So I have heard time and time again from nursing professors and clinical adjuncts that "4.0 students often have a hard time transitioning to the floor, B or C students make better nurses". While I totally get that there are some people out there that are so cerebral that they don't do well on the floor, I think this blanket statement is a bunch of bunk.
I bring this up because I am a 4.0 student. I am also involved in clubs and student groups, volunteer outside of school, and often get complimented in clinicals. However, even with that I still hear the comment over and over that A students don't make as good of nurses as B and C nurses.
What do you nurses who are actually out there on the floor think?
I can only speak for myself and the nurses I graduated with and currently work with. I was an A student and the work in class and even clinical rotations came easily to me. I had the book and professor right there if I had questions, but I seldom did. When I got to the floor I was unaccustomed to the non-book learning that didn't just click on first encounter. Answers had always just clicked for me. I didn't know how to ask for/search for answers or keep trying until I figured it out. I was lucky to work on the floor with a couple of former B/C students who already knew how to persist, prod, and pester (the patients, super, and MD) for more information until they understood the issues and could proceed from there. I am still learning how to do this. But that's just me.
I don't care about you, nor was I starting a "fight". NETY Is pretty worn out on AN, as you will figure out if you keep posting here.
New nurses don't succeed or fail on their age, nor their looks.
Unfortunately, your experiences and perceptions are not everyone else's. For example, my wife started a new job and she was disliked by a charge nurse there because "she is so pretty." This was reported to her by others. Every time my wife would walk by this charge nurse she would get a dirty look from her. And this was before they had ever spoken to each other. Fortunately, my wife listens to my advise and she has a very good reputation now not only with that charge nurse but most everyone else as well. I'm sorry NETY is pretty worn out on AN. I'll pray for you.
On the one hand, if you go looking for A students who had a hard time transitioning to the workplace, you'll find them. It's simple confirmation bias. No one really goes looking for B students who have a hard time transitioning, and I very much doubt anyone has good reliable statistics on the matter. It's easy to come up with reasons why an A student might struggle out of school, but these reasons apply to individuals, not A students in general. I have a hard time believing that starting off with an above average understanding of clinical concepts and a little extra confidence could be, on balance, a bad thing. You'd have to have something better than anecdotal evidence to convince me otherwise.
On the other hand, I do suspect that the traits that make a good student may be further removed from what makes a good nurse in the workplace than some other jobs. If I had to take a stab at the single most important trait in a successful nurse, I might guess that it's enjoying what you actually do on the job, which nursing school doesn't really test. Beyond that, there's a kind of odd mix of social skills, perseverance, academic knowledge, level-headedness in an emergency, and the ability to maintain your empathy even when you're stressed out - nursing school hits up some of these, but not the whole package. In other words, though I don't buy that A students are actually at some kind of real disadvantage, I do think you'll find a weaker correlation between GPA and job performance in nursing than you might in, say, engineering.
FWIW, I was an A student in college and terrible at my first career, and a B student in nursing school and an excellent nurse (if I do say so myself). That's just me - my experiences don't generalize to everyone else.
Unfortunately, your experiences and perceptions are not everyone else's. For example, my wife started a new job and she was disliked by a charge nurse there because "she is so pretty." This was reported to her by others. Every time my wife would walk by this charge nurse she would get a dirty look from her. And this was before they had ever spoken to each other. Fortunately, my wife listens to my advise and she has a very good reputation now not only with that charge nurse but most everyone else as well. I'm sorry NETY is pretty worn out on AN. I'll pray for you.
I'd argue it's likely an example of negativity bias.
We all know that people who do well in school don't necessarily do well on the job, and vice versa. However when someone who is just unbelievably BAD tells you they graduated at the top of their class (usually in the context of their knowing everything in life while you're trying to keep them from killing someone), the cognitive dissonance does tend to make the experience stick out more than ones with colleagues who were just fine.
It's also telling that this is almost always the only scenario in which a person feels compelled to let you know about their good grades--when they're terrible at their job. Good nurses who got good grades have no need of doing so. They let their work speak for them. So contradictory information isn't presented as often either.
All that said, no one in my school was allowed to have marks that high. There was always a subjective criterion to the grades so even the highest achievers did not complete with averages in the high 90s. So sometimes the "B" students ARE the better students.
I've heard that as well, but only found it applied to the ones who weren't meant to do much bedside nursing because they had no interpersonal skills and came across as know-it-alls who wouldn't give "regular" students the time of day. That being said, my cousin was one of those who got straight As in school while he was only not hammered during clinicals (he's long since stopped drinking-as in just before graduation) so that irritated me to no end! He was one of those special people who was amazing in school and great in clinicals, as well as his job after graduation.
I busted my hump because nearly everything except OB was a mostly difficult for me, but I did well in clinicals. It's not always a fair assumption to make about good students because I think it depends on the personalities. The type I listed in the beginning of this post usually had those things in common as well as the good grades. Bedside nursing isn't for everyone :) xo
Yes, you will transition flawlessly if you apply the following:
4) I have noticed in my career that A student men usually transition better than A student women. I'm not trying to be misogynistic or say men are better nurses than women. I'm only implying that one gender may excel in transitioning better than the other. FYI-I'm basing this on empirical evidence. But do your own observations and if you agree then learn from them and apply it.
This is interesting since I've read research that strongly suggests men excel in nursing, but because they are heavily favoured and often advanced past their female peers without good discernable reasons (other than their maleness). I'd love to read any contrary research if possible.
Anecdotally, I've seen a number of men promoted to supervisory roles in nursing when it is plain they are unsuited. Typically they have one or two female "favourites" who do all the work they're incapable of, creating rivalries amongst the staff. I've also seen the opposite (it seems almost reciprocal), but this is a definite pattern that exists in health care.
I had a 3.9 GPA and prior life/ work experience. As a result, I found my transition to nursing relatively straightforward. I was motivated and prepared for both the good and the bad. Everyone is different.
The theories that I had learned in addition to the knowledge I had gained in nursing school actually made my transition to the floor much easier. Basic nursing concepts that new grads are supposed to know, I knew because I continued to read and study.
However, grades are one component. Social skills, emotional intelligence and common sense are equally important. Grades are meaningless on their own.
He was one of those special people who was amazing in school and great in clinicals, as well as his job after graduation. 
jeanbeth, MSN, DNP, RN
69 Posts
I can only speak for myself and the nurses I graduated with and currently work with. I was an A student and the work in class and even clinical rotations came easily to me. I had the book and professor right there if I had questions, but I seldom did. When I got to the floor I was unaccustomed to the non-book learning that didn't just click on first encounter. Answers had always just clicked for me. I didn't know how to ask for/search for answers or keep trying until I figured it out. I was lucky to work on the floor with a couple of former B/C students who already knew how to persist, prod, and pester (the patients, super, and MD) for more information until they understood the issues and could proceed from there. I am still learning how to do this. But that's just me.