Reading alot of posts discussing "A" nursing students vs "C" nursing students

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 28, 2009

I didn't even finish reading your response. I am a lousy test taker! So? It doesn't mean I don't know the info. Sometimes its just how a question is asked that makes me second guess myself or even the person asking it can be so intimidating to me.
That is just something that takes time to get over. I wasn't given a whole lot of responsibility as a child and when I had to get out there and make decisions it showed.
Some instructors act like they can't wait to make fun of students by puttting them on-the-line I call it. I used to freeze up, but I got over that.
Please instructors I am asking that you give your students the time-of-day and treat them like human being....you will get more in return if you do!

I am glad you got over it. I to am a lousy test taker (going to try and get help with it over this summer) and I had TONS of responsibility as a child. More then I should have had. I am usually calm when in a panic situation, and I know I had tons of common sense and street smarts, but alas, I still suck at tests. LOL I don't get it really, in JHS and HS I was the kid that protested homework (I was damned if I was going to sit in class for 8 hours a day and then go home to do more work) I never studied anything yet I still had a B average from acing my tests. My has college been so much different. Mainly just my science classes. I will never forget my first time studying for my Chemistry exam, I sat there dumbfounded thinking what the heck to I do?? I would read and get bored LOL

Anyway, it sounds like you worked through what was holding you back :)

This is pretty much what I am saying. I think those that put their all into what they are passionate about are the ones we need. The rest need to rethink what they are doing. Some seem to think I am some kind of self centered, narcissistic, divisive snot or something. I'm not. I just feel that the healthcare arena really is no place for people that are not willing to sacrifice to be overachievers in all they do. Isn't that what the patient wants and needs and pays for?

So by being overachievers such as yourself, does that mean that only a good nurse will miss out on every event of their childs life and funerals and so on to study more like you have said you have done?? Nursing will be very important to me, it will NEVER be more important then my children, and although my children know that life for the next 2 years is going to be hard and mommy will be a lot more scarce, I will still find the time to be involved and not miss EVERYTHING. They are only kids once. I don't have many loved ones, but if one died, it WOULD effect me and I would make arrangements to mourn, even if it meant me having to push things back a semester to take time off. My school would allow it when it comes to medical or death. I only have 1 Family and while I will dedicate MOST of myself to Nursing school and my job when I become a nurse, I will NOT become one of those moms that my children don't even know or they call the Nanny mom.

AMEN! finally someone with sense! I think the nurses that are replying negatively to my posts are the C students LOL

This is a very mature intelligent statement. :stone I would think a 4.2 GPA student would be smarter then that. Hmmmm

That's the most intelligent statement I've read on this entire thread.

Thank You, I hate to see people let others online effect who they are, many many many years ago like 10 years ago, I used to be the same way, I would get into heated debates and take so much that was said to heart. Then one day I was like WAIT A MINUTE. Never again. I can get pationate in my debates, but I never let it effect me personally. I can see in this thread it has some and it makes me sad.

We are all wildly intelligent and beautiful on line!
I cannot believe this thread is still going :deadhorse.

I am really Eva Langoria and I am having my PA type all this for me :cool:

But no more from me in this thread, unless it's still going on Monday night LOL, I am taking my daughter and we are flying out tomorrow morning to go on a Vacation, Cabin on the lake with friends, just a girls trip, no reception though so the laptop stays home. Hopefully I don't go into convulsions from lack of internet.

Anyway, enjoy your weekends everyone and don't study TOOOOOOOOO hard. You only have one life, try to enjoy some of it, and those that enjoy it a little to much, go study!!!! :smokin:

truern · May 28, 2009

a C means you are able to understand over 70% of the covered material, that's over half of what you need to know. That's hardly being incompetent, that's a lot of information that yo have absorbed which is enough to do the job IMO.

Are you serious?

MedSurgRNiowa · May 28, 2009

This is the most ridicules thread that I have ever read. First of all, how can a Registered Nurse be evaluated by their A, B OR C? It is obvious that all schools have a different scale to base their grades. Whoever was able to go to a school with a grading scale which had 70% as a C, all I can say is "wow". My school's grading scale was 80-86.5% = C, 86.6 - 92.5 = B, and 92.6-100% = A. With a grading scale such as this, a degree under my belt previously and A's in the prerequisite sciences made me change my tune about grades a little bit. I had to because nursing school is a whole different animal. One platinum member continued to make reference to the C still means an RN quote quite condescendingly, I might add. That person has obviously had some bad experiences in the workplace and sounds tired. Another made reference about students who made 70%....ha, at my school, if you drop below 82% than you were on probation and if you went lower than you were out of school. My class began with 82 students and on May 16, 2009, we graduated 35.

