kristak

If it makes anyone feel any better, my GPA isn't getting me anywhere. A job as a CNA/PCA would have, though.

As an unemployed new grad, my advice is that you get into that hospital now and volunteer your butt off. A lot of hospitals will employ you as a CNA while you are in nursing school - I recommend taking advantage of this. I didn't work while in nursing school, because I didn't think I could manage that plus kids plus maintaining a high GPA. As it turns out, my GPA is worthless. Having an in at a hospital would be priceless!

If you heard from the nursing recruiter, you are doing better than me!

No, and it is causing me some serious anxiety. I miss the days when potential employers let you know that they DIDN'T want you, too. Then I wouldn't have to wonder...

So, I graduate from my ASN program in May. I'm attempting to write my first cover letter. So far I have gotten to: Dear Ms. Whatever (yes, I do plan to change that part), I Why is this causing me such intense anxiety? I'd rather just be taking the NCLEX today than have to do this.

I have wondered, though -- since exams themselves (taken in school) are not standardized, I would imagine that some schools are just harder than others - so it may be harder to pass a test at 74% at one school than to pass one at 80% at another school.

So I started to fill out my first application for a graduate nurse position - I'll be graduating in May. The application wants me to account for my employment gaps - and there is a big fat one relating to my choosing to stay home while my kids were babies (and then, of course, for school itself). Do I say this? Will it look bad - will the hosp think that I may just quit my job if I have another one? On the other hand, my children are the reason that most of my extracurricular activities and "memberships" involved La Leche League and volunteering at their school, not holding bake sales for the NSNA. Blech, I hate this process. Then they want to know if they can contact my last employer, which was a part-time retail job I held before I started the actual nursing program. I'd rather they didn't, as it is sort of irrelevant to anything and management has changed since then, as tends to be the way in retail. Finally, there is the question of references. The app wants three job-related. But I am also getting references from my clinical instructors. Do I need both? I haven't had a real full time job since 2002.\ ADVICE, please!!

Thankfully, I've pretty much covered all the liberal arts stuff in my prior life as an art history major, and the science stuff - chem, micro, etc. - were all prereqs for my ASN, too. So all that is left is the nursing stuff. Really, my motivation for getting the BSN at this point is to enhance my chances of getting a desirable job - there are a lot of graduates in the area from generic BSN programs, and, well, we all know about the paucity of graduate nurse jobs right now, and the BSN students get hired first. I'm not too worried about my capacity for critical thinking, to be honest. I'll be taking the same NCLEX as the graduate from the private, $35,000 a year college - the grad who clocked in way less clinical time than I did. So the next decision - online program or traditional? That school-in-jammies thing sounds lovely.

I've been doing 15 hours of clinical/week since I started nursing school. Now I'm about to finish my 3rd semester. I've done a zillion IVs, given innumerable heparin/lovenox/fragmin injections, done all kinds of dressing changes, given meds through PEG tubes, J tubes, NG tubes, taken lots of lots of blood gluc readings, and given the insulin after... I go to the hospital the day before the clinical to write down my meds, orders, lab values and go through the patient's chart, go through the bedside flowsheet, and meet the patient. Then I go home and spend hours researching my meds, doing my 4 nsg dx, etc. But I have never inserted or dc'd a foley. All my patients already have already had one that was not coming out, or didn't need one. Just happenstance. So I imagine the same thing happens to other nursing students. I only have one semester left, so I imagine I may graduate having never done more with a foley than empty it.

Wow, yeah, the texting/internet thing in class is incredibly rude and childish. At least the people capping their highlighters came to class to learn.

Glad to hear it, 'cause I don't think I could do this again. Research sounds sort of relaxing in comparison!

I've wondered the same thing.

I gotta add - only the children of a nursing student would get their kicks from inflating, deinflating, inflating, deinflating... the practice foley I had for lab.

Hey, I would say go for the BSN. It is untrue that the only reason to do this is if you want to be a nurse manager or go on for your Masters. The pay difference really doesn't even exist. BUT, your chances of actually getting a job with the BSN are ALOT higher. While the "nursing shortage" may return, the fact is that hospitals are likely to take the BSN first. Middlesex has magnet status, which means that they must have a certain percentage of BSNs on staff, and I imagine other area hospitals are also hoping to become magnet hospitals, too.

Hi, I am a senior in the nursing program at Capital. It is difficult, but if you put in the time you can do it... The school has a preschool program, called The Laboratory School, for children who will be three by the end of December; the child must also be potty trained. It is a wonderful program - both of my kids went there - but it is not for infants.