jjlaman

Sorry, this is why I am going to deal with just one person. If I responded to each and every person that asked me for copies, how long do you suppose that would take me to do? I just don't have the time. When I served as student nursing association president, I got a hold of alot of stuff through various sources and shared it with alot of people (and I am still providing for those in other levels). At one point, I held a meeting and brought with me 60 copies of one program just to hand out. Think of how long that took me to do. Things we're different when I was a student as I would be on campus just about everyday but I am sure you can understand that now that I have graduated, I have other things going on in my life that take priority (I am still preparing for my NCLEX). Once I get with Eddie, I will provide him with the copies as long as he replaces my disks. From that point, you will have to get them from him and copy them (thats what us fellow students did, passed good stuff around). Other things he will receive from me will be through email that he will have to download and some he won't receive until he has completed each level (no reason to hand out level 4 stuff if you havent gotten through level 1 yet). I actually have alot to go over with him when we meet up and I am sure he will share this information with the others in his class. Very good piece of advice: spend time in the nursing computer lab and befriend those in other levels. You never know what they can provide for you.

BTW Eddie, if and when we do meet up, alot of the info and material that I let you in on is going to become your responsibility to share with your classmates as you see fit. I just dont have the time to deal with each person individually. We will talk later about it but alot of the videos and programs that you are required to watch, I already have them on DVD and depending upon whether you provide me with blank DVD's, I can provide you with the videos so that you can watch them at home rather than on campus (They cannot be signed out and must be watched in the library. Dont ask how I got them :wink2:). I also have a few of the NCLEX review courses (including the ones on the computers in the nursing computer lab) on DVD as well. I am more than willing to help but it is on you to want it. Just keep me informed as to when we can meet up.

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I just saw this post. The books can wind up being as expensive as the course itself (thus why I am never selling any of them). I wouldn't advise anyone to sell their books either. I remember some people after getting done with level 1, sold their books back only to realize that they needed some of them later in the program (duh!). Some of the optional books are not worth the money and others are. The campus book store was always to slow for me. I always went directly through Elsevier for my books (that is who they get them from). Just search around for the best price. The bookstore NEVER gets things in on time and if your anal (like most nursing students and nurses are :)) you will want to have your texts before classes start. You all have started using a different text than the one I had in level 1 but if it comes with an optional study guide....buy it. It is always helpful. Eddie, I will let you know when we meet up what books are good and which ones are not. Will also fill you in on the right study guides (some of the Professors have preferences and others that teach different levels take their lectures WORD FOR WORD from particular study guides- helpful study hint wouldn't you say?).

That sounds about right. I was one of those attending the nursing pinning ceremony last Thusday and as the former President of the Student Nursing Association, I can tell you that this is the norm for each entering class that is entering level 1. For one reason or another, it is common to lose close to 20% of new entrants. They either fail (the material is not easy and you are learning a new language on top of that- medical terminology) or they quit because it is not what they expected. Don't let those numbers discourage you though. I am sure that those numbers are in line with other degrees as well. Not everyone goes on to complete a program of study they enrolled for and they go on to something else. I will say this, anyone with the determination and drive can and will get through the program if that is what they trully desire.

Excellent topic you have brought up! I have been feeling the same way. Tonight is my pinning ceremony and I just feel drained. I worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get through nursing school. Now I am feeling as though it is such a monstrous accomplishment but I dont know what to do with myself. I find myself (for the last 3 nights) waking up at 2:00 AM after going to sleep at 11:30PM, and can't get back to sleep (Happened again last night and I've been awake since. Probably wont try and sleep again until I get back from the ceremony this evening). My wife and I sacrificed alot to get me through school and she will not even be attending the ceremony because she has been offered the overtime (We really need the money. She is a 20 year NICU RN and we can't afford to give up that kind of cash when offered.) My parents are deceased so essentially I will have noone there for me to celebrate what is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. I can't stop thinking about my HESI exam that is coming up and the NCLEX shortly there after but find myself completely distracted now when trying to study. I was so looking forward to graduating but now that the day has finally arrived I feel as though it is a letdown. Hopefully these feelings pass soon because I really need to focus on my NCLEX and get a job.