A quick story about a top A student in my class. One clinical day, I was out at the nursing station and could hear this A student berating a sick man who was incontinent before she got to the room. She kept asking him loudly (b/c of his hearing, apparently) why he did not use the call button, what was going on that he could not just ask for help. I listened and could not believe my ears. This was a human being and sometimes I believe there are some who lose sight of that. Sometimes maybe those so-called A students forget that the real world is not the "Ivory Tower" nursing that they learned in the books. I disagree with all C students being the negative ones in the workforce, too. I am not your traditional student and have lived life a little. I have seen many of the A students complaining the loudest. This is not the nursing classes of the 1960's where it was mostly women and most were straight out of high school. At least not where I live. We had 3 students who came from high school and the rest of my class averaged 35 in age. That means many times that the students are married, have children, jobs, children's activities, deaths, marriages, pregnancies and all of the things that make life go around. All the things that may take time away from studying as hard as those who may have more uninterrupted time but may have to miss that party.

I will proudly take my reduced because of nursing school "B" average and proudly enter the nursing workforce next week as RN eligible on a Med/Surg floor in a local hospital. I went on three interviews in two facilities and was offered 2 out of the 3 positions. I feel blessed to be able to pursue my dream of being a nurse and will be the most positive person they have ever seen. It may annoy the heck out of those who are less than enthusiastic. :yeah:

franciscangypsy · May 28, 2009

I just graduated and will be taking the NCLEX in a couple of months. I bounced around with my grades in nursing classes (oh, well, at least I got the ABCs covered. At least I'll never forget that! :bugeyes: ), getting the majority of C's and low B's. I got hired halfway through my last semester on a telemetry floor at a magnet hospital.

Grades don't matter as much as passion. Most hospitals want to retrain you. When I start orientation in a couple of weeks, for example, they will be re-teaching me the heart to make sure I know what they want me to know.

Yes, I wanted to be an A or at least a B student. Even got to the point where I was justifying it in the end. "Anything below an 80 is failing in nursing school and an 80 here is a C, so if I was on a normal grading scale I'd at least be a B student...". Blah, blah, blah. Some of us graduated with honors. They were brilliant and deserved it. It doesn't matter any more. I'm just as much a nurse as they are. And I even had a job first.

All that matters is the job and passing the NCLEX. And that's something that ALL of us have to worry about. Not just us C's.

nanasuzy · May 28, 2009

At least not where I live. We had 3 students who came from high school and the rest of my class averaged 35 in age. That means many times that the students are married, have children, jobs, children's activities, deaths, marriages, pregnancies and all of the things that make life go around. All the things that may take time away from studying as hard as those who may have more uninterrupted time but may have to miss that party.

I will proudly take my reduced because of nursing school "B" average and proudly enter the nursing workforce next week as RN eligible on a Med/Surg floor in a local hospital. I went on three interviews in two facilities and was offered 2 out of the 3 positions. I feel blessed to be able to pursue my dream of being a nurse and will be the most positive person they have ever seen. It may annoy the heck out of those who are less than enthusiastic. :yeah:

:yeah: Thank you!!! I'm that "C" student who had children to support, no husband, and a full time night job. I was just glad to pass nursing school. Since I passed the Nclex in 75 questions, I would say I learned what they were teaching: critical thinking. Grades are so much more than study habits or motivation. We can be kind to our patients but not to each other?

vashtee, RN · May 28, 2009

I think we have forgotten that in school, a "C" is considered average, and anything above a "C" is above average. So, it's not as if a nursing student making C's is below par in any way...

The only problem with this statement is that nursing school grades on a different scale. At my school, 75% was a failing grade (below average).

trepinCT · May 28, 2009

I think this nurse like myself realizes the importance of those grades will benefit them in the hiring process. Grades matter people. They show intelligence, perseverence, and the general attitude that is necessary for success in ANY profession.

