Roxbury Community College nursing 2014

Hello,

Congrats with getting into nursing school! I have gone to RCC so I have a little insight to their program. Since you are in the evening program the curriculum is a little bit more spread out. There were a lot of people in my class who worked more than 20 hrs, some worked full time, some had more than one job. It depends on the person really, but just be aware the biggest reason I have seen people fail out is because they worked too much and didn't have enough time to properly study.

As for gaining more experience in the medical field I would recommend getting job as a nursing assistant. You don't have to be certified, in the state of MA you can work as a nursing assistant if you are a nursing student and have completed at least one semester of clinical experience, although some places want you to have done more than one. This is how I got my job as a nursing assistant, and it has been a great experience in terms of being more familiar with how hospitals run.

A little pointer about RCC itself, they tend to be really unorganized...so be prepared, it can be pretty frustrating at times.

Good Luck!

I hope the nursing students are more studious than the people going for their associates degrees at RCC! Some of those students don't have a clue on how to study and expect the teachers from the science classes to spoon-feed them an A! This applies to the pre-nursing students at RCC too!!

Kinokoboy,

If you have an issue with RCC, and the students there, why attend RCC? I can tell you first hand that the nursing program is no joke. I studied almost everyday, and for hours on end. This last year I didn't even see most of my family until after I was finished. Granted, I got really good grades (finished 1st in my class, with a 4.0) even the people who just barley passed didn't pass by accident. Even when the content wasn't difficult to understand, the amount of information that needed to be covered was astronomical. Let me guess, you are one of those Simmons or Northeastern students who are too good to go to RCC, but some how still end up going there to do your pre-reqs? Don't judge something you know nothing about...

Now, now, boys and girls, settle down. We who read the Boston Globe regularly know that RCC has had its serious problems. Some of the students there have no experience in higher education, not a lot of support in learning how to be college students, and many have big-time out-of-school situations and responsibilities that the average Simmons or Northeastern undergraduate student could barely imagine, much less cope with.

That said, though, OP, what Vallywillis says stands. You will need to carve out a really big chunk of time to study enough to succeed. Push your guidance folks and your faculty to give you guidance, not because you think you deserve an A but because you really want to know what you have to do to earn one (big difference there).

Get tutoring help, study with peers, read the material out loud, ask the study center how to take notes effectively and how to write effectively. Your faculty really does want to see you succeed, so drop by for office hours every week to check in and see how it's going. The minute you find yourself unclear on a concept, stop right there and figure it out, because a lot of other things will depend on your knowing it sooner rather than later. Make-ups are harder than doing it right the first time.

There are a number of threads on AN on effective study habits and plans. Search them in the yellow bar up at the top of the page. Good luck! Stay in touch. We are here to help.

I am completely aware of the issues that RCC has...who isn't. I was making a point that the nursing program should not be grouped with the rest of the college (though sadly we are). Many of my classmates, like myself have previous degrees, are smart, motivated to learn, and dedicated to being safe nurses. There were many students in my class that were perfectly capable of being at a more prestigious school, but couldn't afford the hefty price tag that comes with those programs. Was it hard to deal with the on going issues at RCC? Absolutely it was. But guess what? I have spoken to many nursing students, from many different colleges in the area, and they all have their own issues. Your situation is what you make of it.

OP. It is true there are many ongoing issues at this college, and it can get frustrating at times. Yet, going to RCC does not make the nursing program any easier, this is a very challenging program. I think if you concentrate on your work, stay dedicated to your studies, and make some serious plans to do your BSN once you are finished you will do just fine.

I know the semester already started for you guys, so I hope it is going well. Good luck with everything, nursing is such an exciting career! :-)

Kinokoboy,

If you have an issue with RCC, and the students there, why attend RCC? I can tell you first hand that the nursing program is no joke. I studied almost everyday, and for hours on end. This last year I didn't even see most of my family until after I was finished. Granted, I got really good grades (finished 1st in my class, with a 4.0) even the people who just barley passed didn't pass by accident. Even when the content wasn't difficult to understand, the amount of information that needed to be covered was astronomical. Let me guess, you are one of those Simmons or Northeastern students who are too good to go to RCC, but some how still end up going there to do your pre-reqs? Don't judge something you know nothing about...

I am not saying that all students at RCC are terrible and lazy. I've actually met a few really smart people doing their pre-reqs for nursing/NP/PA/med school and those just doing their associates so they can transfer to a four year university. Also, I learned a lot from the science classes at RCC and was totally prepared to take 300 & 400 level science courses at Northeastern. However, do not underestimate the amount of dumbasses at this school, at least in the non-nursing program. Many of the students in my science classes didn't put in the time to get good grades and the professors' were extremely generous with inflating their grades. I hope to God some of those students don't make it into your nursing program!!! Do people with a B- in Micro and A&P1&2 make it into your program?

