maddiem

I'm 27, a wife and mother of two young children under 3 years old. Over 7 years ago now I began my prerequisites for nursing school and life took me in an other direction. I worked in management for 5 years and when I had my youngest in January I didn't come back from maternity leave. 99% of the reason for me leaving was my schedule, it was HORRIBLE for having kids. I'm enjoying my time home with my little ones, but I'm longing for a career that I'm passionate about. I never got over my desire to become a nurse over the years. I'm considering an ADN program close to my home and then finishing up my BSN elsewhere. I'm wondering how others currently working with families feel about their schedules. I live in the Chicago suburbs. The job prospects out here are good and I know theres so many areas of nursing. Just looking for some encouraging experiences from working parents in the nursing field! I have some friends who are nurses and some of them seem to have decent schedules. I understand this is a very broad question because it really depends on the setting you're in. Thank you in advance for your answers! ?

Since you haven't even started nursing school yet, I would maybe wait to make that decision when you get closer to it. You will experience a variety of clinical settings during your time in nursing school so you're mind may change. I had a friend who was dead-set on being a L&D nurse before she did her L&D rotation and she ended up hating it...lol. Not saying that you won't like intensive care but it just goes to show that people change their minds after experiencing something. Just take it as it comes and cross that bridge when you get to it :)

A&P is not an easy course! The amount of content can be overwhelming, but if you study efficiently and don't fall behind it won't be so bad. The key is to stay ahead. Get your book early and read the first chapter before your class starts (definitely get a used book, much cheaper). That way, you're familiar with basics before you begin. For the rest of the course, read the material you're going to cover in class BEFORE you get to class! I did this and it made lectures so much more productive for me. I wasn't wasting my time trying to grasp the concept during class. I was actually understanding it and was able to engage in discussions/answer questions better. You don't leave lecture confused or forgeting what you learned! Also, during lecture I would highlight in my textbook what my instructor emphasized the most so when it came down to studying for an exam I wasn't trying to memorize the whole chapter. The key is to prepare your self to study. Set yourself up for success by being ahead of the game and not trying to cram the night before - it won't work. Cramming is a no-go in A&P. And in nursing school for that matter! One of the best study tools you can take advantage of for this class is open lab. During your scheduled lab time you will be handling life size 3D models of the human body. You will have to be able to identify parts of the body in the lab for your midterm and final lab practicals. Once a week in lab is not enough time to be around these models to be well prepared for your practicals. Go to the open labs!!!! Practice identifying structures on the models on your own time. It will make a world of a difference! Its not the same studying from a picture. It will look much more different on the models during your practicals. Finally, be organized!! Studying efficiently. Make charts, flashcards, study sheets...I had quick study sheets that I made to review from before exams. I would take a topic from the exam and make one page of short notes, diagrams, anything to help me review. Don't try and study from the book for the exam. Chapters can be 40-50 pages long. Read the book, and then take that content and make it useful (flash cards, etc). This is how I got A's in both my A&P classes. Don't let yourself fall behind! Stay ahead of the game and anticipate what is coming next. Good luck!

I don't know the status of Chamberlain's NCLEX pass rate, but up here in Chicago Chamberlain is a very highly regarded nursing school. I have some friends who have graduated from there and they all have jobs at big hospitals in the city. One even had a job offer before she graduated while she was doing her externship. Chamberlain does have some 'haters' because they are a for-pofit school and they're pricey...But if you can afford Chamberlain, I'd recommend going. Their program is very fast pace. So if you're not good in a fast pace academic environment maybe the traditional rout is better for you. I was going to attend Chamberlain but I'm going to a school now that is much closer to my home so my commute isn't as bad. I'm not sure why everyone thinks Chamberlain credits don't transfer to grad schools...They're just like any other nursing school. So yes, you can go to grad school afterwards and be fine.

