ReigN719

After you get out of orientation, which is about 2 weeks, you'll shadow for 2 or 3 shifts, depending on where you work they may have you shadow an ARNP, OR, etc., and then you'll begin with your preceptor. Once assigned to your preceptor, you will basically be working whatever their schedule is. So if they're on for 3 days, and off for 4, you'll pretty much be doing that kind of schedule. Any other questions don't hesitate to ask, I'm currently in the GN Program.

I started at 38, and am now in my final semester, and from being in the clinical setting have found that many, both male and female changed careers or started out late. So go for it and good luck!! It's been a very rewarding journey!

Congratulations & good luck as well! I am entering on my final semester in my ADN program, and it has been a stressful but very empowering journey! Be sure to make friends, and get a good group. Definitely helps to have a good support group during school.

I don't think that's necessarily true. Sure in Nursing 1 you just started to critically think, but at least in 2 the information and material make more sense. Nursing I was just blah to me, because it wasn't anything I could relate to. At least with Nursing II it actually involves diseases processes and pathophysiology so it's more concrete. I think the best thing you can do to be successful in passing Nursing II is read, stay ahead, and do practice questions from either Saunders, NCLEX 3000, or Lippincott. Try to establish a good base in II, because IV really requires you to touch on what you learned in II.

For Nursing I, you'll have to be up to date on your vaccinations if you haven't had any recently (Measles, Rubella, Chicken Pox, Hepatitis B, Tdap). You will also need to do TB Screening, take the CPR class, have a Physical Exam done, Flu Shot, N95 Fit test, background check, & finger prints. They'll send you all the information, but I listed them from my Certified Profile in case you wanna get a headstart.

To help you out, our final is on the 8th, and our pinning is on the 11th, so I'm pretty sure you're good to go with your vacation.

Not that there's anything wrong with LPN, but if RN is your end goal then you should definitely shoot for that. I'm not sure if the LPN is any easier to get into, but would probably use the bridge option as Plan B, and try to go the ADN route first. As far as places that hire LPNs, I rarely see them in the clinical setting, but do see them in the assisted living facilities. and other specialized settings. I would try to "A"ce all of your remaining pre-reqs and apply to the schools in Central Florida that you're interested in. I was in your same shoes 2 years ago, had an AA finished way back when, decided on a career change, and had to re-take pre-reqs before applying to nursing school. I went thru the motions, took AP1 & 2 and Nutrition and a few other classes over again which helped bump my GPA up, and then applied to different schools. Got accepted into Valencia, and am currently in Nursing IV at Valencia College and "crossing fingers" will be done this December. So if I can do it, you definitely can too!

Good Luck to you!! If you need any help/information there are several of us on here that are currently enrolled, or have graduated from Valencia.

I haven't been on here in a while, but if you're still curious about the scheduling I can try and dig up my old calendars. I'm currently in Nsg IV at Valencia, and taking a break from studying and decided to see what's going on in the forums.

Be sure to check your emails towards the end, if not the very end of each semester. I was originally accepted to start in Aug 2013, and received an email at the end of the semester in Dec 2012 but didn't reply in time, and then received another email at the end of Spring 2013, and ended up starting the program in May 2013. So you definitely have an opportunity to start at least 2 semesters early.

Best of luck to you too, I was asked to volunteer for your orientation so I'm sure I'll unknowingly bump into everyone on here that has orientation that day. lol

You're welcome! The tests are definitely different from the normal memorization that we learned all throughout school. Instead of only one right answer, there are 4 right answers and you have to choose the best one according to the situation. For many of my classmates, it was nerve racking, but after a while you learn to eliminate the better answers from the best ones. Someone recommended the Fundamentals of Success and Test Success books when I was in orientation, and it was a good intro to what was to come since it gave you questions, answers, and rationales as to why the answer chosen was the best answer. So those may help get you acclimated to tests.

Where to start. Well since I can only speak on Nursing I, I can tell you that it's definitely a good amount of work, and only gets harder if you don't put in the time. They tell you when you first start that you should dedicate 3 hours of studying for every 10 credit hours you're taking which relates to 30 hours a week which I think is easily surpassed considering how many chapters you have to read each week, and then study. Some of the stuff I may say next may not make sense yet, but I'm going to include it anyways. Definitely read, read, and read the book. Learn the definitions, but don't dwell to much on memorizing each and every one for the test, you'll get a def. here and there on the tests, but the majority of tests will focus on application of knowledge learned, and applying what you've learned/read. Study the figures, boxes, and charts in each chapter, a nice amount of questions come from there too. Take step by step notes when instructors do Skills Demos. Practice your skills, the more you practice, the easier it becomes. Make friends, get into study groups. Also, when having to do skills, be sure to practice on all of your classmates, since no patient is ever the same. That's all I can think of for now, but any other questions feel free to ask!

Congrats to you all, see you all on Campus!

It's been a good journey, rough but worth it. Mid-term evaluations were last week, and we lost some classmates. If you guys have any questions, def don't hesitate to ask.