There are definitely people who made it into the nursing program with lower grades in their sciences. I would like to point out that some people have a more difficult time understanding stuff like that, but it doesn't mean they will be a bad or dangerous nurse. Then, there are other people who didn't put in any effort and took advantage of easy A's and B's. Those people will likely have a hard time with the program. Then there are students who did very well in their pre-reqs, but had a really hard time in the program...they studied but still struggled! Though, I will agree that there are some students at rcc who are not focused (I took 4 classes there before the nursing program) and are looking for easy A's, but if they move onto other degrees or different programs, their lack of studying will catch up to them. For the nursing students who didn't study their A&P I think they will struggle, especially once they get into med surg 1 and 2.

The interesting thing about RCC IMOP, is it really seems to be a "weed out program". The percentage of students who fail tends to be pretty high, especially in fundamentals and med surg 1. The class I finished with, I think only 9 of the 23 student were from the original class (although there were a handful of LPN's doing the RN program which means they came in during med surg. 1). The professors really don't give second chances at all. There are no re-takes on the exam, no projects for extra points, and the exams can be hard. If you fail a class, you are allowed to re-apply to the program, only once and the program has to be willing to take you back. (Though, if you are struggling, they are willing to help you, but you have to put in the work!)

Sassy,

Sorry I missed your post about your exam. I hope you did well! As for studying tips, for fundies, I took a lot of notes and then took the practice questions at the end of each chapter, then studied my notes. I like taking practice tests because they can really help gauge where you are at. I know there is a fundamentals Success book, I never used that for fundies but would have if I knew about it. I used all their other books (medsurg, maternity, pedi) once I got into the other semesters. The school has you pay for Kaplan services, I don't know if they have you set up yet, but their practice tests are really helpful. A lot of the Kaplan stuff is geared more towards med surg, but you can make custom tests and pick the content you want to go over. The nutrition book also have quizzes at the end of each chapter, and the books come with a CD and on some of them there are quizzes as well. Everyone is different with studying, but what worked for me was to learn the content and then take test to see if I could apply what I learned to the situation. The questions are application style questions, so you need to know the info and how to apply it.

Other tips:

1,With the questions sometimes they can be really wordy and long! You have to figure out what the question is asking you because sometimes there are a lot if distractors within the question.

2. Always read carefully, I have gotten questions wrong because I didn't completely read the question (I have a tendency to rush). 3.During the exam if you get stuck on a question, don't sit on it for too long, mark it and go back. I have had classmates who ran out of time because they were sitting on questions that they didn't know. Not only does this eat into your time, I personally think it causes more anxiety which may hurt your thought process on the other questions.

4. Always mark you answer on the scantron sheet and the actual test. There have been people in my class who thought they picked a different answer but couldn't prove it because they didn't write the answer down on the actual test

5. Always double check your answers on the scantron before passing it in. I have on several occasions found that I circled the wrong answer, but was lucky to catch it because I always double check. If you do circle the wrong answer on your scantron and don't catch it, it is likely they won't give you the points. "it is operator error".

6. They may have tutors set up for you guys, I say try it out if you can, it is helpful to some people (I personally didn't like it, but that is just me)

7. If you get a study group together, make sure everyone in your group is serious about studying. People who are not serious are distracting and may expect you to teach them the material. (Ain't nobody got time for that!)

8. If possible, don't miss lecture. There are things mentioned in lecture that may not be in the book, but may end up on the exam. If they mention a little story about this person or that person, listen carefully, those scenarios may just end up on your exam either verbatim, or in different context.

9. Get a recorder and record the lectures. Re-listen to them. This can be especially helpful with Theresa (is she teaching you guys this semester?). I didn't have her for fundies or 151, but had her for 252, and 253 and re-listening to her lecture was extremely helpful.

10. If you do your reading and study, I think you should be just fine. Fundies is the easy part (I know it doesn't seem like it, but I swear it really is). When you get to med surg it is much harder, and you will likely need to change the way you have been studying...

Good luck!:)

I'm glad that they weed out the students when they get into your program! However, i wish they did more weeding out in the STEM department because a good chunk of those students fail upper level science courses when they get to four year universities. Many pre-nursing students in my A&P and micro classes were always talking about how they were aiming for a B- to get into RCC or BHCC. It also annoyed me when they asked me to study with them because they knew I was an A student but didn't put in the necessary time to memorize everything on their own. Seriously, I told them my study methods; which was putting everything on flashcards and memorizing everything. IMO, group study is a waste of time (at least for me) and I think that's why a lot of students can't grasp the material on their own (they rely too much on group study).