I am looking at getting into a traditional BSN program, 2 years long, have to have 60 credits of pre-req's, etc. So you are basically just taking nursing classes and doing clinicals from what I understand. If you are in a program similar, tell me what your typical week is like. How many clinicals, how long, class hours, and how many days a week?
I am trying to see if this will be doable for my family and how much I will be away. We homeschool our boys, so I will have to wait for my husband to be in a position to stay home more before I even think of getting into a program.
So whats the farthest you guys would recommend living from school? Depending on where I go I may be looking at a 30-40 minute commute and with all the time you need to go back and forth I am wondering if thats just too far. Of course I probably wont have much of a choice....
Don't forget - it's not just the commute to school that you should consider. The commute to your school's clinical facilities should also be a factor. For example, some of the students in my class have a 45 minute commute to school. That's doable, but for some of the clinical facilities, they'll be looking at a 1.5-2 (or more, depending on traffic) hour commute - ONE WAY.
Personally, I couldn't deal with a 4 hour commute every day. (Granted, it's only temporary, but still....) There are only so many hours a day, and if you're working, have a family, or any other commitments on your time (studying, anyone? lol) it might get a little hairy.
As for the original question, I'm in the first semester of an ASN program. Right now, we have:
Mondays - off
Tuesdays - 0900-1300 Pharm (the 1300 isn't set in stone. Some classes have lasted till 1400 or even later.
Wednesdays - 0630-1200 Clinicals
Thursdays - 0630-1200 Clinicals
Fridays - 0900-1300 Fundies (again, the 1300 isn't set in stone. We've even had to stay as late as 1600 for this class).
Next semester is Basic (Med/Surg) and OB. We don't yet know what our exact schedule will look like, but here's what we DO know.
It's only a 4 day week, so we will have one day off. The 2 days we're in class will be 0900-1300 (again, I'm assuming the 1300 is just a suggestion rather than the rule). The 2 days we're in OB and Med/Surg clinicals will be 8 hour days. We don't know yet if we'll be going 0630-1500 or what. We could just as easily have to go from 1300-2130 (or something along those lines).
Now I'm a morning person, so it wouldn't kill me to have to drive 2 hours to be at the hospital at 0630. Some of my classmates work 2nd shift, though, and I'm wondering when they'd plan to sleep. Oh yeah, I forgot - sleep is for wimps. It would probably be dangerous for me to drive 2 hours to get home after a 2130 shift - especially since I usually pass out about 2100 anyway.
Just a little food for thought as you consider nursing programs. You might want to find out where they do their clinicals as well - especially if you're going to have a long commute to school. They consider facilities according to need first (ie, if you have to do a Peds rotation, but there's only 1 Peds hospital in the area), then they choose facilities based on the commute time from the school. They also usually have to compete with other nursing schools for clinical assignments. It's a huge juggling act, and the students' commute times are the least of their worries.
StudentNurse2011
84 Posts
Don't forget - it's not just the commute to school that you should consider. The commute to your school's clinical facilities should also be a factor. For example, some of the students in my class have a 45 minute commute to school. That's doable, but for some of the clinical facilities, they'll be looking at a 1.5-2 (or more, depending on traffic) hour commute - ONE WAY.
Personally, I couldn't deal with a 4 hour commute every day. (Granted, it's only temporary, but still....) There are only so many hours a day, and if you're working, have a family, or any other commitments on your time (studying, anyone? lol) it might get a little hairy.
As for the original question, I'm in the first semester of an ASN program. Right now, we have:
Mondays - off
Tuesdays - 0900-1300 Pharm (the 1300 isn't set in stone. Some classes have lasted till 1400 or even later.
Wednesdays - 0630-1200 Clinicals
Thursdays - 0630-1200 Clinicals
Fridays - 0900-1300 Fundies (again, the 1300 isn't set in stone. We've even had to stay as late as 1600 for this class).
Next semester is Basic (Med/Surg) and OB. We don't yet know what our exact schedule will look like, but here's what we DO know.
It's only a 4 day week, so we will have one day off. The 2 days we're in class will be 0900-1300 (again, I'm assuming the 1300 is just a suggestion rather than the rule). The 2 days we're in OB and Med/Surg clinicals will be 8 hour days. We don't know yet if we'll be going 0630-1500 or what. We could just as easily have to go from 1300-2130 (or something along those lines).
Now I'm a morning person, so it wouldn't kill me to have to drive 2 hours to be at the hospital at 0630. Some of my classmates work 2nd shift, though, and I'm wondering when they'd plan to sleep. Oh yeah, I forgot - sleep is for wimps.
It would probably be dangerous for me to drive 2 hours to get home after a 2130 shift - especially since I usually pass out about 2100 anyway.
Just a little food for thought as you consider nursing programs. You might want to find out where they do their clinicals as well - especially if you're going to have a long commute to school. They consider facilities according to need first (ie, if you have to do a Peds rotation, but there's only 1 Peds hospital in the area), then they choose facilities based on the commute time from the school. They also usually have to compete with other nursing schools for clinical assignments. It's a huge juggling act, and the students' commute times are the least of their worries.