Java_Wench

I graduated with an ADN in May, passed NCLEX July 31, and had no previous experience in the medical field. I began applying in April, applied at the two hospitals in my area. About 150 applications put in. At the beginning of September, I had two interviews with the nurse recruiters for both hospitals. After that, I had three other interviews with floor managers, four job offers and had my first day of on-the-floor orientation today. It may depend on your area, but I had no problem getting a job without experience. Good luck! :)

IL 20.10/hr with $1/hr differential for weekends. no previous healthcare experience med-tele with crosstraining to cardiac stepdown.

So just as an update, the nurse recruiter with the first hospital called me back (the day after I left that voicemail) with 3 job offers! One for the first floor I interviewed with and two for the second floor I interviewed with (different shifts). Then the nurse recruiter from the second hospital I interviewed with called me the next day with a job offer too! So, I went from nothing since April when I began applying, to three interviews and four job offers in two weeks. Needless to say, I happily accepted one of the offers, and am supposed to begin orientation on the 22nd! I am so thrilled and excited (and terrified)! For other new grads out there, try not to get discouraged! I heard NOTHING for 5 months and then BAM, everything at once! Hang in there guys! :)

Thanks for the advice! I called today and left a voicemail for the nurse recruiter, thanking her for the interview and letting them know if they needed anything else from me, paperwork or information to please give me a call. I don't want to seem pushy so I'll probably just leave it at that (the NR's voicemail said she was out of the office until tomorrow).

Hi all, I've been applying for jobs at the two major hospital systems in my area since April. I graduated in May, passed NCLEX in July and received my license in August (yay!). I got a call a couple weeks ago from one of the hospital's Nurse Recruiter for an interview. Last week I had that interview, and it seemed to go really well. The NR said she was going to pass my info off to a couple nurse managers and I'd probably hear from them. One of the nurse managers (for the ortho/surgical floor) called me back the next day and I had an interview with her that I thought went really well, lasting almost 2 hours and included a tour of the floor and introductions to some of the unit nurses. She said I'd hear from the Nurse recruiter in two or three days. I didn't hear back (granted, friday was the "third day"). So I'm sorta feeling...I don't know. I guess trying to decide if I should follow up with a call to the Nurse Recruiter (but I don't want to seem pushy or needy). From famine to feast, I guess because the second hospital called me up last week and scheduled an interview with both their Nurse Recruiter and the nurse manager for their surgical floor for next week and I was called for another interview with the first hospital with the nurse manager of their cardiac stepdown floor. I'm happy to have the interviews, but wondering if I should call back about the first opening/interview I had. What do you think? I'd be thrilled with any of the jobs I'm interviewing for. They aren't my dream areas, but they are a foot in the door and an opportunity to get experience in basic nursing (that I really need, as before nursing school I had no previous medical experience). Should I call the nurse recruiter to check in? Would that be too pushy? Am I freaking out over nothing? Advice would really be appreciated!

Graduated with ADN in Illinois May 15, 2014. Passed NCLEX July 31. Began submitting job applications in April. Applied for over 100 openings. First interview is Thursday, fingers crossed!

After pre-reqs, my school had this layout: Semester 1- Nursing 112 (10 credit hours) and Nurs 138 (1 credit hr) Semester 2 - Nurs 122A (5 hrs) and Nurs 122B (5 hrs) Semester 3 - Nurs 216 (10 hrs) Semester 4 - Nurs 226 (10 hrs) Clinicals every semester. There were 2 other 1 credit classes, pharm calculations (which was optional or required depending on if you passed the pharm calc exam each semester) and a pharmacology class (which was optional, if you wanted more pharmacology than was included in the normal nursing class). So it seems that mine was similar to yours.

Graduated in May, and take NCLEX next week! So....terrified! :)

Thanks! I'm terrified but hopeful..studying like a madwoman! When I was given the extension, it paid for my classes with some left over for books (I also had a scholarship that helped). At my school, once you're given the extension, you can get the max amount of financial aid allowed by your FAFSA and the government (within the boundries of your lifetime limit). I'm not sure how it is anywhere else though. Good luck with your appeal!

I ran into that. Not sure if it's the same issue you had, but I basically "used up" the hours that financial aid would cover at my community college getting a previous associates degree (that was actually useless, but I was younger and not too bright at the time). My financial aid office allowed me to appeal and awarded me a "timeframe extension" on financial aid. The college only allows so much financial aid and I was over THEIR limit, but not the lifetime limit allowed by the government/financial aid gods. So I was approved, but financial aid would only cover the classes required for the degree, so there was no padding to get full-time status or anything like that (my ADN program averaged 10-11 credit hours per semester). If your school offers that, it may be the way to go. It's a bit of work to write the appeal, meet with financial aid, etc, but it's worth it if your school allows extensions. I graduated in May and take my NCLEX in a couple weeks. Good luck!

