geneva007

Best of luck with your test! I know you can do it. I'm sorry to hear your having a bad experience with the teachers. Hang in there, hopefully they'll come around when they start realizing who is staying in the class and who is not. Nursing school is tough but you'll get through it! Good luck:nurse:

I'm loving school! I already took A & P as a pre-req several years ago. I managed an A in A & P I and II. I studied often and learned the body systems literally like systems. I became an expert in each body system and grew confident from that. Good luck, A &P is hard but not as difficult as Pathophysiology!

How many out there are first year students? What do you think of nursing school so far? Any suggestions for studying or taking tests for others? I'm loving nursing school so far. I'm so eager to learn maybe this is because I have been trying for so long to go to nursing school. This is my 5th time getting in but my first time actually pursuing it. Long story, will not bore you here. Clinicals have been a blast so far and our instructors are finally getting to know us in class which is promising. We've lost a few from our class already and I'm sure more will be gone after our third exam next week. Some will withdraw because it is impossible for them to attain the 77% needed to pass the class. Just want to know how everyone is liking school so far!

We have one of those in our class too. She was kicked out last year for grades and is back again. As a class we ignore her outbursts and make sure to direct our questions to the instructor. I talk to her but not about her life working in the ER, rather about general stuff about our class to kind of feel her out. She's a nice girl just over bearing. It seems our instructors can read that she is and try to keep her in check. In your situation I would confer with the instructors if she gets out of hand. I'm sure they're aware of how she is but may not act upon it because they don't think it's a big deal. Good luck!

I am a first year student. I have several friends that are having a hard time budgeting working full time and nursing school including clinicals. Clinicals take up much of your time when you get further in school. A few of my friends are going part time or quitting their job altogether to concentrate on nursing school. I am about to stop working in several weeks because I worked 2 jobs during my pre-reqs for nursing school and during EMT school. I have 4 kids and I want to see them and my husband so I am sacrificing my job until I can work as an LPN next summer a few days a week while finishing my RN. Congrats on getting in for your BSN, you'll do great!

My school accepted 40+ students for my program. 3 are males, about 10 are Hispanic and 2 are African American. Pretty diverse for southern Colorado.

If you are passionate about nursing anything is possible. I am horrible at math but great in the sciences. We have to take a calculations test and pass with a 100%. You have 5 tries and 6 weeks to complete it. I passed it on my 2nd try. I was so worried about the math test I used every resource I had available to me to pass and learn the few formulas we needed to know. As far as the science portion, you need to know science especially A & P and Pathophysiology. You need this in order to understand diagnoses, common terms like polyuria and dysphasia and you need to know what is on tests such as the NCLEX style question exams you get in nursing school. It is prudent to know the science portion. With extra help and patience anything is possible, you can do it! Good luck!

Hang in there. It sounds like something I was similarly faced with a few weeks ago at clinicals. A CNA took over feeding my Alzheimer pt so I could eat lunch with the other group of girls doing our clinicals. I marked off for it. Totally stupid and uncalled for but that's the way they do things. Sounds to me you may need to get clarification on what exactly can and can not be done. Many nurses will push for you to do things you haven't been marked off in lab yet. Just be careful! Glad to hear you're not getting kicked out, keep your head held high!

Thank you for your response! We have about 14 papers to fill out concerning skin integrity, cardiovascular assessment, respiratory assessment etc. Basically assessments Subjective/Objective of all the body systems including neurological and ADL's.

Hello everyone! I start my clinicals tomorrow morning and I'm wondering if there are any last minute suggestions to help it go smoothly. I will be in a nursing home and assigned one patient for the day. The part I am dreading is all of the paperwork that goes along with it. Anyone out there have some pointers?

Hello! Yes I am in the RN program. My first semester for my first year...3 weeks in. I start clinicals tomorrow morning, gotta wake up at 4 AM to go. Sounds like you did good on your NIN! I feel you should brush up on anatomy and pathophysiology. Those 2 classes are crucial to understanding nursing assessments and theory. Nursing assessments can be rather deep and involved with a patient. Sometimes your patient presents with one or two things wrong, sometimes it can be 10 things. You have to be familiar with the body's ins and outs to be able to think on your feet. For example last weekend in lab our instructor asked how many lobes are there in the lungs. Everyone sat there dumbfounded and I finally chimed up "five". I was correct, then she asked me how many lobes in each lung. I was able to answer the question without making a fool out of myself. But I had to use quick thinking on my feet! I know you'll do fine in nursing school. You have good grades and you seem passionate about it!

Hello there. My school dropout/fail rate is kind of high. For example the year before me had 40+ students and their class is down to 14 now. My school doesn't have a waiting list however they have clever ways to gently let you out of the program. First there is a dosage calculation test that you need to get a 100% on and you have 5 tries for the 100%. If you don't pass after your 5th try you get kicked out. Another way students leave the class is by not maintaining a 77% for the class.

You're lucky you have to pass with a score of 90%! My school it's a 100% and you get 5 tries. Just passed mine yesterday, it was my second attempt. I like the formula you use for dosage calculations vs. dimensional analysis. Good luck in school!

Some schools that do have waiting lists can take a semester or 4. I had a choice between a 4 year BSN program with a really long wait-list. Another choice was 3 colleges a 2 year degree with a wait-list and finally a college that had no wait-list but is 105 miles from my house. I chose the last option. I was mentally prepared to go to school, had my personal life with my family situated so I could do school full time so I chose the farthest path. I have found the drive isn't so bad with other people to carpool with. We have discussed the benefits of going to a school without a wait-list and I'm happy with my choice. Good luck to you!

Some important things you should know getting into a nursing program: 1) Study your pre-reqs such as biology/A & P/Patho/Chem it is assumed you have retained knowledge from these courses to apply later on in nursing school. 2) Take every test and assignment seriously, some schools allow you into the nursing program based on GPA's. 3) Don't get lazy with pre-reqs, they are an important part of your whole nursing education (see #1) 4) Don't get overwhelmed and discouraged. Some schools do have a waiting list and there isn't much you can do about it. Be patient, when the time is right, be prepared! 5) What worked for me personally to get through the rigors of pre-reqs was to start reading nursing journals, reading blogs by nursing students and talking to nursing students. This helps you realize your goal and focus on it. It seemed it took forever to do the 2 or 3 years of pre-reqs but having an open mind and being focused on your goal at hand helps. Hopefully this helps a little! Take care!!!