Should I go to pinning?

[DeepBreath]

Hey all,

I am debating if whether or not I should go its about $150 to attend and only 4 fam members can come. So either my bro, grandma or bf cant go from the 3 cuz my parents are definitely going. and i absolutely feel as though my school is hasn't been encouraging throughout the program. faculty members will be pinning us.

the pins are going to be ugly...

I have many acquaintances but dont really care to go.

I feel like I answered my own question but what do you guys suggest?

[Oh'Ello, BSN, RN]

I didn't go... and I don't regret it. I've spent the last x number of years doing crap I didn't feel like doing.... I went to a sweet dinner and partied with my friends instead.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

My decision was easy...cost included in tuition & fees, pinning occurred during graduation ceremonies, and my favorite instructor pinned me. I went.

A separate ceremony with extra cost & aggravation, eh I probably would have skipped it.

[LittleCandles]

I'm going and the only out of pocket expense is I have to buy my own white scrubs.

If I had to pay 150 I wouldn't go.

[j0yegan]

I felt that actual graduation was more important than the pinning ceremony. I never even heard of a pinning ceremony. Sounds like a way to get a lot of money out of you if you ask me! LOL.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I went to mine. The cost to us was very minimal because we just had to pay for the graduation garb and our share of the program. We could purchase our own pin separately or we could purchase one with the school's nursing program logo. I think the total cost, minus the pin because that was separate) was probably less than $60. I wore my grad garb twice. Once was at pinning and the second time was at the College Graduation. I didn't buy any of the pictures because those were a rip-off.

If the cost had been $150 and I could only have 4 guests, I wouldn't have gone either. That being said, there's something to be said for sitting with your classmates and your instructors and be recognized as a graduate and no longer a student. It's quite interesting seeing the difference in attitude toward students before and after the ceremony.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I felt that actual graduation was more important than the pinning ceremony. I never even heard of a pinning ceremony. Sounds like a way to get a lot of money out of you if you ask me! LOL.

A few years ago, when I got my Bachelors, the department held their own ceremony to individually acknowledge the achievements of each individual student. The formal graduation ceremony (usually held the next day, or so) at the University had all students from each "school" within the University stand and be recognized as a group. There were about 800 students total from just my "school" alone, and I think there were something like 8,000 students in attendance in the stadium.

My most recent graduation had probably something like 300 students attending and only a few nursing students actually decided to attend. We all sat together so we were very much visibly different from the rest of the bunch. The College has different robes for Nursing Students (LVN or RN) from everyone else.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

I went to mine, but I didn't buy a ridiculously priced pin, so they only pretended to pin me. I remember thinking it was dumb the whole time. I hate the Nightengale Oath we had to recite. I think it's outdated and belittling to modern nursing. It was at a banquet hall and the food was awful. Everyone in my family was bored out of their mind's.

I went to mine but only for political reasons... The director of the program was insistent that we attend and I didn't want to get marked by her.

I would have preferred to give the whole thing a pass.

[Nonyvole, BSN, RN]

I went. I had to choose between people, too, but in the end it was my parents and husband who came. The pinning committee did make sure that the ceremony itself was broadcast online, so those who weren't able to attend - or those of us who had more guests than tickets - were still able to watch. And in a more comfortable location than a church.

We did have to pay $40, and unless we had a nurse in our immediate family, we were pinned by the faculty. The $40 went towards the professional photographer who took the class picture, pictures of us being pinned, and is putting them all on CD for each of us as well as the printed tickets and invitations.

For me, pinning was a lot more meaningful than the graduation ceremony. It was more personal, since the only people there were students who went through the program with me and the nursing faculty. Getting my pin...that was worth more to me than any piece of paper from my school. I'll freely admit that I cried during pinning. And I wasn't the only one.

[Ayvah, RN]

I didn't go to mine and am still happy about my choice 8 years later. Like you, I felt my school was unsupportive during my time there so I didn't want the teachers to pin me, nor did I want to pay the additional fee.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Didn't go to graduation or pinning. never regretted it.