Thanks for your opinions! :) The Hurst is pricey (hell, everything is pricey for me right now).......the whole "split it up into two checks" is pretty much the only reason I'm going to be able to do it. I'll definitely let you know what I think of it though! I hope it's worth it. lol

Hi All, I'm looking for opinions from people who've taken both the HESI exit exam and NCLEX. I am graduating next week (YAY!) and took my exit exam this past Monday. I passed with 1,052 (my school requires an 875 before they'll put you on the roster to send to NCLEX). I've heard that the HESI is a pretty good indicator of NCLEX and I'm curious if anyone has an opinion on this? I'm also planning on taking the Hurst Live Review at my school in a couple weeks. Basically........I'm just sort of terrified of the NCLEX. But I've had several people tell me that if you pass HESI, you're sitting in a pretty good spot to pass NCLEX. So....what do you think??

"How to look incredibly stupid without even trying?" Easy. Be a nursing student at clinicals. That's me. Every dang clinical day. I feel like I enter some sort of fugue state on the drive in and am rendered ridiculously stupid and incompetent for the rest of the day. Ugh.

That's insane. A student acting like that in my clinical group would have been bounced out on her butt and given a fail for the day, at least. Our entire first semester was in a nursing home doing basic patient care. That's part of the job! What's this student going to do someday when she's an RN and finds herself on a floor with no aides? Or has the poor aides running ragged? Cmon, it's a team. Noone likes to clean up poop. But it goes with the territory. Wow.......just sad.

I'm in my final semester of an ADN program. Here's my current schedule... Monday - off (with the exception of community teaching and certain observation days). Tuesday - Clinicals from 6:30am til 3:30pm. Wednesday - Clincals from 6:30am til 3:30pm. Thursday - Lecture from 9am-12pm and 1pm to 2pm. Friday -Lecture from 9am til 12pm. Now, in my cohort (there are currently 36 of us) there are four different clinical groups, on different days (some on weekends) and different times (some are second shift). Lecture time is the same for all of us. One of the reasons it's difficult to try to plan your work/nursing schedule is because often the instructors do not have absolute confirmation on the clinical schedule the facilities they use will allow until the week before class starts. Sometimes it's even the first week of class. So things can be sort of "up in the air". And there are things (classes, observations, flu clinics, community teaching) that aren't part of the normal schedule. It can make the work thing tricky. I only work 10 hours/week. My previous job would not work with me on my schedule so I had to leave before school began. But, several of my fellow students work full or close-to-full time jobs and manage. Because of the large amount of time I spend studying (3-6 hours/night depending), I have mommy-guilt because I feel I'm not spending enough time with my 3 year old daughter, but I try to make up for it when I can. So yeah, that's my schedule. Good luck to you!! :)

1. Coffee 2. Day planner 3. Sense of appreciation of the ridiculous.

I love these stories. I'm about to go into my last semester of nursing school, and bless your hearts.........I just couldn't take the ED. LOL I'm on medicaid for the moment and I've made two ER runs in the last year. One for me, and one for my 3 year old. Mine was a toothache. Now, before you jump me about it, let me tell you that an ordinary toothache well......I can deal with that. But not this monstrosity. I had broken a tooth and stupidly hadn't had it taken care of. Well, of course it abscessed on me about midnight on a friday night. My dentist didn't open til Monday. I tried every OTC pain med and home remedy I could think of, but when I developed a big lump along my jaw that saturday night, off to the ER I went. I was so thankful for the Vicodin and Amoxicillin, and I had that thing yanked monday morning but wow........so completely miserable. The second trip.....well my darling daughter stuck a bead up her nose, from a necklace she had broken. Why? "Cause." I tried everything....tweezers, superglue on toothpick...it was up too far to squeeze out. And she hasn't gotten the hang of blowing out of her nose yet, so she just kept sniffling it higher. ER run at 9pm on a Saturday night, of course. Because she can't do that when her ped is open, or even the convenient care. I felt awful, but I was worried she was going to snorkel that thing into her lungs, and she was so scared. They had this awesome little suction cup thing that attaches to the wall suction and got that bead right out in a second. I was just thankful it wasn't a busy night and we weren't taking up time for anyone else. Unfortunately, the ER staff was so sweet to my daughter that she now asks to go to the hospital every time she gets a bump or scratch. *sigh* SO........from those of us who have stupid, silly reasons to go to the ER....thank you all so much for everything you do!

