ranidays

These ratios are TERRIFYING oh my gosh. I work on a 38 bed med/surg unit (focus on nephrology/urology pts and we take vents from ICU) in a mid-sized hospital in ND. Our ratios are 3-4:1 on days and evenings; 5:1 on nights (with the occasional 6:1 if absolutely necessary). And we don't even have laws that mandate these ratios, this is the standard for our unit! ETA: As for aides, we have 5 on days, 4 on evenings, and 2 on nights.

Just started out my last semester yesterday! Have public health and adult health III until the end of March, then practicum for five weeks! Graduate May 12th! SO EXCITED TO BE ALMOST DONE!!!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful and sane (don't we all wish?!) semester

Some of these may have already been stated, but this is my list :) 1. As many people on here have already said, nursing school is EXPENSIVE. Let's just say when I first started nursing school (now in my last semester!), I was flabbergasted at the amount of money I had to spend on textbooks, some of which I actually never ended up using. I found that most of my professors actually made excellent powerpoints and lecture notes, and that I studied better from most of my notes than from the book. That being said, you will likely have professors that don't give notes that are up to standards from studying. Learn your studying style and how you can access your information! 2. Be prepared for classes and clinical. I am not an organized person whatsoever. At the beginning of the semester, I always sit down with my syllabi and write down the dates for every test, project, clinical, etc in my planner. In so many words, a planner will be your lifesaver, so USE IT! 3. Get to know your professors and clinical instructors. I had a professor starting in my second semester in nursing school that everyone was absolutely terrified of. Additionally, she was my advisor, so I was doubly afraid of her since I would have to meet with her regarding my schedule during the semester. Instead of continuing to be terrified of her for that semester and semesters to follow, I would visit during office hours with questions from lecture and lab, along with just chit-chatting about other things. Getting to know your professors beyond just classes and labs makes your life so much easier; they become less intimidating! 4. SLEEP. I will always stand by my guns when I say that sleeping a decent amount the night before a test rather than doing a last-minute cram and getting no sleep is the best way to go. I don't know if everyone will agree with this philosophy, but I have yet to pull an all-nighter studying for a test because I know there is no way I would be able to take that test the next day without bursting into tears from the stress and lack of sleep. I know, based on my study skills, that if I don't get a good night's rest the night before a test, I will not do well. Again, this non-existent thing in nursing school called "sleep" may not always be a reality, but try to make it work if you can. 5. The best advice I can give: TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF. Again, this is another thing that is laughable when one thinks of nursing school, but even just taking an hour or two for yourself does wonders. Take a nap, take a walk, take a bath, watch TV, ANYTHING that isn't studying, is a lifesaver. I personally like to read for fun (reading for fun...... hahahahaha), but whatever you choose works too. Welcome to nursing school! Hope everyone has a great semester! :heartbeat

I was terrified when I received my letter... they straight out told us at an information meeting that if we got in, it would be in a big brown envelope, and if we didn't it would just be a letter....... so I check my mail, and I receive a small brown envelope. Not a white envelope or a big brown one... but it was thick. So I shredded the crap out of the envelope because I was so confused on what it was supposed to be when it was neither of the envelopes described to me. And then I proceeded to stare at it with my mom repeating 'Did you get in?!' over and over.... and I said yes, and did a dance. Good times :) Good luck!

A planner, preferably a giant one because you'll take up lots of space:lol2: I personally LOOOOOOOOVE sticky notes. I'm obsessed. If it's not on a sticky note somewhere visible, I'll forget. I'm so unorganized so this really helps. Last, but not least, your sanity. I know that every nursing student on this board is laughing hysterically at this statement, buuuuut if you don't take a little time for yourself, including SLEEP, it will affect you! Good luck!

Ours is a 75%, but most professors will negotiate if it's a 74.5-75.

I really get a kick out of how some professors think the excessive reading assigned is actually DOABLE. I have a prof this upcoming semester who seems pretty hardcore, but I don't think she'd do that to us, haha. I would seriously cry if I was assigned 700 pages a week, especially just for ONE class! I'm in my second semester, and now we're doing the 'real' stuff, like skills, assessment and such, and I have NOWHERE near 700 pages a week for all of my classes! I would just do what everyone else has been saying, bring it to your prof's attention that you are worried about it, and you definitely aren't the only one! I understand they want us to learn and retain information, but it's kind of difficult when you have to read THAT much. Nursing school is hard work and all, but you shouldn't be buried to death by information, you are there to learn, not to memorize. If it comes to her not backing down, I would just focus on notes and skim the reading assignments, focusing on things that you don't understand as well. Hope all works out for you :)

We just did a project like this too! We didn't have to do an actual presentation, we just did poster boards and set them up in clusters for people in the nursing/pharmacy building to come check out and ask us questions about. Our group did swine flu (which got really old really fast haha), but other groups did healthy bones, MRSA, how to deal with stress, all sorts of different nutrition things, breast cancer, babies, autism.... they were really creative about it, so I'm sure you'll come up with a great idea! Good luck!

