Nursing School while still working?

Nursing Students Male Students

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Hello,

I thought I would put his in the Men's Forum too to get your feedback from a male, father, husband type of perspective too.

I have long thought about being a nurse, but have set it aside as life was busy with kids (now grown - 1 in Nursing School) work was plentiful and fulfilling, etc.... Now, my industry is very slow, financial it would be a bit more doable, etc... Everyone that I have asked either within the industry, or others that have made midlife changes has said they think I would make a great nurse, and to go for it. We have a highly regarded Associates Degree Nursing program right in out small town with somewhat flexible class times, and the Financial Aid looks like it would be the best while my kids are still in school too. The stars might be aligning :D

What my biggest worry at this point is I would need to keep working part time at least to make it work financially. I am not sure how much time I would need to allot to work vs. schooling, and if I could fit it all in. My job is pretty flexible as far as 'when' I work, so that would be a huge help with scheduling.

I would need to do all the pre-requisites, as I have had no relevant courses under my belt. The courses here are somewhat gear toward 'adult students' in a way that it is usually 9-11 credits per semester. The way most semester (I figure it would take me 3-4 to do pre-reqs, and 4 for the nursing classes/clinicals) are laid out they are 9-12 classroom/lab hours for pre-reqs and about 4-6 classroom hours and 11-12 clinical hours for the nursing classes, until the last semester with bumps up to 15-16 clinical hours.

So, what I am wondering is this; with that type of load, how much, on average, would you all say it took to do your studies outside of the classroom/clinicals? I have 'heard' that 2-3 hours per credit hour is 'average'. I honestly don't know how clinicals work and if/how much outside studies are associated with that part. Is 20-30 hours of extra studies an accurate 'estimate'?

I feel I would need to work at least 20 hours per week to make things work. If it could be more, all the better. I an no stranger to working 60+ hours per week in my current job when needed, so lots of hours dont really bother me. I would say I am most likely a little better than average learner - better at concepts than memorizing facts.

Thanks for any advice you can provide,

djd

Specializes in ICU.
Hello,

I thought I would put his in the Men's Forum too to get your feedback from a male, father, husband type of perspective too.

I have long thought about being a nurse, but have set it aside as life was busy with kids (now grown - 1 in Nursing School) work was plentiful and fulfilling, etc.... Now, my industry is very slow, financial it would be a bit more doable, etc... Everyone that I have asked either within the industry, or others that have made midlife changes has said they think I would make a great nurse, and to go for it. We have a highly regarded Associates Degree Nursing program right in out small town with somewhat flexible class times, and the Financial Aid looks like it would be the best while my kids are still in school too. The stars might be aligning :D

What my biggest worry at this point is I would need to keep working part time at least to make it work financially. I am not sure how much time I would need to allot to work vs. schooling, and if I could fit it all in. My job is pretty flexible as far as 'when' I work, so that would be a huge help with scheduling.

I would need to do all the pre-requisites, as I have had no relevant courses under my belt. The courses here are somewhat gear toward 'adult students' in a way that it is usually 9-11 credits per semester. The way most semester (I figure it would take me 3-4 to do pre-reqs, and 4 for the nursing classes/clinicals) are laid out they are 9-12 classroom/lab hours for pre-reqs and about 4-6 classroom hours and 11-12 clinical hours for the nursing classes, until the last semester with bumps up to 15-16 clinical hours.

So, what I am wondering is this; with that type of load, how much, on average, would you all say it took to do your studies outside of the classroom/clinicals? I have 'heard' that 2-3 hours per credit hour is 'average'. I honestly don't know how clinicals work and if/how much outside studies are associated with that part. Is 20-30 hours of extra studies an accurate 'estimate'?

I feel I would need to work at least 20 hours per week to make things work. If it could be more, all the better. I an no stranger to working 60+ hours per week in my current job when needed, so lots of hours dont really bother me. I would say I am most likely a little better than average learner - better at concepts than memorizing facts.

Thanks for any advice you can provide,

djd

You couldn't have picked a better career to enter djd. While I did my prerequisites for nursing school I worked quite a bit, but it depends on the prerequisites you're taking. If you've got Life-Span Growth & Development, English, and these type of classes you should be able to work 30-40 hours per week. When you are taking the big hitters (Microbiology, A&P I, A&P II) you're going to need to take some more time off since these require a little more dubious studying. I would recommend taking these classes in 3 different semesters. When you get into nursing school it's a different story. Only you will know how much you can handle combining work and school. I've seen students flunk while not working and students do exceptional while working 50 hours/week. I usually spend about 8-10 hours/week outside of class studying for lecture. As far as clinicals go the time can vary. When I was in my first 2 semesters of clinical I was spending another 8-10 hours/week preparing for those clinicals, but now I just show up and do the work (no more pre-clinical work). Best of luck.