I forgot to even mention the Hurricanes, lol We had friends that moved down to Florida a few years ago even after I told them what I thought about it. When I mentioned Hurricanes to them they replied "Oh we aren't worried, we live in West Palm Beach and they don't get hit really at all." After laughing inside I just "Well OK, sounds like you guys have your minds set". One year later, he loses the roof off his house twice from 2 tropical storms and while replacing it the 3rd time he got hit with his 1st hurricane and lost the entire house. They couldnt take it anymore and decided to move back to New York. The housing market was going through the roof at the time and he couldnt even afford to buy back the house that they sold because it was so overpriced. They had been renting for a couple years after that and just bought a new home a few months ago.

I am about to graduate nursing school next week and my wife has been an RN for almost 20 years. We live up in N.J., but long before I met my wife, I lived in Florida after getting out of the military. I thought that I would look for a change. I grew up in NYC and wasn't in any rush to get back to there. Needless to say, after trying to make a go of it for 8 months, I had to get the heck out of Florida. The "Right to Work State" is just miserable when it comes to wages. I was doing fire sprnkler work that up north is a union job bringing an apprentice $20 an hour whereas in Florida they considered me lucky to be making $7.50 (1994). If you complained, they would just fire you and hire an illegal Cuban to do your job for less. I myself didn't find anything any cheaper. Everything is geared towards tourism and they price accordingly. Even at the supermarket, nothing was cheap. I thought my home expenses would be cheaper because my heating bill would be lower but you spend so much money keeping the air conditioning going that it actually cost more. I spent alot of time in the desert with the Army but Florida was worse. The humidity was killer. I also didnt like and still do not like the water there at all. Not just the drinking water but the shower water. After going through desalination, it leaves your skin very dry. As for people saying that Floridians have a poor IQ I have to say this, my experience with people that actually we're born and raised in Florida is that it is no different than anywhere else you live. Just a different culture. Poor is poor. Difference is that if you live in say Brandon Florida (outside of Tampa), the poor live in trailer parks rather than a big city housing project but everyone is still the same. Just trying to make ends meat and get by. I really didnt like the fact that you could live yourself in a rather pricey home in a so-called good neighborhood but literally down the raod have a trailer park with people with trailer park mentality living not all that far from you. I hated the driving. Really hated it. You want a gallon of milk? Well, hop in your car and drive for 20 minutes to go get it (not like living up north in that aspect at all and its even more hellish when stuck on the highway behind a 70 year old doing 40 in a 55). You have to drive to everything (think of that little added expense with the price of as today). Unless you considered Shamu fine art, there really wasn't a whole lot to do culturally unless you wanted to go out of your way to find it. granted, I did love the beaches (until a jellyfish wrapped itself around my leg) and from where I lived, I could see the Space Shuttle launch while sitting in my backyard, but overall, I wasn't very happy and after 8 months I had to get out of there and bring myself back to New York. Whats funny is that for the past couple of years my wife has been harping on me to move someplace warm (even though I am the one that deals with the snow, lol). Now that I am graduating, she doesn't care about the loss in her pay (which will be around 25% if we we're to move there) because our combined incomes will still be more than what it is now and we could sell our house here and get a mansion down there. Regardless of how I feel about Florida, she keeps pressing me about it and I worry that in the end I will cave and just be miserable again. I think that my kids would really enjoy it though as they could be outside most of the year and have alot more activities to do but I just don't like it myself. We go down to Disney every year and I just consider Florida a great place to visit but not to live.