Hello! I'm an ADN student at the end of my third semester (the end is in sight!), and just finished my L&D clinical rotation, which was absolutely fabulous and taught by a ridiculously good clinical instructor. It was also kind of neat to be back on the floor I had my child on three years ago, to see things from the other side of the aisle. :) So, I came away with a couple questions. Since I started school, L&D is one of two places I'm really interested in. And while I saw some amazing things during my clinical, I was also really disturbed by a couple things I saw (the delivery of a 26 weeker, and a boy who had a circumcision gone wrong among other things). I came home and worried and worried and cried for those babies. My question is, does it get easier? How do you cope with sad/upsetting things? Is L&D not for me cause I'm too damn sensitive? It was an amazing experience, but I still find myself worrying about those babies...a lot.

I absolutely hate them as well. If I never have to see another concept map or IPR again after May, I will be the happiest person ever!

Many of the students in my cohort bombed the first test at the beginning of the program. I was a good-grade student before I began the program, but it's a different way of thinking, not just memorization (and my hatred for "choose all that apply" questions will NEVER go away, I guarantee you). Try not to be too discouraged. It happens to many, many people. You will figure it out, the best way for you to learn this new material. You'll get a better grasp on how to answer questions and you will understand things more deeply. Hang tough, and don't give up! Once you get that first exam over with, you'll have a better grasp on how that teacher works, and what type of things to keep in mind! Good luck! :)

I started my nursing program at the age of 39, with a 2 year old child. I'll be graduating at 41 (fingers crossed). My cohort is really mixed age-wise. Our youngest is 20, oldest is 54. I'm going with the "never too late" opinion! :)

I've always been a procrastinator, so I totally understand your hesitation. I'll tell you this much, I was still a procrastinator when I started my first semester of NS. However, I got a massive slap in the face by failing my first exam because I didn't allot myself enough time to really digest the material (it's not enough to just memorize, you have to be able to apply the information in "real life" situations and questions on real life situations and my biggest hates "choose all that apply", or "all the answers are correct, chose the MOST correct" are huge in NS). And then came my first clinical....and the chart study that went with it. When I began the paperwork at 8pm and finished it at 5:30am the next morning just in time to start clinicals at 6am. It sucked, and that kind of negative conditioning really helps you get over the procrastination thing fast! What works for me is to allot myself a time slot every single evening. 3 Hours (for my it was 5-8pm because that was when my hubby could watch our daughter) to work on nothing but nursing...reading, writing, etc. At the end of that time, I could take a break for awhile to relax, and then I made myself go back to work. When something was finished, I rewarded myself with something. You'll want a planner if you don't already use one, because if your school is like mine, times for things will be all over the place (clinicals, exams, meetings, sim labs) and you have to keep track of so many different things. I just wrote my study time in there too, and when I was done, I got to check it off and it made me feel good to be able to do that. You'll find what works best for you, I'm sure! :) Just try not to feel too awful if you bomb that first test, it's not the end of the world and it won't mean the end of nursing school............just make sure you don't bomb any more than that! Good luck! :)

It depends on your school. I took both of them in the same semester last spring (I had to retake API because it had been over 5 years since I'd taken it and my school has a rule that it has to be within 5 years for application to the nursing program). It was a little rough, but doable. The main difficulty was just learning two systems at a time instead of one, but I finished with an A and a B, so yes, it can be done. :) Good luck!

Hi there! I'm currently an ADN student in Illinois. My ultimate goal is to move to WI, as I go there several times a year, have many friends there and generally adore the state. Luckily my husband is also excited about the idea and my daughter is still too young to be in school yet. I'm hoping to get a WI license (unfortunately, IL is not a compact state) and gain employment there in the southern part of the state. I'd love to know how the job prospects are looking in WI these days (I'll be done with school in May 2014). I know things are tough everywhere, but thought I'd see if WI seems to be turning around at all. Thanks for any information you might be able to give!

I didn't get all A's, I got one B...but the people talking about planners are right on! I don't know how everyone's school is, but the schedules are mine are wonky and random sometimes and between class, clinical, exams, mid-semester class time changes, take home quizzes, clinical paperwork due dates, and quizzes taken online and at campus online, it's really easy to miss something. Your planner will be your best friend and lifeline! One thing that really helped me out was to read the chapter that the next day's lecture was covering the night before. That way you have a base understanding and can hone in on what the instructors are covering (which is usually stuff that will show up on the exams) and what they're ignoring (stuff that you can focus less on). Also, memorizing is important, but they usually want to know if you're using critical thinking and the nursing process. So when you learn about a new term or condition, try to be able to think of a situation or scenario where it would come up. Many smart people in my class just could not apply the knowledge to "real life" scenarios and did poorly on tests even though the understood the definitions. Also.........try to make some time for yourself or you will go nuts. :) Good luck!