Singingbird812

As weird as it sounds, I am almost glad to hear someone else questioning this. I've only been working nights for about four months now, but it's really starting to get to me. I feel like I never get to see, or even talk, to anyone I really care about anymore because they're usually sleeping when I'm wide awake. Plus, it's started to feel like I never get an actual day off since I don't leave work until about 8 am on the day I'm off. It also doesn't help that I am required to work every other weekend, which I actually really liked initially but now has limited my social life to practically nothing. Yes, I know it sounds petty but I do miss being able to see my friends or get away for a couple days without thinking that "couple days" is really just one night. Right now I'm trying to decide if I can tough it out eight more months and look for opportunities elsewhere or if I need to make the jump sooner. I really love one of the units I work on and probably wouldn't consider leaving at all if there was a chance of switching to days, but that isn't an option. Does anyone know if rotating shifts work better? I would consider that, especially since I do love some of the quality time I get to spend with patients at night, but I've never known someone who did that consistently. Where I work, those who rotate are required to work something like 5 nights per four week schedule, but I know other places do it on a three week rotation (three weeks on days then three on nights). From what people who I work with have told me, the 5 nights is brutal since they usually can't do them all in a row but I am curious if a longer rotation is nicer. I honestly would appreciate any advice people have about this!

Yes, but it was still active and the first option that came up when searching for information about this topic. As such, I figured it could help current students who were looking for what worked for others. Always better to have more information, especially since not everything works for everyone.

My school had it set up so we automatically did Hurst Review for three days towards the end of the semester and Prep-U throughout the entirety of our last semester. I also purchased a Kaplan book for my own use. Of the three, the Hurst Review definitely seemed to help the best. Everything was broken down so simply that when I took NCLEX, all the answers seemed to come without me thinking. They really emphasize knowing core content, rather than doing questions, which was surprising at first but really forced me to learn the material. It also helped that the instructors usually seemed to have good humor about everything and it didn't feel as if they were droning on. Prep-U wasn't so great, though it could be because I stopped trusting them when I found my third spelling error in five questions. It might be helpful for those who feel like they need to answer questions constantly, but other than that I didn't learn much from it. There were also a lot of repeat questions (once had two of the same question in a 10 question quiz), which was frustrating at times. Kaplan kind-of made me feel like I didn't know anything, so that was my least favorite of the methods. The questions were very difficult in that book but the rationales were excellent. It might have been a lot better had I done that after completing Hurst, since I probably would have had a better grasp on things. Just a piece of advice: the NCLEX questions were nothing like any questions I'd ever seen before. They were both incredibly difficult and easy at the same time. Like the last poster, I finished with 75 questions, most of which were select all that apply. It felt terrible, though I passed, so it wasn't as bad as I thought. While I didn't have to pay for the Hurst Review myself (thanks tuition!), I would highly recommend it to anyone. Had I done it first, it probably would have been the only review I did as it really clicked for me and no number of questions could have prepared me for the ones on the test.

Calling the BON worked for me the day after my test! Thanks so much for posting that! Before reading this, the only thing I heard was to look on the website, which I didn't realize took longer. It was starting to make me nervous that I wasn't showing up, but that quick phone call eased all my worries :)

It worked for me about 6 hours after I finished my test this week! :)

Hi, I know you didn't ask me directly but when I was in my first semester I studied about 6 hours a day. Since then, the amount of studying has gone down drastically, but it was getting the foundation of everything that made it so difficult. As to financial aid, it really depends on FASFA. Everyone seems to get different amounts so I can't be of too much help there. Also, congrats on getting in! :)

To be quite honest, everything but pharmacology and pathophysiology. They were the only two books I used all semester. My roommate, on the other hand, only used pharm and did quite well. She also noticed some errors in the patho study guide, so you might want to avoid that if you were thinking about getting the study guide.

