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I would wait to see what your program requires/allows before buying a ton of stuff. For example, we are not allowed to carry clipboards at my clinical site. The only stuff that comes on the floor with me in my scrub pockets are my stethoscope, a few alcohol wipes, my pen, and a tiny notebook. As far as items that have become my "must-haves," I love the Frixion erasable pens. They are retractable, and Amazon carries a set of different colors for the best price. Tons and tons of notecards, plus the metal rings that I attach each test's worth of cards together. Saunders NCLEX review book and the Success series are great for practice questions that provide the rationales for why each answer is correct or incorrect. Non-material things: make a few friends. I have become incredibly close with a handful of my cohort. We have a private FB group where we post practice questions that we find, ask for help on topics we're struggling with, post helpful study material that we find, and just basically support each other. We go out for dinner and drinks at the end of every semester. I honestly have no idea how I would have made it through the last year of classes without them.

I passed both A&Ps with a A- and an A by using flashcards, the anatomy & physiology coloring book, and labeling diagrams. I'd make 2 copies of the pages from the coloring book with the diagrams, then white out the answers on one and number the things I needed to memorize. Then I made a bunch of copies of the blank one, and write in the answers over and over until I could do it by memory. In lab, our teacher let us take pictures of things we had labeled, and I'd do the same thing. Edit one picture to blank out the labels, and make copies, then fill them in until they were memorized. I put in a lot of time studying, but it paid off.

It definitely can be done, but I would not try to conceive unless you are also prepared to withdraw from school if necessary. I had a very simple, easy first pregnancy. When I got pregnant with my 2nd, I had a lot of issues. The pregnancy was much harder on me; I was very sick, experienced cramping and bleeding, had Braxton-Hicks contractions starting very early. Then, at my anatomy scan, my baby was diagnosed with a potentially fatal birth defect, and I spent the last half of my pregnancy being monitored multiple times a week and wound up on strict bed rest in the hospital for several weeks. I had to withdraw from school; luckily, I was only doing my pre-reqs at that point, but if I had already been enrolled in the nursing program, withdrawing and then being readmitted would have been a MUCH bigger deal. Obviously, this is not your typical pregnancy situation, but you just can't know what will happen.

My girls are 6 and 2.5, and I have completed all of my prequisites and am in my 2nd semester of clinicals. It's definitely not easy finding the time to do all of the necessary studying, but I figure it is just a couple of years of making it work. I recommend making sure that your house is VERY clean for the beginning of the semester, and utilizing a cleaning checklist for you and any help you may have (husband, older children), so that they know what is expected to be done on a day-to-day basis.

I also am an evening students, and get home around 10:30 three nights a week. As soon as I come home, I have a quick snack, and then I watch a TV show and cuddle with my husband. I do no studying those nights. I am usually in bed right after midnight, and then up at 7. It's not too bad.

I use a lotion called Working Hands. They sell it on Amazon, and probably elsewhere. It comes in a little green jar, and it has worked wonders for my hands. I used to go home every week with my hands literally bleeding. My clinical instructor recommended it to me.

I found statistics to be a really tough class to take online; I typically do really well with online classes, but stats was brutal for me. I suggest doing all of the readings, and using the internet for research on topics that you may struggle with. Each thing we learned was necessary to learn the next concept, so if you missed one of them, it could really screw you up. Kahn Academy had some really good resources, and I watched a lot of YouTube videos. I did pull an A in it, but man, did I work hard for it! I really wish I had taken it in an on-campus format.

I have a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. On days where my older daughter was in kindergarten (she's going into 1st grade in September), I studied when my younger daughter napped, and then again when they went to bed. They go to sleep no later than 8:30pm, and then I usually do a quick clean-up of the living room/kitchen (no more than 30 minutes), and then study from 9pm until I'm done. There were some very late nights for me. In addition, on one of my husband's days off, I go to campus and spend several hours in the open lab, take a break for lunch, and then hit the library for several hours of studying. I always have flashcards on a ring with me, and I study them while at dance class, or in the waiting room at the pediatrician's office, etc. On days where my oldest is home, I still study during naptime, after setting her up with a snack and a quiet activity (coloring, Playdoh, beading, etc). Once she was reading better on her own, I'd print out fun worksheets for her, and we'd both sit at the table and do our schoolwork together, which she loves. My husband has had to step up a lot with the housework, which he doesn't love, but we both know it's not forever that I'll be so busy. I try to do a mommy-daughter date with each of the kids once a month, because I know it upsets them sometimes that I am gone/busy so often.

A good planner is crucial. The other things I have used the most of are: index cards, black pens for clinicals, highlighters, colored pens for taking notes, a 3-hole punch for all the handouts, and a flashdrive for backing up all of my notes and papers (after having a computer hard drive totally crash mid-semester once, I back up EVERYTHING). I also have separate binders for lab, lecture, and clinical. I put a divider in between each week, so it's easy to find what I need as the semester goes on, and a few page protectors at the beginning of each to protect important paperwork.

I absolutely love the UnCalendar! I've used them for years. I splurged on an Erin Condren for my first semester of clinicals, and it was just a failure. The set-up didn't work for me at all. I'm happily back with my UnCalendar now.