You can get a decent blood pressure set for around $30. I would highly recommend getting a good quality stethoscope!! If you get a cheap one they can be hard to hear out of! Definitely get a Littman!! The classic is about $80 and its a great stethoscope. Don't settle for the cheap stuff, you'll get a lot of use out of this stuff in clinicals!

I would advise you to not take the LPN rout. Many schools in my area are phasing out their LPN programs (I'm from the Chicago area). And there are not that many LPN to RN schools around. I'm not saying they don't exist, but in my area at least, they are few and far between. LPN's are not necessarily in demand. So finding a job with an RN license is going to be much easier and your pay will be much better. Yes, lots of nursing jobs require experience. But many of these jobs require that you have x amount of years of *RN* experience. So while being an LPN is experience in the medical field, its not RN experience. I would become a CNA. Its very simple to become one and can take as little as 8 weeks. And work as one during RN school so you have some clinical setting experience under you belt. If the goal is to become and RN, just go for it right away. Its a much more direct rout and will probably save you some money instead of dealing with getting your LPN and then having to do an LPN to RN program.

Chamberlain in my area is very well known and well like. I have a few friends who graduated from there and they all have good jobs at hospitals and were hired right after graduation. One girl was even offered a job before graduation. Chamberlain may have some 'haters' but its mostly because they are a for-profit school...and then you have the people who dropped out of Chamberlain because they couldn't handle the fast pace curriculum and then rant about how upset they are here on AN. I've seen a lot of those posts...I considered Chamberlain for quite a while and really wanted to go, but I'm going to an other school that is much closer to my home and it just made sense for me to go there instead so I didn't have to commute so far. If you can afford Chamberlain and can handle the fast pace curriculum, I would take that spot! They're a great school!

I would recommend completing all of your gen ed requirements before entering nursing school. You're going to be overwhelmed with all the nursing classes you're going to be taking, and then having to take gen eds on top of that is just going to be so frustrating. You're going to want to give 100% of your attention to your nursing classes. Also, some schools will give priority to people who finish their gen eds before the program. My school does this. We're on a point system and if you complete all the gen eds for the program before applying then you get extra points towards your application.

What were your grades in your prerequisite science classes? The classes you listed that you got A's in were not for the nursing program so they're really only going to help your cumulative GPA. Your cumulative GPA is important, but the nursing school is going to be more interested in your prerequisite GPA. Usually what they mean by a 'science GPA' is the science classes that are for the nursing program specifically. So if you didn't do well in your science classes for the nursing program, this could be your problem. If you really want to get into nursing school, I would probably choose an other school. Most school allow you to retake classes, so I'm surprised that your school doesn't. I'm assuming from what you've said in your posts that you live at a four year school. If you can't/don't want to leave your school, you could finish out your biology degree and do a masters degree in nursing program designed for people without a nursing degree. So essentially, these programs are for people going through career changes that don't have nursing degrees that want to become nurses. You could also do an accelerated bachelors degree in nursing program. So you would have a second bachelors degree. Both of these kinds of programs will get you an RN license...They're basically the same thing. If you're really set on doing your nursing degree now, I would research a handful of schools that you could apply to and complete/retake any classes that you would need to apply to programs and have a competitive GPA. Also keep in mind that getting a good score on your admissions exams will be important too. Best of luck to you!

You can't just go straight into a nursing graduate program. You need to get at least 2 years of experience in a hospital, preferably in the icu. I would get a job at a hospital first before making any decisions about where you want to go with your graduate education. Your interests may change with the more experience you get.

