Britt585

getbodysmart.com

This semester I thought I would take: -A&P 1 -Integrated General, Organic, and Biochemistry (the fastest way to satisfy the chem requirement at my school, its really two semesters of chemistry in one) -Public Speaking ...and I work ~30 hrs per week. It wasn't do-able for me, and I'm usually the annoying one who doesn't have to study much to do well in classes. If I didn't work it would be a different story, but A&P 1 requires so much memorization (and therefore so many HOURS of studying), that there was no way for me to be sure of getting straight A's if I took all three classes. So I dropped the chem class. And now I'm still challenged more than ever before (this is my first time in a biology class - have taken two general chemistry classes very recently and they were funny jokes compared to this), but it's manageable now. So that's my story with two sciences w/ labs... I'd say unless you work very little or not at all, and are childless, you're safer taking the extra time to ensure your success. Good luck no matter what you decide!

Regarding what kind of volunteer experience 'counts', I know that the BSN program that I'm applying to (Sacramento State) doesn't really care exactly where you are/what you're doing as long as you come in direct contact with patients, and see firsthand what nursing and patient care is like (as opposed to sitting in the back of an office somewhere, filing things or organizing supplies, etc.). Just make sure to document your hours as you go, with a person who can vouch for your 'patient interaction'. I'm in northern CA, and I found that the volunteer programs in the hospitals in my area all had waiting lists of aprox. 4 months to begin the orientation/training process that leads to volunteering. I want to be sure to get the requisite number of volunteer hours in plenty of time before my applications go out, so I'm opting to volunteer with the local hospice consortium. There is a lot of training (24 hours) before I will start getting 'direct patient interaction', but it's still faster than waiting to get into a hospital program (not to mention I think it will be a challenging, educational, and very rewarding experience). Good luck to you!

I'm a student who has recently decided on nursing as a career goal. So far I have had two professors (both chemistry PhDs) ask me 'why not become an MD?', as I'm a 'great student'. The best answer ended up coming from my boyfriend (who incidentally IS an MD, so speaks from experience) who said: 'you're too SANE to go to med school!' :) A more serious answer is twofold: 1. I don't want to go to school for 5 1/2 more years (which would make me 32 when I would start my intern year). 2. I don't want to be a doctor! Lol. It seems obvious that they are two very different careers with different demands and rewards that are suited to different sorts of people, and just because I am SMART doesn't mean I shouldn't want to be a nurse! To me, the fact that otherwise cool, intelligent people would ask that question indicates the unfortunate reality that nursing is just plain misunderstood, and often doesn't garner the respect that it deserves.