So after reading enough posts, I can't help but wonder..

One good thing about nursing is that even if it isn't right for you, it is a great stepping stone to other areas. I realized that nursing wasn't really for me, and I just finished my first year of law school. I plan on specializing in health care law!

I am not a nurse, but i've been through the nursing program.. almost. I failed med/surg1 by a few points last semester but could retake it right away..so I did and I was fine...but it led me even more behind...then I failed med/surg2 and now I can't retake this class for a whole YEAR. I felt like I wasted 2+ years when I could have already been doing something else with my life! If I only knew back in high school that nursing school would be this crazy, I would have chosen a different career path right away. And don't get me wrong, nursing school should be tough... but i'm sorry some of the questions (nclex based) are so tricky, because all of them could be right answers but you have to chose the 'best' one. It's honestly ridiculous...and it's all based on tests. I feel like I am a smart girl. I had almost all A's in high school, and in generals in college I had A's and B's... but nursing school has seriously brought my self-esteem/confidence level soooo down beyond belief. I know of people, not just me, that have failed out of a nursing program that have studied and dedicated a lot of time into it. Actually, two of my friends failed out of a nursing program the same time I did but only at a different school, and I know for a fact that they would have been great caring nurses! They can't just retake the course right away either.

I also thought nursing school would be more hands-on learning/learning more in clinical... but it's not at all how I thought it would be. From reading a bunch of postings on this website, they NEED to do some changes... not just with my school, but all over.

Not to discourage you from going into nursing or anything, and i'm not at all saying that you will fail a course like myself, BUT I just want to let you know that it could lead you, not forward, but behind on your career. Just take a look at me, I could be for say an accountant right now, if I only knew back in high school that it would lead me this far behind on everything. I look at some of my former high school graduates and some of them will be graduating with 4 year degree next year, and here I could have been one of them but now I'm technically a freshman in college again (or so I feel like). If I could go back I would change so so much.

Good Luck in whatever u decide to do!!

I'm a (ex) nursing student. I have one more nursing final and then I'm officially not going back to complete my last year. Although I am at the top of my class I will tell you it hasn't been easy and from what I hear from other nurses and what I feel I don't think it will be getting better. I've spent 6 years to get to this point(on waiting lists, taking pre reqs etc) and I will tell you now its not worth it. I could have been in pharmacy school or another major finishing up at this point and really starting my life but now I have to defer loans and take out more time to finish that. I'm okay with that because I know I will be doing something that I've wanted to do and enjoy my life from now on.

I've had friends of mine fail because an alcohol prep wasn't in the right area on comps or they didn't draw the curtain for privacy. I've had friends fail because a bitter instructor strung them along and used their services at clinicals and then told them they weren't going to make a good nurse. So why use her services? They call clinicals "training" but really its free labor from nursing students for the hospital and the students are easy targets for abuse for the fustrated overworked nurses who can't take it out on anyone else. The tests are even more ridiculous and tricky. I've seen and dealt with some of the most ridiculous stuff you can imagine. I then remember that these same instructors were the ones that tend to make up the majority of the atmosphere of the hospital. Yes, I do believe there are good nurses but most of the good nurses leave or keep their head down....and if you don't do that you have to change for the worse to deal with the constant abuse. I've heard people tell me what I've been through is nothing and it gets worse once I start working. I believe that.

Listen to your father. Please. He will tell you the ins and outs of nursing. He is probably so tired both physically and emotionally. I always had a feeling nursing would be this way but like many I didn't want to believe it.

Your the only one who can make up your mind but really if a lot people are telling you to do something else....please listen. All the signs are there.

wow this is all so touching and I thought I was the only one looking for answers my co-workers as nurse students and the current RN's tell me the same thing dont get my heart in this nursing thing to long to go and get a another degree just in case things dont go well but i dont know anything but nursing its all i ever did besides fastfood.

If you read enough of the posts here, you'll learn the myriad of reasons for getting out of the field. It seems the main reason is burn-out which results from short-staffing, excessive demands, abusive pts, abusive management...the list goes on and on and on......

Man, I don't know what to say after reading these posts. I don't officially start nursing school until August. So I guess I can't really say for sure how I will feel. I can only update later.

I will say though, I have never wanted anything more than to achieve this goal in my life. (other than children and I have them). My heart is so into this that I will not turn back now. I have come so far, gone through so many hoops and jumped over so many hurdles. I have thought about quitting many times, it isn't easy with 4 kids at home and no kind of adult support around, but I have kept my goal in sight and have pushed through it.

I would like to say that although it may be long, and hard and tough, I will push through and might even like it and in the end I won't regret a thing.

I have been through some serious crap in my life, things I would hope no one would ever have to go through, and I have pushed through it all and I live with no regrets. Each thing in life is a learning opportunity IMO so even if something happened now I know it would have been for a reason and I would have gained from it.

I am very sorry for how you guys feel and for your experiences. I wish you all the best in finding something that truly makes you happy. Everyone should have a job they enjoy.

I can't say 100% I will feel this same way after my first year, but I have every intention of updating a year from now of how happy I am about the decision I have made.

