks during the summer, 3 hours per week.

Those of you in ADN programs, what is/was your nursing school schedule? Did you start clinicals 1st semester? If you did how far into the semester did clinicals start?

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Our program was 15 units per semester, so we had longer lecture. Even with the lecture time you have, you'll need the rest of your time for reading and studying!

We started clinicals within a couple of weeks of classing up. We had a couple of days of skills lab, but then we were in clinicals.

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I start an ADN program next month. I have 4 hours of lecture, 2 hours of lab, and 6 hours of clinical, for a total of 7 credits. It is a 5 semester program.

We start our clinicals on-site 3 weeks into the semester. The first 3 weeks, we meet on campus instead.

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I am currently finishing up my first semester in an ADN program. Yesssssssss! Lol... My schedule for this semester was:

Fundamentals of Nursing-6 credits

monday 8-11, Wednesday 8-10

Professional Nursing as a Role-1 credit Mondays only 12-1

Health Assessment & Promotion-2 credits Tuesdays only 9-11, plus a lab that follows which is from 11:30-1

Thursday- lab from 8-11

The semester started around the last week of August and we started clinicals the 3rd week of October.

Clinicals were on Thursday AND Friday from 7-3 for 5 weeks.

The first 2 weeks we went to long term care (nursing home) and then the next 3 weeks we went to acute care (hospital).

Clinicals ended the week before Thanksgiving. When we returned from the thanksgiving break, we resumed our regular lab schedule of Thursday only 8-11.

In between alllll of that were papers, exams, quizzes, projects and a whooollllllle lotta studying. Good luck! You can do it!

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I love these type of threads!

In our program first semester would look like this:

Nursing Concepts: 3 credit hours -- This class just went over some nursing basics like the nursing process, therapeutic communication, etc. I took it in the summer so my course load wouldn't be so heavy in the fall. It's offered one day a week and is a 3 hour lecture.

Pharmacology: 3 credit hours -- Just your basic Pharm lecture. It was twice a week for an hour and 15 minutes each time.

Nursing Skills: 5 credit hours -- This combined with Nursing Concepts would be a Nursing 101 class. Skills consisted of one weekly hour lecture, a 3 hour weekly lab, a 1 hour mandatory group practice meeting, and clinical. Our clinicals are once a week for 8 hours at a local hospital. We're fortunate enough in our program that we can pick the hospital/clinical group we'd like to join - if there are openings in that group.

Clinicals start that very first week. My group had clinical on Monday and our first official class that Tuesday.

This is the class where we also did our skills check-offs - we had five: head-to-toe physical assessment, medication administration, sterile field/foley catheter, IV initiation, and IV medication administration. So we also spent many additional hours practicing for those.

We also had the option to take a dosage calculation elective, which I took because I needed the additional credits for financial aid. I'm glad I took it though because it kept me sharp for our Math exam toward the end of the semester.

My schedule was:

Monday - Clinical 1-9pm

Tuesday - Pharmacology

Thursday - Pharmacology / Nursing Skills Lecture / Group Practice

Friday - Nursing Skills Lab

I stayed often on Tuesday evenings and Friday afternoons to practice and study.

Next semester is more study heavy (from what I've been told) and less hands-on. We have two required classes: Adult Health 1 (Med-Surg) and Pathophysiology. Adult Health 1 is our lecture/clinical component. First semester we weren't graded on our care plan/documentation but we are this upcoming semester.

We've also required to spend some time in mandatory clinical simulations, which sound very interesting! These are expected to take from 1-2 hours, but I'm not sure how often these are done during the semester.

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First ½ of first semester we had to be at school 5 days a week. Lab and class. After we finished 8 weeks of lab we have the same schedule for the rest of the program, class Mon/Tues, clinical 8hrs each Wed/thurs. Fri/Sat/Sun for work and homework. We had no flexibility on class times, there is some flexibility on clinical (could request mornings or evenings and they try to accommodate). That was roughly our schedule, there were a few odd simulation lab days and stuff on Fridays but we always knew about them the first day of the semester.

You didn’t ask but it was a big question for me, Work???? I was able to work full time in the pre requisites (bartending at night), 2 days a week 1st and 2nd semester. I had to cut back to one day a week 3rd and 4th semester and even then take a couple weeks off all together to study. They recommended we don’t work at first semester orientation. I would guess over half my class is working.

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Just finishing my first semester! Had lecture Tuesday Thursday 10-11:50, lab 2 hours a week and clinical was 6 1/2 hrs. Not bad but very busy outside of lecture! In the beginning of the semester they did three 6 1/2 hour lectures called "on campus clinical" then the fourth one was a day for just evaluations, so we started clinical the first week of October!

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I'm in a BSN program. Intro class over winterim is a 3 week class, 2 days per week 9-2 I believe.

My schedule for the rest of the 18 months will be clinical on Monday, labs on Tuesday, classes Friday and Saturday 8:30-3:30

Our times change for clinicals and labs each semester.

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Our BSN program was 5 days a week for 3 semesters and 4 for one and this semester was one day of class and then 150 hours of clinical plus 45 hours of leadership clinical. Each semester was 14-15 credit hours. Lots of lecture and lots of clinical hours. Very busy and I'm glad to be done!!

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Also, I forgot to add that we received a schedule of classes/exams/labs/clinicals over the summer during orientation before school actuallly started. I also started off the beginning of the semester working my full time job (I'm a hairstylist) but once clinicals started I had to cut back to 2 days a week. I honestly cannot afford to work any less than this but I'm not sure what next semester will bring. We got a "glimpse" of the schedule and most people are complaining that they will be unable to work. As a hairstylist I am able to make my own schedule, but trust me,as much as my clients love me, I realize that they need stability as well. And forget if I have an exam to study for. I may take off a few days before just to study. But the bottom line is that nursing school is my focus, so I've already accepted that I may lose a few people. I feel bad though because I've done some of these clients hair for years!

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

My 4th semester: 2 three hour lectures and 1-2 8 hour clinicals.

Monday's are test days for everyone. 5-6 tests (including subject HESI exams).

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