Newbie w/introductions

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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hello, everyone! i wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. i am not a stranger to allnurses in general but mostly lurk and read posts. i've been a member for a few years.

i am a 42 y/o mother of 3 children, ages 13, 10, and 8 years. thankfully, they're in school! i became interested in working in healthcare because of my "medical follies," as i've affectionately dubbed them. i've had over 10 surgeries total and consider myself a "professional patient." this is what started it all...lol

i graduated from an accelerated diploma medical assisting program in july of 2010 but was unable to find a job. however, my real desire/goal was to attempt nursing school. i have had a little bit of a math 'phobia' in the past; i gained confidence during my ma program, which enabled me to continue attempting to pursue going back for an actual degree, which i do not currently have, only diplomas.

i was going to go through iupu's bsn nursing program but knew that a pell grant wouldn't cover much, esp. during each semester. it would cost over $40,000 if i went through their program. i met again w/a nursing advisor and was given more options about my future goals. i decided to start out at ivy tech, and, if everything went as i planned, i would complete their asn nursing program and then bridge over to a bsn at iupu.

i was fortunate enough to receive a federal pell grant, as well as a frank o'bannon grant (indiana). the pell covered my tuition w/ money left over. my money will be refunded to me, but i won't receive it for 6-8 weeks after this fall semester starts. the o'bannon grant will be refunded to me as well.

i found my books online at amazon for 90% cheaper than at the bookstore. the only problem that i had w/this is that one of t he 3rd party sellers used fedex smartpost, which i do not recommend if you're antsy and want the book quickly. lol

i am very excited about starting this journey monday and look forward to interacting with the members of allnurses for encouragement and support.

elaine

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Specializes in Public Health.

congrats on starting your journey and finally posting something!

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YAYYYY!!!! Good for you! I am starting NS on Monday too! It's so exciting isn't it? I am happy for you and know you will do great!:yeah:

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Best of luck to you! I am also a mom with older kids and now going back to school. Yay!

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Hi, it's nice of you to share. I hope nursing school goes well for you. I start in late September, and am getting kind of excited. Good luck!

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Thanks for all of the encouragement! I'm getting my stuff together this weekend. I am going to have a folder/notebook for each class and am actually going to (for my own personal benefit) have a "schedule" printed out for each day that I'm in class to keep myself organized. Gotta get rid of these scatterbrained tendencies! LOL

I'm going to make my own flash cards as well. Don't know whether to get an inexpensive laminating machine or use card stock paper. Will keep everyone posted.

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I wanted to say hi! I feel the same way as you. It was during a hospital stay when I started saying to myself, "I can do this". And now I am. It is exciting, isn't it? I'm hoping to find some A&P1 buddies to compare notes with later in the semester.

Do you plan on getting the anatomy coloring book?

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Hi -

We sound so similar, I am also 42 yo and have 4 kids, my youngest is 10. I have been a "professional" patient now for quite some time, and am looking forward to being on the other side, and being that nurse that has passion for her career and empathy knowing what a patient is going through. I start school on 10/3, I am soooooo excited, I cannot even tell you.

I wish you all the best!

:yeah:

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I wanted to say hi! I feel the same way as you. It was during a hospital stay when I started saying to myself, "I can do this". And now I am. It is exciting, isn't it? I'm hoping to find some A&P1 buddies to compare notes with later in the semester.

Do you plan on getting the anatomy coloring book?

That sounds like a great idea! I don't know which one is highly recommended.

polka-dot on this forum posted quite bit of pdf files a few years ago. I was thinking about printing them out. I counted them, and there are 161 pages of pdf files. The link to this:

https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/p-help-my-334360.html

It'd be great to know what book(s) re: A&P Ivy Tech plans to use next semester, but the earliest that I can find out is around October. I have an A&P book entitled The Human Body in Health and Disease when I was in medical assisting, but that was probably just an intro to A&P. I know that A&P in nursing school is MUCH more intense! LOL:eek:

Edited to clarify that 161 pages of pdf documents are the total re: the chapters that polka-dot compiled from the author Marieb.

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Wanted to let everyone know that everything is going well. Tonight is my 2nd day of the Math class (pre algebra). We will have homework, but our instructor doesn't grade it, only the tests. I took the time between 2 English classes yesterday to hole punch my orificenal of math worksheets that I printed from math-drills.com. I bought a 2-inch binder @ Staples before class just for that purpose. If necessary, I can buy a bigger one if need be.

I also bought a plastic/foldable crate to haul my books around in. Nobody seemed to really pay it a second glance, as I thought it looked like I was tooling around quite the contraption. LOL Ah, well. It's part of the cause...:lol2:

I have always done well in Reading & English, so next semester when I have English Composition, I am confident that I'll do well. We'll be writing essays out the ying-yang...:cool:

I didn't get either of the 2 work/study positions that I recently interviewed for. The first guy tried smoothing over the 'rejection' (cough) and implied that other departments will def. be calling me, blah blah. Oh, well. I'll just see what happens. I'm receiving some financial help for gas $ from my mom. I can't wait until my refund gets here...

Tomorrow is my computer (filler) class: Intro to Microcomputers/working with Microsoft 2010. I am going to buy the Toshiba laptop at Walmart for $279 as soon as the refund gets here. I've got my eye on an Epson all-in-one scanner/copier/printer at Staples and may just get it there instead of having it shipped to me. More research on pricing is needed before I make a final decision on that.

Hope everyone is enjoying their courses!

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I have another 2 weeks before class starts. Groan. I didn't know Walmart's prices are so reasonable. I really need a laptop this semester.

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I have another 2 weeks before class starts. Groan. I didn't know Walmart's prices are so reasonable. I really need a laptop this semester.

The closest Wal Mart to my town has a Toshiba laptop (not sure which model w/out looking at it in person) for $279 before sales tax.

I "bungled" it last Friday. Had it in my head that my computer class started at 4:30. It REALLY started at 1 pm!:uhoh3:

Anyhoo, I called and talked to a lady in the bldg where the class was being held. I went over to the main campus anyway to take care of some other business. She asked if I could meet w/her Monday (yesterday) so she could give me a recap of what the computer instructor had went over.

I was over there @ the main campus yesterday and met w/the lady, and she informed me that the actual book is part of a bundle. HOWEVER!! I still can use my book; she just gave me 2 different 'supplements' that I will only need to borrow/use for this week and next week's class. I believe that this computer class is done (somewhat) in an online/simulation learning environment. Today I will finish catching up on my Math homework (I did over 100 practice problems from math-drills.com) and had to get the addition/subtraction, yadda yadda down w/that before completing the homework problems. I did miss my Math class yesterday because

1) We can miss if we feel that we know the material, and I called my instructor and left him a msg on his VM.

2) My 2 youngest children wanted to attend the Open House @ the elementary school, which I had forgotten about.

I met w/ a tutor (an actual instructor) at the main campus yesterday to go over my knowledge of negative numbers. My problem w/things is that I have difficulty w/organization, so I'm trying to get a grip on that. There is a lady who does tutoring at the campus that I am at the most.

I wish I knew which book Ivy Tech is going to use for the A&P class next semester. I may just go ahead and do some studying on my own to get a grip on the material. The A&P class that I had at medical assisting school wasn't as thorough as this is going to be, I am certain! LOL

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!:D

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