We haven't actually gotten our uniforms yet, but I've seen a pic. White scrub top with the school logo, green scrub pants, lab coat. I was pleasantly surprised though, I was worried they would do something horrifically ridiculous since our school colors are yellow (or gold or whatever you wanna call it haha) and green

My BSN program required two reference letters, which was basically a sheet with a checklist on it, rating the student 1 to 5 (1 being bad, 5 being superb) on our qualities, such as compassion, humility, yada yada. They could write an actual letter, too. And the program asked that the people you had do the letter was someone of... I can't think of the word, but someone like a pastor, professor, another nurse. I had my boyfriend's mom do one (nurse) and one of my lab profs. It was relatively easy, just don't forget to give an envelope and stamp for it to be mailed!

Tinediddy- My biochem book (which I still have cuz the bookstore didn't want it apparently...haha) is called General, Organic and Biochemistry (8th edition) by Bettelheim, Brown, Campbell and Farrell. If this is your book, it helped me a LOT for my biochem class. I don't know if that's the book you're talking about or not but... yeah. :)

Our minimum for both cumulative GPA and the GPA of the prereqs was 3.0, but the dean of the nursing school straight up told me that they really only look into your app if you have higher than a 3.6 in your prereqs (I know, they're picky, haha). I had a 3.96 in my prereqs (dunno how I pulled that one off!) and a 3.51 cumulative GPA. Hope that helps!

Oh my, some of these schedules make me want to cry just looking at them! I thought my 15 credits of classes made me cringe, but yikes! But HEY, at least we got each other to complain to when we're crammin' last minute for that dang A&P exam, right? :chuckle

HAHAHA, I thought I was a weirdo for loving the smell of new paper and books. YAY FOR FRESH PAPER SMELL!

AHH! I found my homeeeeee in this thread! I once again went to Walmart today, sans money, as I currently have zilch in my bank account, and proceeded to wander yet again JUST to see if they had anything new that I missed a few weeks ago (they didn't!) I have to get paid again before I can buy my beautiful purple binder, and a zillion highlighters, and such. The funny part is.... I'm SO excited for school, and the thought of buying school supplies makes me jump up and down, but after a week... I'm going to be cowering in my bed begging for it to end... hahaha. I'm sure I won't be the only one.

I was just curious because I've been reading a LOT of threads that talk about taking these tests. I didn't even KNOW what they were until I googled them! My BSN program just required a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA, eligibility for sophmore standing, two references, and the required prereqs with a passing grade. I found it odd after reading about the TEAS/Hesi that we didn't have to take them, as my advisor said that our program is extremely competitive. I don't think any of the colleges in my area that have nursing programs require them either. Anyone else?

I'm taking A&P I with lab this fall, also. I am already in the program, however. Our school just says you have to take a certain amount of science prereqs before you get in, so I had Chem, Microbio and Biochemistry done instead of A&P I and II. I am super nervous! I've heard soooo many things about how evil my A&P teacher is.... the rumor is that she is on some sort of teaching probation for FAILING so many students!!!!!!! I don't know if that's true or not, but it's starting to scare me! I'm taking A&P I along with Creative Writing, Nutrition and 2 nursing classes. Good luck to us all!

UGH, you poor thing, I had that stupid virus on my computer a month or so ago (thanks to my lovely brother, haha). I actually used this to get it off my computer: http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx Click 'Skip the details and download the tool' Click 'Download' Once it opens up (it won't stay on your computer after it's done scanning, so it won't be another hassle), it'll ask you to do a quick scan or full scan. I'd recommend just doing the full one, but it takes a few hours, so make sure you have some time to let your computer sit there. It SHOULD work, it did for my computer. If it doesn't... well, I don't know much more about computers, so you might want to take it in. Best of luck!

Since the boyfriend thing seems to be so amusing, here is a new tidbit to add to it, haha: Today was my birthday, so we went to Olive Garden. The ENITRE time, I talked about how excited I was for nursing school, what I needed, about the books, about scrubs, about classes, etc, etc. I'm pretty sure he wanted to kill me! But it's my birthday, so he can't It was such a great feeling, until he laughed at me cuz I have so many classes and he has like, one, maybe two a DAY. Then it wasn't funny anymore! Just thought I'd share... and I'm still excited to school-supply shop/get my books!

:lol2:HAHAHAHAHA, Christie, I TOTALLY did that at Walmart a few days ago... I wandered around the sections, telling my boyfriend about how I'm going to need highlighters, Sharpies, etc, etc, etc. Needless to say, he rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering about how school doesn't even start for another month. They just don't get it!

I'm starting August 25th at North Dakota State University! SOO excited, yet nervous. Congrats to everyone

I took Micro last semester and it was quite odd, because it's the only college class I've ever taken where the prof decided to take all test questions off the notes, and made the book optional... and to be honest, I wouldn't have needed the book anyway! I was quite nervous about Micro before I took it, but it really isn't too bad. Without the book, my prof still made the tests pretty difficult and I still got an A. My advice would be to make sure you read into the details, for example, we learned about Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, and the difference between the two is their cell wall content... things like that are drilled into your head by the end! Good luck to you!

I LOVE this website... I've been skulking around here for a while, waiting for my letter of acceptance or denial (and I did get in, yay! Congrats to everyone else, as well ) and this is probably the best thread I've read so far. I'm EXTREMELY nervous about starting in August, but reading all this has really helped my anxiety.