Specializes in Cardiac, Rehab.

I started on my pre-reqs in May 09, started school on an evening/weekend program in Jan 10 and have about 14 more months to go before I graduate and have been working full time all along. Granted, this program is designed for folks that have day jobs, but it is still a lot of work and time spent.

If I have any regrets, it is that I didn't sooner. If you have the chance to do it now, I would take the opportunity. Getting into the pre-reqs will be a good orientation to the type of coursework you will have. The amount of time you need to spend studying really depends on you. Some folks retain information easier then others. For guys, its a great field to get into, the instructors are super supportive of men in the field. Good Luck.

Specializes in RN.

Here it is straight as I can say it...I started in Jan '07 with pre req's, went straight through and was selected to the RN program. The first 2 years I didn't work because I had some TRA money to help me out, thankfully. It cost me my entire 401K to buy health insurance for a couple years and to live on. I have taken student loans and received PELL $$, as well as scholarship $$ along the way. I have noit limited my style of living much, probably should have, but I will be done in 14 weeks. I worked full time 3 X 12 hrs X3 shifts at night per week. I have played in a band the whole time and made $100 or so under the table many weekends throughout. I am doing what I can now, but probably shouldn't be working as this semester is intense. It all depends on your standard of living, do you have a significant other that works? Savings? Depends on each individuals learning style, pre req's should be no big deal as far as difficulty, unless you work too much. Good Luck! I am kinda numb at this point, can't believe I am this close and SSOOOOOOO tired and broke. "They tell me it will all be worth it..." I have a feeling "they" are right, but can't quite answer that yet. I do know that i am excited as I have wanted to be a nurse since I was in my early 20's?...I am 47 presently.....

Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.

Your estimate and approach to the academic challenge seems spot on.

Working 20 hours a week is definitely doable during Nursing School. What job do you plan on working at? If you want to position yourself as well as you can for finding employment after graduation, it would be a great idea if that job was in direct patient care?

The classmates of mine who are the most frustrated in their job searches are the ones who kept their non-healthcare jobs all the way through nursing school.

I'm female; this thread popped up when i searched the What's New.

Find somebody already in the program that you are applying to, and find out how the program is run, how many hours in lecture per week, and how many in clinical. I suspect that the college-based programs might make it far more feasible to have a part time job.

Here's my crappola tale:

I am in a diploma program at a hospital, and it's impossible to work and do this program. We have three days / week of fully 6-8 hours of lecture, with an hour off (11-12 or 12-13) for lunch. Sometimes they put an exam review or student nurse association or other impromptu remedial class in that lunch slot, so you don't get that time to yourself. Then there are two full days of clinicals, 7:00 - 15:30 but they might impromptu make you stay over to 16:00 if the instructor decides there's something that the clinical group must learn before the next day. We get patient assignment sometime after 14:00 maybe not until after 15:00 on Wednesday. Then we have to go to the hosp after lecture, find patient assignment, get lab data, pt hx, med diagnosis, medications, etc. from charts, and then spend 3-4 hours Wed evening, writing up meds/side effects/dosages/yadayada and the rest of the 5-page pt assessment form, and have that ready for clinical at 7:00 Thursday. Have same pt Th/F unless discharged, and there's a care plan and care plan map plus all that other clinical write-up that must be turned in on Monday before lecture @ 8:00. Then it's back to the grind of all-day lectured M-T-W.

Exams are given about every other week, on Monday. With integrated curriculum, the exam could cover a wide base of material, because integrated is pieced together, not a semester of med-surg, of mother-baby, of psych or anything efficient like that. Exam I of nursing II for example was family roles in health, values, ethical decision making, culture & ethnicity, home health care and roles / responsibilities of home health nurse (how to do the job), psych ( RN's role in milieu therapy, group, somatic, cognitive behavioral therapies, pharma for psych, nursing process in psych (how to do the job), types of violence and what to do about them. Additionally, we have HSEI RN Review at Evolve-Reach, and DDST child development, and presentations to give in class, and various research papers to write, and those are all due at various times and students are expected to know what the deadlines are and work those into their spare time by the deadlines.

The required reading for that was bits and pieces of chapters from 7 different textbooks. There was also information given via clinical conference a.k.a. outside speakers. Naturally, with all of this piecing and incomplete coverage of topics from many different chapters of many different texts, it's just about impossible to use a Sounders NCLEX review, or any other exam questions practice book or the publishers' web sites, because you have so much extra overhead just in figuring out "Hey, is this question even asking about anything that we've studied??"