No..grades only show how well you did on the exams given to you in school...Nursing school Cs are way different than a C in any other college course. I am proud to say that I am a NURSE who worked her butt off and walked away with a C..I also scored high on a NCLEX predictor exam..I beat out classmates with a higher GPA for the same job.grades matter to school..in the real world..they do not.

Who?Me? · May 28, 2009

Once you pass the NCLEX, you are an RN! I got plenty of C's and was even on academic probation one semester as my world was imploding--hard to concentrate on book work when someone you love is dying. Even through all of that, I graduated (woo hoo) :yeah: , got the first job offer of all my classmates (I spent my Senior year Christmas Break interviewing for jobs--that's what you did in the 80s and 90s in the midwest), and have been a very successful nurse for the past 16 years.

Not once has anyone, besides someone in nurses training, ever asked me what my undergraduate grades were. No one cares! Potential employers and nursing licensing boards just want to know if you passed your NCLEX.

AND BTW Grad school is easier than undergraduate course work! The fitting it into the rest of your life is a different story.

Just work hard, pass your classes, and take an NCLEX review class if your school offers it--if they don't ask them why not?! Their pass rates will go up!

WakeUp! · May 28, 2009

Oh for God's sakes!

Why in the hell do you want to worry about grades? You should be worried about what is happening to health care. I have been a nurse for 30 years and have seen people considered "smart" who can't think their way out of a paper bag. What you learn is school is merely the basics. You should all know that what you learn on the job is much more important. You are going to have to learn how to survive without the necessary tools to do your job. You are going to have to learn how to deal with co-workers/ bosses who are bound and determined to make your life difficult. You are going to have to learn how to cope with the oh so many problems of your patients that go way beyond any medical issue that they presenting with. If you come out of school with knowledge of the basics then good for you but if you do not have common sense and problem solving ability with added limberness of a young tree to be able to bend over backwards in order to get your job done than all the knowledge in the world is not going to help you in nursing my friends.

bcskittlez · May 28, 2009

Oh for God's sakes!
I have been a nurse for 30 years and have seen people considered "smart" who can't think their way out of a paper bag. What you learn is school is merely the basics. quote]
:chuckle LOL! I hear ya..
It's just weird... It's almost like you have to feel bad to want to actually know the material??! I just wanna know it! People should not be made to feel like idiots with no "common sense" just because they make A's and you should not have to feel like a retard because you make a C! OMG!!!
Why do people put 'another' person down to feel better about themselves? Seems like to feel better about 'yourself' you would lift 'yourself' up. Anyway, I still care for you all and wish all of you all the best! I have alot of respect for ANY nurse who made it through!
My wish (like anybody cares..) is that all the nurses with 'common sense' would help the ones that dont have it. And all the students with 'book sense' would help with charting and technical things. When I have a question about good bedside care, I run to a good CNA.
How much more enjoyable would nursing be if we did not eat each other alive because of our differences in ability.

beachbutterfly · May 28, 2009

During Nursing school we should learn as much as we can for the pt sake and our sakes,but I must sadly add that the knowledge they feed us in nursing school is simply not enough.

beachbutterfly · May 28, 2009

Oh for God's sakes!
I have been a nurse for 30 years and have seen people considered "smart" who can't think their way out of a paper bag. What you learn is school is merely the basics. quote]
:chuckle LOL! I hear ya..
It's just weird... It's almost like you have to feel bad to want to actually know the material??! I just wanna know it! People should not be made to feel like idiots with no "common sense" just because they make A's and you should not have to feel like a retard because you make a C! OMG!!!
Why do people put 'another' person down to feel better about themselves? Seems like to feel better about 'yourself' you would lift 'yourself' up. Anyway, I still care for you all and wish all of you all the best! I have alot of respect for ANY nurse who made it through!
My wish (like anybody cares..) is that all the nurses with 'common sense' would help the ones that dont have it. And all the students with 'book sense' would help with charting and technical things. When I have a question about good bedside care, I run to a good CNA.
How much more enjoyable would nursing be if we did not eat each other alive because of our differences in ability.
Keep in mind that whatever they teach in Nursing school is 20% of what you need to know to be a safe,efficient nurse,more comes with job experience,further studing.