alyssaml1

Nursing school is a huge time commitment, but it is doable. You have to prioritize what to spend your time doing. I know people that have families that do it, work 30 hours a week and do it, and some people that are involved in several clubs and do it. For my school it is difficult because the grading scale is raised (92-100 A, 84-92 B, and 76-84 C, anything less is failing) and that I only have 13 credit hours but it is about 26 hrs of class/clinical time on top of all the studying and papers. Every semester I have taken at least 18 credit hours and still managed. That being said, I love nursing school and that is what keeps me going.

I am about to go into my senior year of nursing school and am trying decide on my summer plans. Every summer I have worked the whole time and I was thinking about taking the summer off and doing a cross country road trip. I have money saved so I don't really need the money. I am worried that if I don't work this summer I won't be able to get a job after I graduate. I have a 3.6 cumulative GPA and a 3.0 nursing GPA. I'll graduate from a BSN program with a history of 100% NCLEX pass rate. I am a research intern and have presented at national conferences. I have worked as a lifeguard, swim lesson instructor, and nurse assistant at a nursing home. I am conversational in spanish and have studied abroad. I have the opportunity to do a summer nursing externship but I really want to spend this summer exploring the US before I have to work the rest of my life. Will it hurt me if I don't do an externship???