Sorry guys but lets take a step back and take a breath. Dont let me get you nervous before you've done anything. You have to remember. Class and clinical is only 4 days a week. That gives you 3 days a week that you know you can study and get your work done. Being in the evening program is a little bit of an advantage. Level 1 (semester 1, which consist of Pharmacology, Physical Assessment, and Basic Concepts) is the easiest level you will deal with and not to get you scared or worried again but level 2 is when you get slapped with a dose of reality about just how much work you have in front of you. That said, because you start school in the spring, you have the entire summer to read ahead and prepare yourself for level 2 (which consists of GI/GI and Cardiac). Level 2 is when the workload gets tremendous. Alot of material in a very short amount of time and you will have mutliple care plans, assessments, process recordings and other projects that are piled on top of that. Being in the evening program you do have a slight advantage. You will have already completed all of your pre-requisite courses and don't have the additional course load of having to deal with A&P, Microbiology (which if you didnt complete already would have to be done during the summer between levels 1 and 2), and such. The people in the day program have it much worse. Although alot more in the day program don't work, their course load doesn't just consist of the nursing classes. I have seen alot of people fail out of the day program not because they failed a nursing course but rather didnt maintain their GPA by getting a low grade in A&P or Micro. IMO, nursing school is basically all about time management. If you can learn to manage your time to get your work and studying done, anyone can learn the material. If I, with all of the problems I had going on in my personal life throughout the program (death in the family, wife out of work due to complications of pregnancy, 3 other children to worry about besides the newborn, bankruptcy, foreclosure headache, and on and on, lol) anyone can. I am not the only person that faced adversity like this. I am just trying to point out that no matter how hard things might seem, it is possible to make it through nursing school regardless if you stick to it.

Well try not to fret and remember what I said. The amjority of people in my graduating class worked all the way through the program. Your just not going to sleep much or have any social life, lol You will give up television pretty much entirely (unless its to watch a video for school) and whatever free time you do have is spent worrying over your next exam. Nursing school is what it is though. An extreme course load with no room for getting lax but anyone that pushes and applies themselves, will make it through.

You will also hear from many a Professor that if you currently are working, it is strongly advised that you don't, lol. The program covers alot of material in a very short amount of time (we take the same exact NCLEX exam as those that have completed 4 year programs) and like me, you can plan on many nights of very little sleep. While in my class, there are very few of us that didnt work throughout the program, the majority did work. I do think that I might point out though that those that have failed out of the program, are those that did work. It can be done regardless of whether you work or not. It is just going to require alot of lost sleep, less time with the family, and an eventual ulcer, lol

Thank you very much Crissy and good luck!

Class on lecture days can range from 6:00PM-9:30PM (which for the most part is adhered to but you will have some classes that run late) and on clinical days can go from 5:30PM-10:00PM (but depending upon your Professor and location, can go until 11:00PM and with driving distance, you could be getting home quite late).

I can receive and read PM's but cannot respond to them yet.

got your pm. i guess i can't reply to it because i haven't thrown up 15 posts yet but i will be waiting to hear from you as to if and when you would be interested in meeting up.

Congratulations! Getting accepted is the first step. I dont have all the free time in the world but if your interested, maybe we could meet up one day on campus and I could show you the nursing lab and you can start the computer programs that will need to be done (videos and programs on the computers that assist you throughout the program). Let me know if that is something you would be interested in as I will more than likely still be on campus over the winter break so that I can study for my NCLEX. Sacrifice galore is what nursing school at our age is all about. I have 4 children now. Had 3 when I started the program and then had to leave for a semester because my wife had difficulties with her last pregnancy. Financial hardship is an understatement. With one income in the house, it has been more than rough (I am actually seeing a lawyer next week to avoid foreclosure on my house and file bankruptcy. Had a death in the family and a bank problem that led to a missed mortgage payment. Nothing but misery since then but hey, I have graduated and our monetary situation is going to improve greatly.) but we have kept our heads above water. I myself catch the most hell from my military friends. I am a former Army Ranger and never hear the end of the "Focker" jokes. They like to kid that "not only can he kill you with his bare hands, he can revivie you after the fact and start the torture all over again", lol. Anyway, let me know if you want to meet up and we can exchange contact info. BTW my name is Jeff