lexie'smama

Hey ladies, just finished my first semester up and now on month long Christmas Break! It is pretty hard and a lot of extra studying at home! Especially if you have to take A & P. And they no longer allow you to go out of the classroom if your exempt. The ones who are exempt had to stay in the classroom during lecture and were allowed to work on other things because you will have other subjects going on at the same time, such as fundamentals, vocational relations and pharmacology. But when they take the Nutrition or A&P tests, you can go study elsewhere. Also, on the powerpoints u asked about, the two instructors teaching styles are very different , but both good. One will give you exactly what you need to know in her notes on powerpoint. This will almost always be what all is on the test. The other, will read from the book and tell you to highlight if she states that it is important. she does some powerpoint , but it is mostly an outline of the chapter. They should send you a list of books to take with you first day, but mostly you will be using the Rosdahl textbook of basic nursing and the A & P and Nutrition if you are taking those. The biggest thing for us was getting through the anatomy with everything else we were trying to learn at the time and also the drug calculations at the end of the semester because you have to make an 81 on the test. But they make it easy to understand and want you to succeed. i made a 100 on it so it is passable. Everyone actually passed it. We did lose a few people the first semester and it was from nutrition. Good luck and feel free to ask any more questions you may have!

my NS instructor spent almost a whole lecture on the importance of "never get your honey, where you make your money!" Valuable lesson i think! lol;)

and how ya doing on that long list of requirements?

hey steph, hows your summer been? cant believe we now have a little over a month until we start! what kind of bag are you gonna get for school?

thanks so much for the replies!

amy 10587, just wonderin, did you buy every single book that was listed and do we use all of them? Also, should we bring them all to class the first day, and should i get like one of the small rolling luggage bags? sorry for all the questions!

thanks so much for your reply Jenni0278! That really helps alot. Maybe we will make it through!! lol

the paper that they gave us totaled about 5,000 in expenses over the year. I was suprised that we had to pay for so much up front. Before school starts, we have to have a CPR class-about 30 dollars, a physical-around 100, our books -around 900, a drug test-probably around 30-45, and a couple other things. She said we had to have our books first day of class, also our hunter green uniforms, and white shoes. so quite a bit of expense before grants or loans come in a couple of weeks after school starts! Hope this helps. Sorry numbers arent exact but thats a good estimate.

i know, it was so overwhelming. im not really sure how im going to pay for everything but i know last year, i did a stafford loan and it was late so they let me go ahead and buy my books and then took it out of my account when my loan was credited by the school. hopefully they will do that again. i called financial aid, so i will let you know when they get back to me. yeah, i think im gonna buy a rolling bag also. they should have quite a few to choose from closer to school starting. i know it says that we need to bring our books first day, so i guess so. i dont know if i will bring stethoscope and kit though. surely we wont need that until a little later on. im hoping that our tuition will come out of financial aid and not have to pay up front bc there is too much else to spend on. the way she talked it would though. i was on the far left side of the room farthest away from the door. had a red shirt with black shirt over it. blonde hair. where were you?

so what did you think about orientation? im trying to figure out how to get all the things done before school starts and come up with the money for them! sounds like its gonna be pretty strict and structured program. but im just ready to get it started and over with!

thanks so much for the reply amy! did you start in jan? how long do you have to study in the evenings?

i was worried about passing nutrition but passed with a B. I am sooo happy about that! hopefully it will give me a little extra time to study for other things. Except i havent taken a & p. im probably going to be working in the evenings and wkends til bout 8 pm so im really worried about that and not having much time to study. and hate that i wont be able to spend much time with my family:cry:

that is scary! I think clinicals is the part that im most worried/anxious about. we will do just fine though. im so happy because i passed my nutrition class this semester so at least that's one thing that i wont have to worry about studying for.

yea i know. i just wonder when we will start wearing the scrubs and all that. Hope its early on because its alot easier for me to get up that early if i know i dont have to pick out something to wear. lol..

yea, anything that involves time or money is always a hard decision to make. whatever you choose to do, good luck!

i agree. I have learned alot in 7 years as an MA, and with my training, i have worked in some great offices, and did alot of different things. I have worked in the lab, in Gynecology, cardiology, removed sutures, helped with procedures, did caths and all kinds of other interesting things. As i look back, i am grateful for that practice, so i feel like maybe now, it will make nursing school a little easier and i might have an extra advantage with some things. It's a great beginner job for medical field. You learn alot, and MA's are hugely in demand in my area, and you get experience with soo many different fields of medicine. But, the reason i am going on for my LPN and RN is i want to eventually work in the NICU as an RN with the babies. That's my longterm goal.

i live in tennessee, and around my area, MA's can make anywhere from 9.00 -15.00 per hour. And i've heard LPN's in LTC are at least 16 per hour. But, in a dr. office, MA and LPN will usually be making about the same, maybe a little difference.

I don't blame you, if you are that close to getting those classes out of the way. I would too. yep. just sent in my paper confirming the other day, so I plan on attending the orientation. Im curious about what all they will tell us then.

i am a current MA, and just got accepted into LPN program for August. If i had it to do over again, I would have went on for my RN or did LPN first, but at the time, I was newly married and low income, so MA was the fastest choice for me. My MA program was only around 4 months, and LPN is 12 months. So, i did MA first, and now, 7 yrs and 2 kids later, going back for LPN and eventually RN. LPN would be better, but i definitely understand that sometimes, we dont have the time or money to do it all at once. If you don't , then get your MA, then you can make okay money and eventually go for LPN or RN. Just keep your goals and dreams in sight and dont give em up, even if you have to climb that ladder little by little. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!!

Thanks! I eventually plan to go on for my RN. that's my ultimate goal. Ive still got about 4 pre req's to finish though. Thought about trying to do the RODP Nursing after a little while as a LPN. Not really sure which way to go yet. I don't think im gonna take any classes this summer. Im just finishing up Nutrition right now, and i so need a break before we start in August!

I used the testprepreview.com and it was soooo helpful for my NET test. I studied the math for about a week for about 30 min-1 hour per day, and received a 97 percent on math, and it is not my strongest subject at all. i wish i had focused on the reading and english also , because even though it WAS my best subject in high school,about 10+ years ago, i did worse in it on the NET. But in all, I had a GREAT composite and scored higher than my school's average score. I also got in the LPN program for FALL! yay!!. I would suggest to anyone to practice the reading passages and main ideas of paragraph and also you will probably see some questions about proper words to use in sentences. Such as when to use who and whom, whomever, whoever, etc.... in sentences. Not as easy as we think sometimes. i googled this and learned an easy way of knowing which to use, in case some of us have forgotten

Thanks so much for all the info! definitely makes me feel a lil better. still quite nervous though. Not working right now, but I have 2 children and husband, or should i say 3 kids :) Im taking Nutrition right now, but dont have the greatest confidence that i will pass the class, considering that the final exam is your final course grade if you fail.

CONGRATS ON BEING ACCEPTED! Guess we will see each other in class! im so excited but nervous... guess we are in for quite a ride from the sound of it. Glad i finally found someone else that was in for fall.

hey YngNursNtrng, I have just been accepted to LPN for Fall of this year at chatt state and wondering just what i should expect the first semester. Lots of homework, tests, quizzes?The instructors, how are they? and in what semester do you start doing clinicals. I have heard that its fast paced and hard work. I really appreciate any advice, or info you can give. thanks soo much!

thanks! good luck to you also. i will definitely keep you posted on how things go.