sfmarina

Yeah, I am applying primarily in north carolina and the programs here are mostly front-loaded. Seems brutal to start but gets better, like your program. At least, I hope that for you!

Thank you for the details meep meeps, that sounds intense and stressful. I have guessed you guys put in 60 hours but it sounds like closer to 70 if you hae exams etc. Amazing what we are capable of when we have a goal, awesome for you guys!

zaphod-how many hrs do you put in studying after class and clinicals?

I now this has been asked before but I was hoping for some updated responses. I have read the thread "A day in the life of a SRNA" and I am wondering in general, how many hours a week do you put in including class, clinical and studying? Thanks, I appeciate any feedback!

No problem! Honestly, the only thing i had heard was what i wrote about some of the students. But honestly, I feel like nursing school is what you make it. There is a LOT of self-teaching. They can't possibly teach you everything you need to know so it's on you. I have friends at UNC, Duke, Watts and community colleges and all say their programs are unorganized. So you just accept it and learn as much as you can. A big part of what makes a program good is how well they prepare you for NCLEX, but again, there are courses online and classes you can attend to help you prepare for that on your own. If your instructors are lazy about finding stuff for you to do in clinical, seek them out and ask for the next catheter, injection or IV (the scariest things in clinical in my opinion). Instructors can be cranky, nurses on your floor for clinical can especially be cranky, and people can be incompetent so you have to be self-motivated and for your own sanity, don't take things personally and keep a positive attitude and any program can work for you. ;-)

Hi there, I am in my second year of nursing school at alamance community college and was on the wait list at Durham Tech for over two years. The thing about Durham Tech is that they don't look at grades, they just have a wait list. So the caliber of students may not be as high as students at a place that gives points for grades and accepts based on that. (This may have changed at Durham, but that is how i was 2 years ago). Wake Tech is supposed to have a great program too. Alamance has its faults, as every school does, but it is very cheap and the clinical experiences are good. The staff, while unorganized, wants the students to do well and many are pursuing their master's in teaching (all community college instructors must have a master's in nursing by 2010). As far as your BSN, you can get that online from UNC once you have your RN or you can get your RN, work for a year, then enter straight into a master's program (no CRNA program there though). So either way, you can get your BSN easliy. I wanted to get my RN as quickly as possible so I am doing the ADN, then a master's (I have a BS too). I retook all of the prereq's..I started nursing school 1.5 yrs from when i started retaking prereq's and it was totally worth it to get my grades up and prove I was dedicated. I hope this helps!