Endebted_Forever

Hi there- Hope you are finding it a bit easier. It sounds like most of your difficulty is with test taking, probably multiple choice questions. The thing to know is that in nursing tests, often the right choice is not what makes sense- you have to respond with a particular protocol, step by step, and not just jump to the solution, even if it is obvious. This is why the Fundamentals tests were so frustrating! For tests: Generally, look for the ABCs first- (Airway, breathing, circulation) if there is something there, stop, that is the choice. Second think Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Work your way up, step by step. if there is something there, stop, that is the choice. For prioritizing questions (where you have to order things) read all the choices first. Questions that involve strategic words (best, initial, most likely) may have choices that are all correct, so look at the order. Also, usually if there is a "caring/empathy" type answer or a proceedure answer, and the patient is not in distress, they want you to pick the caring/communicating/empathy answer. The other thing I would say is don't be afraid to aggressively seek out resources (books, youtube videos, etc). The books our school required for some class were atrocious, and if I had depended on them, everything would have been clear as mud. But luckily there are thousands of nursing school videos on the internet. Some really great community colleges have excellent fundy skills videos. Also, use apps and podcasts. How to study for fundamentals (youtube) The other thing is that everyone is going to struggle with something in nursing school: an advisor, a clinical, or a class. But do not let this get you down. Your language and engineering skills will make you a wonderful asset to nursing- you can do this. Nursing school is in many ways a process of soldiering through. Eat, sleep, get it done, and get out and be awesome. You can do this.

Hi guys- I graduated from MGH, so if you have questions, feel free to ask. One thing they didn't tell us until our second year is that there is NO maternity and NO pediatrics clinical for either the MGHIHP Adult/Gero acute or primary care tracks. Our maternity class was only 3 sessions in person, mostly online. People were bitter about this. You really should go to a school that will give you a full rotation in each of these, as well as an 8-12 week immersion with another nurse. It makes a huge difference in getting you up and running as a nurse.

No offense, but if you got into the Northeastern program, you should definitely go. It is a much, much better program than the MGH program.

Frontier is really legendary for women's health. Have you talked to their admissions people? They are so fantastic. If I could do it over again, I would totally do my degree with them. Very reasonable price, excellent teaching, good cohort bonding. My advice would be that you should pay as little for your RN/BSN portion of your degree as possible.

I'm so sorry you are having a rough time! I had a similar situation my last semester- no DV, but multiple family issues and money stressors and some personal health issues, and I felt so burnt out. Nursing school is a grind. Please find some way to take care of yourself.

Wow, this is right on! I definitely like what you say about charting- I too am so much better if I can write.

Hi there- My comments are specific to the Adult/Gero/Women's track. I think the Acute people love their track, Family has a track leader who is beloved, and the psych people all come out with jobs.

Hi- I actually loved a lot of my rotations. I am not hating on my school per se, just about the fact that they have a lot of things that they have been told repeatedly (by students) that don't work, but they don't bother to change them. If you're going to charge $100,000 for a nursing education, you should be responsive to your students.

[side note: if you're going to insult anyone, please don't use "autistic" as said insult. Hi guys- I should apologize for my poor wording there. I'm not trying to bash aspies- I actually have an autistic brother, high functioning, who is a professor. Mostly what I was trying to convey was that part of the role of an advisor is to help you with the often emotionally overwhelming aspects of nursing school, when you are stressed or overwhelmed by work or patients or family stuff, and mine was never able to do that, ever. My advisor was always responding to emotion with procedure, which just creates a further sense of overwhelm, because you've just spent a whole bunch of time and energy trying to get this person up to speed on how things got to point x, but they can't see anything other than whatever was on the checklist. My advisoris also known for chatting with other TAs about sensitive topics that were revealed - so not only are you frustrated about not getting through , now you're also embarrassed that your peers have been told information you thought was confidential. Overall, just not a good set of characteritics for an advisor to have in general.

So, I'm a few weeks away from graduation and was reflecting with some friends over dinner about what we hated at our particular nursing school. Here was our list, what is yours? We were especially curious to hear about other Boston area school's experience. We have to waive health insurance every semester of the program. If you miss the deadline by even an hour, you have to pay the school almost $2,000 dollars, even if you already have insurance. The faculty create stupid online courses so they don't have to show up, grade, or provide instruction, but it looks like they are working. Many of these classes are pretty much just discussion board posts to each other that no one reads. Grading is awesomely random. When you complain about the lack of content, faculty become aggressive. Changes in certification mean that you have to take additional classes, but your advisor never informs you of this, but it is still your fault for not signing up. While your school has awesome simulation labs, you only step foot in them twice during your entire schooling, and then only to watch other people do simulation. Yet your school seems to get thousands of dollars in grant funds for training in simulation. You signed up to go to your particular school because you were lead to believe they were interested in starting a midwifery program. Then, once you are partway through, you are told that they are absolutely NOT starting one, sorry, but by the way your tuition has gone up $9,000 from what you were originally told. Your advisor is pretty assuredly autistic, yet none of the faculty seem to notice.