Starting Nursing Program in August Need Advice!

[Marieh]

Hello fellow nursing and pre nursing students. I am excited to say thatvi will be starting a nursing program in August. I will be attending a non for profit private university. Its a great school. They are expensive, however they offer many scholarships such as transfer scholarships, based on gpa, nursing scholarships for those automatically accepted into the program. I will be accepted as a nursing student not pre nursing transferring from my cc because I will have all my pre and co reqs for their program completed. I will have 3 gen ed courses that need taken am wondering if I should take while in program or take first semester as a pre nursing then I will go into nursing with nothing but nursing courses. The classes are Pathophysiology, Lifespan Development and a Religion course.

Those are the only 3 classes besides nursing I need in the school I am transferring to. My first semester would be Pathophysiology, Fundamentals, Fundamentals Clinical, Med/Surgical, Med/Surgical Clinical. My question is does this sound to intense for first semester of nursing or should I take the last 3 classes I mentioned above before entering the nursing program. Any advice would be appreciated thanks.

[GrumpyOldBastard, MSN, RN]

• You have left out a key piece of information... what is the credit hour load that you are proposing? This is useful as it gives a general measure of the volume of work.
  
  • I am guessing that those three gen ed classes are 3 credit hours each. Nine credit hours combined with the first semester of nursing school MAY be too much.
    
  • Most schools have limits on the maximum number of credit hours you may take without special permission. For example, if the nursing classes are 10 credit hours, adding all three of the gen ed courses at once would yield a load of 19 credit hours. At many schools that would require special permission (upper limit often is 18 credit hours).
    
  • HOWEVER, generally the amount of work per credit hour in nursing is more than in most typical college courses (of course there are exceptions). Thus, a realistic load may be far fewer credit hours of nursing.
    

  [*]Only YOU know what is too much. I know students to struggle with 8 credit hours in nursing school, and I know others who thrive and excel with twice that load.

  [*]A better option than either of the two paths you have proposed may be to do ONE of those gen ed courses each semester of nursing school (if that is allowed).

  [*]A fourth option might be to request a deferral of admission to the expensive university and take the gen ed courses at the community college at FAR lower cost.

[AngelKissed857, BSN, RN]

Take those courses at a JC over the summer instead. You'll save money, have the study habit down again before you begin, and not be overwhelmed in nursing school. It isn't just the academic load in nursing school, it's being emotionally and physically exhausted after clinical shifts too. And your brain gets worn out. You are learning new info, developing muscle memories, and learning critical thinking on a level you never knew existed before. Really. Ex: why don't you ever leave a tourniquet on for more than 1-2 minutes? It hurts the pt, right? But also because you don't want to collect hemoconcentration blood, the tourniquet pushes LMC molecules and fluid into the tissue, increases levels of large molecules like protein and cholesterols , leaks K into the blood. So if it's been on too long, you have a pissed off pt., Potentially unusable blood samples, and a strong possibility of having to do it all over again, pissing off the ot, dr., and lab, while taking time you absolutely do not have! Your brain processes that info when you even THINK about using a tourniquet. It gets tired, needs chocolate, coffee, wine, and naps. Not extra units. Just MHO... CONGRATS on getting in!