Question about nursing school schedule

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 21, 2005

Most RN programs have little to no flexibility regarding class and clinical schedules. I am sorry, I know this is not what you wanted to hear. But it's the truth.

I have one suggestion:

You COULD try a larger program at a university or bigger comm. college; some of these have "shifts" and different class offerings at alternate times.

One more tip: Maybe your family/friends can help out w/babysitting and childcare? You will need lots of close-knitted support to make it though any program you choose, anyhow. Find out who you can count on to help you out before you apply and gain admission to any nursing program. For some, it's a lot like a couple years' basic training (it was for me, and I was military).

Good luck.

sgx2 · Jun 22, 2005

Most RN programs have little to no flexibility regarding class and clinical schedules. I am sorry, I know this is not what you wanted to hear. But it's the truth.
I have one suggestion:
You COULD try a larger program at a university or bigger comm. college; some of these have "shifts" and different class offerings at alternate times.
One more tip: Maybe your family/friends can help out w/babysitting and childcare? You will need lots of close-knitted support to make it though any program you choose, anyhow. Find out who you can count on to help you out before you apply and gain admission to any nursing program. For some, it's a lot like a couple years' basic training (it was for me, and I was military).
Good luck.

I was afraid of that. lol Unfortunately, I'm the last in my family to get an education. I stayed at home with all my siter-in-law's kids while they went to school and now that they have their jobs, there's no one to watch my kids for me. Such is life, I guess. The only university near me has the same inflexbility as the college (called to find out), so I guess I won't be going back to school until the little ones are big.

mstigerlily · Jun 22, 2005

When I started my prereqs kid #1 was 8 and I had just gotten pregnant with #2. I had her over the summer and went back to start Chemistry when she was 5 weeks old. Started first semester of nursing school when she was 2. Got pregnant with #3 in my third semester, took a semester off and went back to finish 4th semester when he was 6 months old. Graduated when he was almost 10 months old. It can be done, but not if you are working. I had a very supportive husband with flexible hours and a mother who was nearby and babysat a lot. I think the support and family/friends available to help is key.

Melissa

hoping05 · Jun 29, 2005

In my NS, we had Mondays off, and for Freshmen, we went to clinicals T,W from 7am to 1pm, and classroom was Th, F 9-12. I didn't feel it was too many hours at all. Of course doing careplans and all the clinical paperwork, some days homework was about 3 hours a night, and studying is about 15 hours a week (for me anyway). Sophomores schedules was switched~ clinicals Th, F, classroom T, W. I too have four kids and they were very supportive, so was my husband. I couldn't have done it without their support and understanding of all the time I had to put into it.

MIA-RN1, RN · Jun 30, 2005

I was all set to go back to school (to do the nursing school prereq, and eventually get into nursing school) when I found out I was pregnant with my second child. I decided not to start since I figured a new baby would keep me too busy to focus on school.
Now I'm just about ready to have my 4th child (time flies!), and I'm really wanting to get back to school. I'd planned to enter the program at my local junior college (for the ADN), and I just have a few prereq classes to get out of the way before I can apply for the program. I believe the college will even let me take some of those prereqs online (like an English class I need, etc), so I was hoping to get it started so that I'd be ready to apply for the nursing program by the time my child was able to go the day without me.
However -- here comes the question -- I look at all the nursing school schedules and I see that they have your 4 semesters all planned out, including clinical work. Is this flexible at all? As a mother with a family to take care of, I can't be in school/clinical for 8-12 hours at a time. Is it possible to do nursing school part-time, or is that frowned upon? I know that once my kids were all school-aged, I could work full-time, but I wanted to start school part-time sooner than that. Is this unrealistic when it comes to nursing school? Should I just forget the whole thing until they're older?

I am in an ADN prgrm and while the core classes are handed to you without your input (grr) the pre-reqs, sciences, electives etc are at the student's discretion. You you could surely work on that stuff while you have wee ones at home. Online classes are GREAT. I love em. Or you could take classes that are interesting to get your brain back in student-mode, and stuff that might help like a terminology class or bio class.

If you get all your other work done other than the core nursing programs, it ends up being part time anyway at my school.

Don't give up on your dreams!!

diannal · Jul 4, 2005

I am finishing my senior year in nursing. I have 2 children, and fortunately, my mother helps watch them. However, a friend and fellow student has two small children. She has no support or help. But she is able to take the program. In Montana, she is able to get childcare through Headstart. She pays nothing for this. She has mostly A's and also has her oldest son in Cubscouts. So, anything is possible. Do not give up.