Nursing isn't for everyone though. Same with every profession. But I for sure think Nursing is for some and I think I am one of those "some".

Again, best of luck to all of you that have decided it's not for you :) Just about everyone deserves happiness.

wow...lots of "gloom and doom" felt in the previous posts...

i guess i am in the minority. i absolutely love my job in nursing. i have been an rn for 6+ years, and i enjoy what i do. i didn't have the bad experiences in nursing school or at work that i have read about in so many other posts. i feel for all of you that have had truly bad experiences. it depends a lot of the individual, on how he/she responds to adversity, stress, and overall how badly we really want to achieve goals in our life. you can listen to other people's experiences, but until you actually experience it yourself, you may be depriving yourself of something that may be truly spectacular without even trying. everyone reacts to every situation differently. if we all went by what others say without questioning it or trying it ourselves, i guess we would still believe that the world is flat, planes wouldn't fly, cars wouldn't exist, etc. my advice to you is to try it yourself and see what you think. you can always do something else. remember, nothing ventured, is nothing gained. good luck!

wow...lots of "gloom and doom" felt in the previous posts...

i guess i am in the minority. i absolutely love my job in nursing. i have been an rn for 6+ years, and i enjoy what i do. i didn't have the bad experiences in nursing school or at work that i have read about in so many other posts. i feel for all of you that have had truly bad experiences. it depends a lot of the individual, on how he/she responds to adversity, stress, and overall how badly we really want to achieve goals in our life. you can listen to other people's experiences, but until you actually experience it yourself, you may be depriving yourself of something that may be truly spectacular without even trying. everyone reacts to every situation differently. if we all went by what others say without questioning it or trying it ourselves, i guess we would still believe that the world is flat, planes wouldn't fly, cars wouldn't exist, etc. my advice to you is to try it yourself and see what you think. you can always do something else. remember, nothing ventured, is nothing gained. good luck!

no gloom here, although i haven't actually started. i am just not a gloom and doom person. don't get me wrong, i have my days where i feel like i am covered by a dark cloud, but i always snap out of it quickly. even if ns is tough, (which i am going in thinking it will be) i will take it stride. like i mentioned earlier, i have been through some pretty horrific things that lasted far longer than nursing school will. it has made me a tough person with a thick skin that doesn't sweat the small stuff or stress over thing out of my control. so i can't imagine i am going to have a hard time in ns. maybe challenging and stressful, but i feel i will get through it no matter what and i will enjoy what i do. i guess i should say i feel i have the right attitude for it. so if you all see me in here in 6 months filled with negativity i give permission to throw rocks at me haha!!!

anyway, thank you for your post, it's nice to see and a change of pace.

nightwolf87 you are so correct i give u a kudos because that is so true i think every person has their ways of doing thinks meaning how they address situation and the lesson they learn from them maybe very different from mine iam going to continue with my quest but i will keep the thoughts in mind because this is all i know and my heart is complete when i know that i have done all i can to care for one person after all you may not mean the world to most but there will always be one person you come in contact with who life you just may have changed good luck to all . and every since i have been a cna i have had hard days and good days and sometime days that make me say i love being a nurse because i feel that i have a gift but to many this gift will soon run out but ill never know if i dont decide to follow it through i have came this far after 2 years of pre-nursing classes i am ready i sat the spring and now the summer out because im pregnant but i plan to get into nursing school as soon as the fall 2009 comes and i hope i get in and after that there is no where but up for me and my baby girl after everyone said i wouldnt do it. but sorry to get off the subject i need to vent for a min lol but good luck to all i think you how to know what you want and this is what i want and years later it will still be what i wanted love all who have posted this is such a good website thank you to who ever came up with it LOL !

I dont feel that way, but have leaned in that direction before. Why?

Well, I went into nursing because I wanted to escape the "retail" mentality of Corporate America. Profit, profit, profit. That is all that matters. Break someone's legs for a nickle? Will do sir, but its a dime after taxes.

Nursing for me presented an opportunity to do something I was proud of and to focus on good outcomes, not money. In nursing school, I became more and more enamored with this idealistic view.

Then I graduated and found out, the medical field is not only guilty of the same approach to things as the retail world, but is probably, at times, more wicked about it. I cant help but recall a situation when a DON told me to stop requesting sitters for a confused elderly woman who was climbing OOB. She was on coumadin and a fall for her would have been disaster. DON pulled me aside and tried to intimidate me into tying her up instead of calling a sitter. That's the modern scope of practice for today's medical field, not the stuff you get fed in nursing school.

Too many incidents like that and sometimes I just think I'd be better off doing somethign else. I've never actually put any plan into action, I've just daydreamed about it. Who knows.

I love what I do, I really do but its exhausting. You give and you give until you can't give anymore and for what? No one understands where you are coming from, some days you get the worst patients in the world, then you have awesome patients that pass a way and to top it off you get the regular stressors of work!?! Crappy schedule, mean managers, not so supportive co-workers, crazy administrators. All that for a measly thank you every now and then. Its really a love-hate relationship for me. Its like I gave up my life for this!?! Then I have that rare moment of clarity where its like oh this is why I am doing this. But those moments are very rare.