Sorry, haven't checked this in a while! Anyway, since your deposit has been posted you're already a step ahead of what I had to deal with so you're well on your way :) First thing, have you gotten a bill yet? If so, I'd suggest trying to start applying for loans (if you're getting a loan that is) and getting everything squared away with Financial Aid. In my experience, everything with them takes forever. Also, have you gotten any information about registering for classes? I think your adviser will do all of that for you, but I'm not sure if they've changed the policy. Other than those two things there's not really too much else to do at the moment. You could buy uniforms and such, but you'll find there's a lot of things you won't need the first semester. In my case, I didn't need the uniform at all. Also, there is an app for the phone they want you to buy - most people I know don't use it but prefer free apps instead. Also, when it comes to the bundle of books, I honestly found 6/8 to be a waste. In fact, two of them my professors said flat out we would never use. If you want to buy/rent books, it might be easier to do them separately from wherever they can be found cheapest. Even with the two that were helpful, I used them maybe 3 times all semester. Anyway, I'm not sure if this is helpful at all so I'll stop here but feel free to ask questions! :)

I'm at Leesburg so sadly I cannot be of much help for Winchester. My friend knows someone in the pharmacy program there that loves it, so hopefully you will too :) And congrats to everyone who got in! :)

Which campus are you attending? Not sure I can help much because I'm not from the area but it's worth a shot. I think I remember seeing something about housing on one of the facebook pages related to apartments and such but I can't remember which one.

I think it's about 400 clinical hours but I can't remember the exact amount. I do know it is well above the minimum clinical hours requirement. So far it doesn't seem overwhelming (or underwhelming) but I know it's harder for some than others. Right now I'm in class from 9 - 4 Monday and Thursday, 9 - 3 on Tuesday, 9 - 12 Wednesdays, and clinical is 2 - 9:30 on Fridays. It's a fairly nice schedule even though sometimes it does feel like a bit much, especially when a bunch of exams come in a row and I want every minute to study. The biggest advice I can give about it is to study whenever you can but try to enjoy your lunch break. There's an hour between classes (12 - 1) and I have found that studying through it adds more stress whereas taking a break helps more than that last minute cramming ever would. It's really important to make sure you take breaks otherwise it's very easy to get overwhelmed. After class, I pretty much study all evening, with a break for dinner and occasionally for the gym or to relax and watch tv. There really is a lot of work for the first semester but it gets a lot easier once you get used to the workload and you'll have more free time. Also, they recently changed so that you do need scrubs for the mental health clinical. Wanted to throw that out there so that people were prepared :)

nermface, were you able to get all your questions answered at the info session? If not, I might be able to help out a bit. Actually just came back again to give some advice from my roommate. For the first semester, if you have the time to search for the books that come in the bundle, do that as it will probably save money and the frustration of having bought books you will never use. It may also be worth waiting to get to class before buying some of them because I think of that bundle we used two books this semester and it doesn't seem like the others will be used any time soon. As to havehope's question, I can't remember the pre-reqs. I tried finding them on the site again, figuring it might be easier since I searched it before but no luck. It seems like they're having issues with links right now but maybe you could try emailing one of the advisers there. I remember Karen O'Neil was very helpful in getting everything straight.

It honestly depends. My cohort started with around 30 people but the one before mine had about 60. Not sure how it is at the Winchester campus however. Also, I wanted to let people know a few things that differed from the admission packet in terms of price. First, the expected $1100 for books for the program is way low! I spent about that for the first semester, and that's with using other book sources than the school bookstore to get the cheapest price. Not sure what the prices will look like for the second semester as they haven't given us a book list yet, but be prepared. I have heard that if you rent books it is much cheaper but it seems like very few people use that option in case they need the books for later. Second, you don't need scrubs for the first semester (at least at Leesburg)! The first clinical is Mental Health and they require you to dress business casual for that as no one on the psych units wear scrubs. If you're feeling overwhelmed by how expensive everything is, it might help knowing that you don't need to spend more on scrubs at first. You do, however, need a lab coat for labs. Also, financial aid can be a pain. If you can, try to get all that sorted out as soon as possible. Things were a bit delayed, which messed up a lot of things. Both my roommate and I lost out on a grant because financial aid did not send out all the information necessary for it. Hopefully for the fall start they will be more organized but it was terrible for the spring. If you do have to call them, make sure to request they call you back otherwise they won't. Despite those few frustrating things, doing this program is honestly so much fun. If you truly want to be a nurse, it's definitely worth it. The classes are fascinating, if a bit challenging at times, and the professors are wonderful. If I think of anything else that might be helpful for incoming students, I'll write it down and feel free to ask questions. I might not be able to answer right away but I'll do my best. I know that would have helped me a lot :)

Hey! So I just found out I was accepted to the program starting in January and was wondering what everyone had found out about housing in Leesburg. Does the school help in any way or are students on their own? Anyone have any ideas of where to live? As for AmesRT6510's question, I had a 3.2 GPA for the prerequisites and and 3.6 total for my previous degree. I hope everyone is doing well! :)