School/Life Balance - How Do You Do It???

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2014

Honestly, I think a lot of the talk about nursing school being SO time consuming that you'll never have time for fun or friends or family is a little silly. Yes, it takes a lot of work. But it's no different than any other college major that requires practicums. It's certainly no where near as involved as a medical residency that requires you spend upwards of 70 hours per week at the hospital. You go to class, you go to clinical, you manage your time, you read your assignments or work on papers a little bit every day. You study as you go rather than cramming it all in before a test. You learn which learning styles and study skills work best for you. And when you need it, you take a few hours and go out with friends or go to a movie or go to dinner with your family. If nursing school literally has you so busy that you never have time for anything except school, work and studying, you're probably not managing your time or studying effectively.

It's all about perspective. If you approach nursing school thinking it's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done- that all the reading and homework will take over your life, then it will. But if you approach it knowing that you're a competent student who did will in high school or with prerequisite courses, if you commit to setting aside an appropriate amount of time to study, and you learn how you study best, and understand that it's not going to take over your life, it won't.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2014

I worked 16-hour weekend double shifts as an LVN, every Saturday and Sunday from 6:00am to 10:00pm, while attending an LPN-to-RN (ASN) transition program full time.

My work hours enabled me to have Monday through Friday off to attend school. At that time I lived in one city and crossed state lines to attend school in another city.

Since I lived 225 miles from the school, I rented an apartment with a roommate in the city where the school was located, and returned to my house in the city where I resided from Friday through Monday. When I'd stay at the apartment near the school, my roommate and I would shoot the breeze by going out to dinner, bar hopping, shopping, movie theaters, or various other diversions.

Columnist · Sep 25, 2014

I agree..... Going to nursing school is hard, but so are many educational pathways. Setting priorities is a necessity. But.....for some folks that is a real challenge. For a "traditional student" right out of high school, making the transition to college life is hard. Time management is a must-learn skill.

goldenanchor · Sep 27, 2014

It is hard, but I do agree that sometimes college is just hard in general (dependent on the degree, of course).

I am a mother to a toddler, work PT (20 hours/week) at a clinic, and spend about 20 hours total in class or at clinical. Life is crazy - and apart from being a mother, student, wife, and employee - I don't have a "life". But that's okay - it is so worth it. To manage my time effectively I plan out each day by the hour where I will be or what I need to get done. I have a lot of to-do lists going on and prioritize in order to be effective and efficient. Sometimes there is a chapter that just doesn't get read and that's okay. Some days I simply cannot get it all done. But I'm taking it one day at a time because that's all I can really handle/plan for.

One thing that's harder than I expected is maintaining my status as an A-student. I never realized how "easy" it is to get A's in regular/pre-req classes until I took my first nursing exam and it schooled me. I'm not sure if this is standard, but my school grades a little differently. An A is 92-100%, a B is 85-91.9% and a C is 78-84.9%. 78% is minimum passing grade to pass a course - but of course a GPA of 2.75 must be maintained. I talked to a friend of mine who is currently a medical student in her third year of med school and she was shocked that our grading is so different. She said at her med school it's the standard 90-100% is A, etc.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Sep 27, 2014

During school, I had no choice but to work full-time and attend school full-time. I was reasonably fortunate in that generally my work schedule did not conflict with my school schedule. On the few occasions where I did have a conflict between the 2, I was able to successfully work something out so that I could attend school and continue working full-time. On top of all of that, I also have a family to deal with so that is an additional stressor. Something you should always do whenever possible is communicate. Talk to your family. Talk to your work. Talk to your school. See if there is some way that you can get something to work out so that you can meet both your educational and work obligations.

One of the ways that I was able to make things work successfully is that I was allowed to study while at work, including write papers, use the Internet to look stuff up, and the like as long as what I did for school did not affect my work duties. Consequently I usually wrote most of my care plans, papers, homework, whatever else while I was at work. I directly attribute my relatively good grades to being able to study and do much of my schoolwork/homework while at work.

If you have a family that you're responsible for, don't forget to include them in your plans.