KeepCalmNurs3On

Wow. I cannot tell you how similar your story is to mine. And I now have my BSN & RN. DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM. If you have a passion for nursing, and you know you can do it, then go for it. Don't let anyone tell you different. There is a reason people say nursing is a "calling." Your advisor was absolutely not giving you the best advice. This is gonna be a long post but please do read: A little about my story so you don't feel alone: I graduated from high school in 2008. I was never a bad student; I had a decent GPA and worked hard. My only issue is that I was weak in math and science. I can write a really good six page paper in an hour, but complete a chem formula? Looks like Chinese to me. My parents had me tested over and over from a young age and all the tests said the same thing: she needs to be tutored in math and science. And I was, for almost all of my primary education. I knew since I was nine I wanted to be a nurse, I just felt in my bones. I had some experience with hospitals because my dad worked in one (but he worked in the administrative end), and every time I stepped foot in the door and watched the nurses care for people I just knew that was the job for me. When I told my parents that's what I wanted to major in in college, they both said "Are you sure? Do you know how much science that is?" I told them yes, I didn't' care I had to do it. I ended up going to Temple University out of high school who at the time, didn't accept students directly into the nursing program. You went to the school for two years, took all your pre-reqs, then applied into the school of nursing as a sophomore. My first two years were very tough. Temple is a huge city school; my chem lectures sometimes had 500 students in them. I had to go to my professor and TA's offices all the time for extra help. Going into my sophomore year, I applied into the school of nursing after working so hard to bring my GPA up to 3.2, and I did not get in. I was devastated; I loved that school. I sat down with advisor after advisor who told me "Nursing isn't for you." "You should change your major to something else." "This isn't your strong suit and you won't be successful or get into any other programs." "I'm sorry but you won't be able to do it" etc. etc. I can't tell you how much this infuriated me; I knew I could do it. Maybe I needed to work a little harder, but as a nurse are you doing chem formulas and microbiology at the bedside? No. So I said screw them and applied to every other nursing school in my area. Guess what? I got into all of them. I choose Neumann University because it was close to come (I could commute) and it had a very good reputation. The first time I went there was for a meeting that discussed what transferring into the nursing program meant. I met with another advisor who took a look at the courses I had taken and said, "I'm sorry, but these courses don't match ours. If you commit to going here you will have to start from ground zero." Barely any of my classes transferred because "Temple's nursing program was so different from Neumann's" (no it wasn't). I was again devastated. I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. All that hard work at Temple, and here I was having to start all over. I was scared out of my mind I wouldn't be able to do that again, to work that hard. But I bit the bullet and did it. I went through three extra years of school and finished with my BSN. I can tell you it was the absolute hardest thing I have ever done, but I would make the same choice again in a heartbeat. While in Neumann, I too had my young sister become very ill; a massive tumor was found in her chest. It placed a lot of stress on an already stressful situation, and it was one of the worst years I had ever had, but if I had come that far, I wasn't going to give up. My sister wouldn't want me to give up. I graduated with a 3.5 overall GPA and a job that was offered to me before I even walked. I try as hard as I can to connect with people like you who are told not to do it, that maybe they shouldn't go after their passion. But that's exactly what you should do, go after your passion. Once you get through all those science courses and your in the actual nursing courses, and your going to clinicals, you will fall even more in love. And yea it'll be really hard, but if its your passion you will be so incredibly motivated to do what it takes. You should do a job that you love. I can tell you now that fighting through all of that was the best decision I made; nothing brings me more joy than my patients. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. If YOU think you can do it, and you're ready to work the hardest you have ever worked if it means being happy, than prove all those people wrong and go for it. Best of luck to you no matter where life takes you. “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again." - The curious case of Benjamin Button

Congratulations! Make sure you use this website for nursing school advice/tips and tricks to help you keep your sanity. I even looked at threads on here that helped me study for my boards. I wish I had known about this website the whole time I was in nursing school!

I just wanted to update everyone on this thread since you all were so helpful in trying to answer my question. Also hoping to be helpful to those who haven't taken their exam yet. First off, I passed!!! I did not have a lot of pharm on my exam, maybe two questions, but like some of you mentioned I had a LOT of who do you see first or which patient needs their med first. I also felt as though I received a lot of questions about infection prevention/control. I had about 30 select all out of 125, two order, and two "exhibit" questions. My advice to those who haven't taken it yet is that you join a prep course (such as Kaplan, which is what I used) and whatever practice questions online they give you, you PRACTICE. Again and again. Anything you haven't seen before or don't understand, quickly look up. It is not possible to remember all disease processes, but for example, in my nursing school we never once went over Bell's Palsy. When I came across it on practice questions, I looked it up. I ended up having two Bell's palsy questions on my test that I wasn't 100% sure of the answer, but I at least had the background knowledge to use my judgment. Lastly, don't go in expecting to pass in 75 questions. Go in and commit to sitting there for as long as it takes, and do that with confidence. The test is made so that it gives you a decent chance to pass, so make sure you put your all into every question (don't rush or worry about the amount of questions you get). CONFIDENCE is key.

For those of you who passed your NCLEX, how much pharm did you have on it? Pharm is my weak subject and I am trying to study it a little bit at a time in prep for my boards, but it feels less important than answering practice questions. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone, I am a recently graduated nursing student from a BSN program in PA. I am scheduled to take my NCLEX exam at the end of June. Right now I am enrolled in the Kaplan course at my school. I was hoping those who took the Kaplan course and then took their exam after could offer some advice. Are the questions in Kaplan (Q bank, QT trainer) harder than those on the NCLEX? I have just started studying and it took me two days just to get a score on the Q bank questions of 60%. When I attend class I sometimes wonder why I slaved through four years of nursing school if I cannot answer the practice questions correctly! Losing confidence over here and need some advice/reassurance that I made the right decision in using Kaplan! Sincerely, worried new grad.