Ridiculous class schedule, please help

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Hello just need some advice and suggestions. Next semester I am scheduled to take microbiology and lab, pathophysiology, health assessment and lab, and fundamentals of nursing and lab. So it's a total of 7 classes ( yes, labs isn't counted as a class since it's zero credits, but I'm referring to it as a class since I'm physically walking into a classroom to learn it) and it's a total of 15 credits. Now I feel like this is a set up for failure because who would want to take micro and patho in the same semester?? on top of other nursing classes. I've tried looking at other schools to see if I can take micro in the winter so it can reduce the stress for the spring semester but I've been unlucky. The only other option is to deal with it or push back a class which will push back my graduation -_- . What's pissing me off even more is one of the advisers said it's "duable" but when I asked her does she see herself taking those classes all at once she was quiet ... exactly. I just want to know what's you guys opinion and if there's any advice. Thank you.

Specializes in Adult Primary Care.
On 10/26/2019 at 9:50 AM, meanmaryjean said:

Take the emotion out of it and listen to NICU Guy's wise advice.

Finish late or risk not finishing at all? Seems like a no-brainer.

This!

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Specializes in ICU.
On 10/26/2019 at 9:23 AM, PrinPrin2 said:

Thank you all for your advise, I guess one of my worries was graduating late and being judged for graduating at 25 instead of 24. I now know what to do.

I’m 31 and I just graduated from nursing school. You are still young and have time! Do what you think you can handle. Best of luck!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

If you still live at your parents place and don't work, you can probably pull it off. Honestly, I wouldn't have been able to do that while still working 25-30 hours a week. Microbiology is a rough course to take all on its own. I winded up taking micro the summer before my nursing program started. Quite a few students tried to take Nursing 101 and Micro concurrently and ended up failing because it was too much. And if it's any consolation, I just graduated nursing school in May and I'm 34.

But I've known really REALLY driven people with full time jobs, kids, and still pulled nursing school off....so I mean, it's definitely possible. But I can't say I'd recommend it unless you have a solid support system at home or a plan.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

My school did not allow anyone in the nursing program who had not completed all corequisites prior to starting due to the very issue you outline here. It isn't realistic to do them at the same time. Follow NICU Guy's advice.

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Specializes in Medsurg.

I took my classes slower than others. I took 2 at a time vs 5. I wasn't in a rush

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Specializes in Surgical Transplant.

While your advisor I'm sure has great advice, when it comes down to it, you know your routine/study habits/learning abilities the best. Don't let their "silence" deter you from achieving your goals.

To put things into perspective, a typical workload at a four year university for a full time student is around 13-16 credits. Quite a few of my bachelor degree semesters I was taking 14-15 credits in order to graduate in four years and meet all of my requirements. Granted it was for a biology degree (before pursuing nursing.) Nonetheless, I recall one semester I had anat. & phys. lecture and lab, a microbio lecture and lab, stats, and a class for my psych minor. Before that semester started I remember feeling very overwhelmed and unsure if I would be able to still have a functioning social life between class AND work. What I found was, my harder workload FORCED me to be studious and use my time wisely. I developed better study habits, time management, and I stayed on top of my material more than I ever had before. Long story short, I passed all of my classes and had better grades in my harder classes. I put in the work and graduated on time, even if that meant sacrificing a few Friday nights. I worked flexible hours as a CNA during college and found that really helped.

Each person's situation is different and you know what's best for yourself. If money is an issue and you have to work a set amount of hours (ie. full time) then taking an extra semester may be worth it --or if you know without a doubt these classes will cause you anxiety. These classes aren't more important than your own mental health. You have time if you need to slow down and take an extra semester.

However, if I were in your shoes, I would bite the bullet and take on the workload. To me, taking a whole extra semester only to reduce the current semesters workload by one class isn't worth it. From my experience I found health assessment and fundamentals to be fairly easy classes. Labs from my experience in undergrad and nursing school have also been straightforward. The labs usually follow material you're covering in class so if anything it's a good review and a place to practice your skills and hone in on info you've seen before. With patho, I found it to be one of the most important classes leading up to nursing. It sets a great and crucial foundation for everything you'll learn beyond that class. I had a challenging instructor but it WAS doable and I loved the material we learned in that class because it's all extremely applicable. If I had to guess, micro and patho will be the two classes with the most work, and health assessment and fundamentals will serve as intro to nursing courses to get your feet wet and probably will be much less work. So do I think it's doable? For sure. Remember, you can always register for the classes and drop one after you've started if you find that it isn't working out. The teachers are there to help you and students are always willing to form study groups. I believe in you!

Good luck, I hope everything works out in the end one way or the other.

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I wonder if you could find a self-paced online pathophysiology course to complete before then.

It's not an unreasonable amount of hours, but those are some hefty courses, and nursing courses and tests are a big adjustment for students, too. Could you do it? Sure, if you have strong study and time management skills! Do you want to? That may be another story.

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Specializes in kids.

In my 4 year BSN program it was 15 credits per semester, all eight of them.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

There is something I am not understanding here.

Do all students in your program have to take that same course load? If not, why are you being scheduled that way? Are you not taking the standard curriculum for some reason? Are you already "off track?" If most other students do take that same load, then why should you have more problems with it than they have?

Talk to some upperclassmen and find out exactly how difficult those classes really are -- how many hours of work they require per week, etc. It may not be as much as you think. Any given class can be made more difficult or easier, depending on how it is taught. Find out how hard/time consuming they really are at YOUR school before assuming they are as hard as they are at some other school. (Decades ago, at my school, some of the classes you mention were easy ones that involved 2 hours of class per week with 2 hours of lab -- and not much homework. The harder classes were the ones in which you had to read a book per week and write a paper every 2 weeks --not the little science labs courses.)

Find out the specifics of each class by talking to upperclassmen before you decide. The posters here probably went to different schools.

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On 10/25/2019 at 2:32 PM, PrinPrin2 said:

Hello just need some advice and suggestions. Next semester I am scheduled to take microbiology and lab, pathophysiology, health assessment and lab, and fundamentals of nursing and lab. So it's a total of 7 classes ( yes, labs isn't counted as a class since it's zero credits, but I'm referring to it as a class since I'm physically walking into a classroom to learn it) and it's a total of 15 credits. Now I feel like this is a set up for failure because who would want to take micro and patho in the same semester?? on top of other nursing classes. I've tried looking at other schools to see if I can take micro in the winter so it can reduce the stress for the spring semester but I've been unlucky. The only other option is to deal with it or push back a class which will push back my graduation -_- . What's pissing me off even more is one of the advisers said it's "duable" but when I asked her does she see herself taking those classes all at once she was quiet ... exactly. I just want to know what's you guys opinion and if there's any advice. Thank you.

You must always think of what your goal is first. It does not matter if you graduate "not on time" at the end of the day all that matter is graduating with your degree. Stop putting a time frame on yourself.

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Would your school accept online class? If they do there is some online classes for winter in NC

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I am going to assume that this is an ADN program as that is the type of schedule I would have been subjected to when I went to school ages ago! That is the exact reason that everybody in my cohort that actually graduated without failing and repeating a semester anyway opted to turn the supposedly two year degree into a three year degree. The only exception was a young lady that just graduated high school the previous year. She lived with her parents, had no job, no expenses and no family responsibilities so she could dedicate all her time to school. Most students didn't have that luxury and opted to extend a year so those classes could be split up into a more manageable load.

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