My clinicals are 8 full days of med surge in oncology / m/s overflow unit, 2 x 10.5 hour days of OB labor delivery, 4 days psych, a day or two at OR, and a day or two at wound care, if I recall w/o looking it up.

So, do you see my point about getting insider info about the structure & content of the program before you make plans? This program that I am in started w/ 64 or 65 students, was down to 55 or so by Nursing 2, flunked 15 or so out in Nursing 2 (flunked 75%-80% of the class in exam 3 of nursing 2, as a matter of fact), produced no As, literally only a couple of Bs, and lots of Cs by end of nursing 2, and so far, two people have voluntarily quit Nursing 3.

The parents who had to work and do their childcare were the first to be flunked out, in nursing 1. Ditto those who also commuted long distances. The students who worked 20 hrs/ week or more were weeded out in nursing 3. I don't work, I am single, I have no family to care for, and I have degrees in engineering and CMIS, so this is not my first attempt at academic success, and this d*** program literally takes up ALL of my time! I spend all of my time out of class & clinicals studying, trying to read all the crap they assign, writing up paperwork, and doing the HESI RN stuff. I do not have a life outside of RN school anymore. I am 1 year into it, and I strongly believe I may bow out and go back to the real world of 60-hour workweeks after this semester, because this program is for suckers and the 60-hour workweek is easier plus it networks me with white collar professionals and far more interesting people than I meet doing patient care. This particular school has a full 24 months to do the nursing coursework, because our college is already completed.

added: One instructor who came to our school after teaching at a college said to figure on 6 hours outside for every lecture hour for nursing. That is about double the requirement for a non-nursing course. She told us my school wants hours per every hour in lecture, and I quickly pointed out that 6 x 6hr_lecture x 3days is 108, and based on a 7-day week, that is 15.4 hours PER DAY based on a 7-day week, so maybe that's why we're all not passing?? >;-) I really could not care less, anymore.

I am not a guy, but I saw your thread and thought I should comment anyway :)

I am working over 40 hours a week currently while in my 1st semester of my nursing program. I am not going to lie to you, it is not easy. I don't have the comfort of a flexible job and I work 10 hour (Though more often like 12 hour) nights 4 nights a week. It is not easy but it is cerainly possible. There are several women in the class who have children and work (several full time) and they manage because they have a good support system.

So if your kids are pretty much grown, your home bills are taken care of, your job offers flexibility, and you can get financial aid, by all means go for it! My only advice is take all of your pre-reqs FIRST. Do not think that taking API & II while taking NUR 111 and 112 is a good idea. I am telling you this from a bio grad's standpoint. Most of this material isn't new to me but I still don't think I could hack those courses at the same time while working. The more pre-req's you have out of the way, the better off you will be. While you prep for your entrance exam, start taking those pre-reqs. If you do it that way and be prepped to work your butt off, you will be fine!

Good luck!

Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.
So if your kids are pretty much grown, your home bills are taken care of, your job offers flexibility, and you can get financial aid, by all means go for it! My only advice is take all of your pre-reqs FIRST. Do not think that taking API & II while taking NUR 111 and 112 is a good idea. I am telling you this from a bio grad's standpoint. Most of this material isn't new to me but I still don't think I could hack those courses at the same time while working. The more pre-req's you have out of the way, the better off you will be. While you prep for your entrance exam, start taking those pre-reqs. If you do it that way and be prepped to work your butt off, you will be fine!

Good luck!

As above. I cheated and took "Intros" over the summer, so my A&P wasn't as intensive. Still, it was the only pre-req I found challenging. I took 11-13 hrs/semester (not counting summers),and worked 36-40 hrs/week. If you don't have a strong healthcare background, I wouldn't advise that, tho'.

Its well worth it.;)

Our instructors tell us to only work 20 hours max while in the program. It does get overwhelming later in the semester with all the workload, plus reading, plus studying. Most people in my class work and are doing fine so far. I would advise the work mainly weekends

I am obtaining a 2 year degree RN at a community college. I have been attending a little over 3 years. I have a semester and a half to go. When I first started, my load was 9 credit hours. Every semester since has been at least 12 in order to maintain full time status in order to get maximum benefit of grants and scholarships. I drive approximately 3 hours per day to school and work, yes I work full time, 40 hours per week, with a wife and child. My grade point average is 3.77. I am also 45 years old. If I can do this, you can do this, it is never too late and you can always find a way if you want it bad enough. I feel I made the right decision and I am sure you will as well. Thank you.

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