I have the Littman Classic II SE, and love it.

I printed 60-100 page PowerPoints once per week (2 slides per page to allow for plenty of room to add my own notes), plus forms for clinical, assigned papers, and study material. I would say an average of 75-100 pages per week. I did get a laser printer and LOVE it. It prints huge amounts so quickly.

I also have an Uncalendar, and love it. I splurged on an Erin Condren for my first semester of core nursing classes, but the set-up just didn't work for me, so I went back to the Uncalendar after that.

I really love the Frixion erasable pens; they came in so handy for my first semester of clinicals. I also used a ton of highlighters, and index cards. I also highly recommend a laser printer. I was printing 60-100 slide PowerPoints weekly, plus supplemental pages for studying, etc. A regular printer would have gone through an insane amount of ink. I got a laser printer on Amazon for about $120, and it prints quickly and on both sides. I love it so much.

I think that it is perfectly okay to try to have a baby during nursing school. I know more than one woman who has done so successfully. I would not, however, try if you would not have a plan in place for "what ifs." I got pregnant during my pre-requisites, after a year of trying on my own and another year of fertility treatments. The pregnancy was very hard on my body, but I was making do, until I had my anatomy scan at 20 weeks and my baby was shown to have a potentially fatal birth defect. I spent the last half of my pregnancy on bed rest, with the exception of weekly ultrasounds and monthly fetal MRIs, and emotionally, I was a mess. I had to withdraw mid-semester. In my pre-reqs, it wasn't such a big deal, but if I had been in core nursing classes, it is a HUGE process to be readmitted after withdrawing. You just never know if the pregnancy will have complications that may necessitate leaving school, so I would be sure to consider that before going forward with trying to conceive.

The only way that I was able to make it work was to find an ADN program that meets at night. It is 3-4 nights per week; the earliest I have to be there is 4pm, and I made arrangements to be able to leave early that one day each week to make it to class. It's definitely not easy; I have a 2 yr old and a 5 yr old. My house is often a mess, and I am often exhausted, but I am starting my 2nd semester of core nursing classes next month, so it is definitely doable.

I agree that A&P and medical terminology would be much more beneficial to brush up on, over Microbiology.

If you really want to do this, you can. It is definitely about being devoted to school, though; my entire family is making a lot of sacrifices to make this work. My children are 2 and 5, and I will be starting my 2nd semester of nursing classes next month. On my husbands days off, I spend the bulk of one day at school. I go to the open lab and practice my skills for several hours, then take a break for lunch, and then go to the library to do several hours of studying in peace and quiet. I also study during my younger daughter's nap time, and stay up late to study after she is in bed. I pretty much survive on coffee during the school semester. LOL My house is much messier than I am used to, and my husband has had to step up a lot when it comes to household work. He does a lot more of the cleaning, cooks several nights a week, and knows that he is "on call" if one of the kids wakes up at night while I am studying. It's definitely not easy, but we had a long talk about expectations before the semester started, and we both know that it is a temporary situation. I miss spending as much time with my girls as I would like, but again, I know it is temporary and I want to instill in them a sense of how important education is. I will be very proud to look out at my graduation and see my kids sitting there, as we have all done this together, in a sense.

Is there any reason that you can't apply to a different nursing school? If you really have your heart set on it, then I would graduate with your bachelor degree next year, and then apply to accelerated BSN programs, or even go the ADN-BSN or MSN route. There are many options available if you truly want to be a nurse.

Our school uses a lottery system.

I would definitely not recommend it. I was a straight A student taking 18 credits of pre-reqs, and absolutely killed myself for a B- in 6 credits of nursing during my first semester of core classes.

I am in a similar situation, where BSN nurses are preferred in the area. Unfortunately, the only BSN program around here is extremely expensive, and moving is not an option for my family. I'm entering my 2nd semester of an ADN program now, and plan on moving directly into an online RN-to-BSN program after passing the NCLEX. There are still jobs in the area that are hiring new grad ADNs, but there will definitely be more opportunities after I finish my BSN. For me, personally, taking on the debt of the BSN wasn't practical. This way will take me a little longer, but I should be able to graduate with minimal loans and my community college has a phenomenal reputation and NCLEX pass rate.

I agree with this. At our school, we graduate in December, and they are asking us to submit our paperwork to the BON 4-6 weeks ahead of time. Most of the students I know who graduated already got their ATT within a few weeks of graduation, it seems to vary by school. Another local nursing program's students traditionally wait longer than students at my school for their ATT to come through.

I would speak to the nursing advisor at the college you'll be applying to. At my school, they do only allow re-takes for a grade of C or lower, but you also lose points towards acceptance when there is a withdrawal on your transcript. Finding out whether the B or the withdrawal would be more of a detriment seems to be school-specific, so your best bet is to talk to someone in the nursing department.

I have a lucky pencil, and I always make sure that I take time with my appearance. No rolling into class in jeans and a hoodie on test days! I wear something I feel good in, take time with my hair, and do a tiny bit of make-up (which I never wear otherwise). I find that feeling good about how I look gives me a little boost of confidence so I'm not quite as panicked walking into the test room.