Unless you have 6-8 hours a day to devote to studying...I don't recommend you take these classes together. I was pre-med before I decided I wanting to go into nursing and I took organic chemistry. I'm very good at science, and it was the hardest class I've ever taken in my whole life. I cried after every exam. The smartest people in my class were getting C's. The time commitment for that class alone is 3-4 hours of studying 5 days a week at LEAST. I took A&P 2 and Nutrition together one semester with 2 other easy gen ed classes and I was fine, I got A's in both of them. Developmental psych is not hard, but only if you read the material well. If you don't read for the class you won't do well on exams. As for medical terminology, its not hard, but its A LOT of memorizing. So putting all of these classes together would be a disaster, in my opinion. If you can't afford to take out too many of these classes for the semester you're planning, at least take out organic chemistry and do it in a lighter semester. Trust me, it will be the best decision you could ever make for planning your prerequisites. I would advise you to take A&P 2, nutrition, and developmental psych together. That would be a doable schedule. Then I would do organic chem and medical terminology an other semester. Good luck!

Its a really impractical way of going about getting a medical degree. Less than a quarter of your nursing prerequisites will count for the classes you need for med school. And the classes you take in nursing school won't be transferable to med school. Go into nursing because you WANT to be a nurse. If your ultimate goal one day is to be a doctor, do pre-med now. There is no age limit on med school, but the amount of time its going to already take you to become a nurse and get into the field is almost 4 years depending on where you are at in your prerequisite classes and how fast you progress through nursing school. After all that work, you'll have to basically get a whole other degree to get into med school. You technically don't have to be a science major to get into med school like some people have said. But you do have to complete the minimum course requirements which is: 1 year of general biology, 1 year of general chemistry, 1 year of organic chemistry, 1 year of general physics, and a few upper level biology courses such as genetics or micro. And most schools will have their own set of other requirements as well. I know this because I was pre-med before I chose to go into nursing. I just realized I didn't want to spend the better part of my 20's and give up my career as a competitive horseback rider and my relationship to go to med school. So technically, you could become a nurse before going to med school. But you're really just wasting your time if your ultimate goal is to become a doctor. Just preparing to get into med school will take you years, on top of 4 years at a medical college and then residency. I understand you wanting to get a good experience in the medical field, but you will get that time in med school at clinicals and in your residency. If nursing is not your longterm goal, don't waste the time and effort you should be putting into going to med school.

I'm not sure how much research you have done on nursing school, but both of these degrees will get you an RN license. The reason you are hearing people tell you to go with the BSN is because most hospitals require that you have your BSN to work there. So the opportunities for ADN nurses are mostly in long term care facilities (nursing homes basically). But you don't have to stay an ADN. Most schools that offer nursing programs will also have an RN to BSN program so that ADN nurses can get their BSN. This is something that I plan on doing. I'm going to do an ADN program and as soon as I get my RN license I'm going to go into an RN to BSN program. I'm saving a lot of money doing my degree this way because my community college has RN to BSN programs held there at a reduced rate. So really, its up to you. It depends on what program you think is going to be best for you. Find a few different programs in your area, both ADN and BSN. Look into the requirements, meet with advisors, go to open houses...and then make your decision. For me, money was a big deal. Nursing school has a lot more expenses than just tuition - Books (and LOTS of them), scrubs, stethoscope, supplemental study materials, driving to clinicals...BSN programs can get pricey and community college tuition is so much more affordable.

I'm somewhat familiar with Chamberlain. I went to their open house at their Addison, IL. campus and they talked about admission profiles a little bit. You did pretty well on your HESI and your GPA is good. There will be people applying with higher GPA's but I think as a whole your application is good. I've seen some Chamberlain threads on here in the past and it seems that people with high HESI scores seem to do well. Chamberlain accepts a lot of people and they do it 3 times a year. So if for some reason you don't get in on the first try. Try again. Retake the HESI and maybe retake a class or two that could have been a better grade. But honestly I think your profile looks good. I've seen some people with pretty bad profiles apply to Chamberlain because they think for some reason its an easy school to get into. But yours is definitely not bad. Good luck!

Even if you got a B in A&P, it wouldn't be the end of the world! I know people who have gotten B's in A&P and they got into nursing school. Everyone has a bad test. You just can't let it get the best of you! If you quit, you will regret it. Don't give up!!