FredPuma

I'm about half way done with my program, but yes I was very nervous on the first day. It's a lot of work, but if you keep on top of reading assignments, you should enjoy it.

The professors at my school would think we were joking if we asked to be rounded up to an A because we were .11 away from it. Unfortunately, our profs seem to think that passing at all is great, and you're greedy if you're that upset that you didn't get an A. It's frustrating.

How did you get into a class you are supposed to take your second semester before you've even started clinicals? It took us weeks to learn how to write a decent nursing diagnosis. I also suggest Ackley. We have to have Carpenito for class, which has it's points, too- but Ackley will help you more further down the line.

My school does 7 week classes. When you start the class for the first couple weeks you feel like you're just trying to memorize stuff, and that nothing is sinking in. By the end of my first flex I was really surprised at how much I had learned in such a short amount of time. I was really stressed about the hesi when school started, but I ended up scoring in the 96th percentile on a test based on a 16 week fundamentals course when mine was only 7 weeks. You can do it. Just stay up to date with your reading, make it to every class, and stay active in clinicals and lecture as much as possible. It will all start sinking in eventually.

I agree with the other posters. Getting financial aid is pretty much the only way I can get through nursing school unless I wanted to move back in with my parents. Look to transfer as soon as possible. I know state schools get more grant money/ etc if they have a higher graduation rate, so I would assume that it somehow affects private schools as well. Your councilor is going to suggest what's best for the school first, and what's best for you second. If you have competitive grades, I don't see any reason that a BS in biology would help you if you are going into nursing. Take classes in the fall at the state school you'll be trying to go to for nursing, and apply as soon as possible. Good luck!

Make sure you're really comfortable with A&P stuff, directional terms (ventral/dorsal/etc) and math. You probably wont need math for most of your first semester, but it's crucial that you're ok with it later on in the program. We have to pass a math proficiency test at my school twice a semester. I have no problem with it, but you'd be surprised how many people have trouble with the concept of cross multiply and divide. I haven't found the subject matter too difficult to understand so far, but it's a lot, a lot, a lot of learning in a short amount of time. You need to be extremely organized and prepared to spend many hours studying and reading. Our first test 3 weeks into school covered 12 chapters of material. And be prepared to learn to think in a completely new way. All our tests are multiple choice, which seems like it would be easier. But out of 4 answers, only one is really wrong, and you have to pick the most right out of the remaining three, which can sometimes be pretty tricky unless you've kept up with your reading, paid serious attention in class, and completely understood the subject matter. Are there no classes you can take in the fall just to keep you in school? I would have had a hard time going from summer and fall semesters off to jumping right into nursing school. It might be worth the extra tuition just to take 2 classes or so to keep you into the habit of studying/ organizing your time. Don't take anything too hard, because you're going to look back on this time with your family and wonder how you used to have free time at all. But if I were you I'd at least take an extra chemistry class or something just to keep busy. I took World Religion and it actually helped me a lot when we were going over cultural sensitivity in class. My biggest suggestion is: when you do start nursing school, stay up to date with your reading. If you get behind at all, you'll never ever catch up. It goes to fast to cover 3 days worth of reading in one night. Good luck!! And congrats! As stressful as it is, I love nursing school more than anything I've ever done.

I don't see anything wrong in asking your instructor about it as long as you let them know what you did to find out on your own. "Don't ask questions because you don't want to look stupid or like you couldn't do the work yourself" is a sure fire way to killing someone someday. If you don't know for sure, ask. That's what you're paying all that money for anyway- for someone to teach you. For what it's worth- I agree it's probably hypernatremia.

Everyone told me A&P was terribly difficult, and I didn't find it that hard, so that was a lot of the reason I blew off comments about nursing school. NS is different because you have to learn to think in a completely different way. It's not just time consuming, and memorization, it's application. You have to apply facts that you've learned to situations you've never been in. And I don't know about other schools, but at mine they have a nasty habit of offering 3 "right" answers in multiple choice, and 1 "really right" answer. So you have to be able to really think about things, prioritize the answers, and change the "right" answer depending on one little word in the prompt. It's not just that the subject matter is difficult, they expect you to operate on a level of understanding that is twice what your hardest pre-req class demanded. But if you keep up with the reading, go to study sessions and reviews, and answer nclex-esque questions to help you study, you're on the right track.

I didn't think NS was going to be as hard as everyone said it was, either. I knew it would be tough, but not as crazy as it is. And no one seems to believe me when I tell them how hard it is and how much time it really takes out of my day. I've always made A's, and have managed to keep them in NS so far as well. But it takes so much more work than it used to. My boyfriend thinks I'm just purposefully ignoring him now. He thinks I'm being lazy when I tell him that I need more sleep and can't wake up early to hang out with him since I'm taking night classes. Thank God for summer vacation.

I just found out about the not sharing grades rule a few weeks ago. I'm in my first semester. Before nursing school I was moving through my prereqs with a bunch of the same people every semester and we all shared grades, had a healthy competition thing going, and no one got bent out of shape if one person did better than everyone else. Well, our first test in nursing school yielded a class average of 71, while I made a 92. I learned really fast that I shouldn't have told anyone. Now all the people in the group I hang out with are either mad at me, and seem to think I have no reason to ever complain about or be upset about anything again ever, or they think that I have some secret studying strategy that I refuse to tell them. One of my best friends is completing a graduate program in physical therapy and she told me the best thing to tell people about your grade is "I did good enough." Too bad I didn't ask her about that before I opened my big mouth.

A few weeks before your classes start go find your instructor and ask what the assigned reading is for the first week of class. Our first test was the third week, and covered 16 chapters of material. The only way I was able to cover that much was because I had already read 9 chapters before class started. If you get behind on your reading, you're screwed. There is no such thing as free time. If you plan on catching up on the weekends, you'll be pleasantly surprised with the massive amount of assignments they give you to do, on top of the normal reading and studying you are supposed to be doing.

We aren't allowed to miss any clinical hours for any reason unless we want it to affect our grade. If we miss one day it drops our grade a letter point, and if we miss two grades we are withdrawn from the class immediately. No matter what happens- car crash, family dies, you come in and they decide you're sick and send you home- anything that keeps you from clinical is an absence. I would guess they would do the same thing to us in your situation. Even though it wasn't really your fault you had some control over the situation and could have alerted your instructor sooner about not getting called back. They may have had an opportunity to place you somewhere else. Anyway- just be glad they let you miss that day at all.

Did everyone else feel like a completely useless loser their first few weeks in clinicals? I just started school in March, and while I am doing great in my theory class, I feel lost and hopeless at the nursing home we are doing our clinical rotation at right now. I haven't made any big mistakes or anything, I just feel like I have no idea what's going on most of the time and that I'm not being at all useful or I'm terrified that I am actually going to make some sort of terrible mistake. Did everyone feel like that, and does it go away? Or am I weird?

I've been lurking on this forum for a while, and hadn't registered for an account yet. But I just got my acceptance letter on Thursday (WOOHOOO!!!) and so I figured I would join. I'm going to San Antonio College's RN program starting in January. I'm running around like a chicken with it head cut off trying to get everything I need finished before they will let me register (immunization records, CPR certification, drug test, etc.) for my classes. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for a successful first semester, or anything that I should know that I might not be expecting? Thanks!