Summer Before Nursing School

[SU Redhawk]

It is the summer before my first quarter in NS. This is where I hear the real works starts. Pre-reqs were nothing compared to whats to come, or so I've been told. How can I put my summer to good use? What would be a good way of preparing myself for what is to come this fall?

[Jules A, MSN]

Can you take a gen-ed or two toward your bachelors?

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

get caught up on your errands....cause you won't have time for much...Also, try to get whatever supplies you can...and prep your family for the fact that you won't have a lot of free time while in school. Nothing in this world is as challenging or as rewarding...

[loriangel14, RN]

relax! school will be tough and you may as well enjoy your summer.

[missjennmb]

I'm in that summer as well and what I've done so far is put as much time in as possible with my family (weekend getaways, park visits, calls and visits w/ my parents who are out of state, etc). I also am getting family medical stuff out of the way... vaccinations, dentist visits, etc.

I am also taking a math class at the college and I just started my part time job that will take me through to the end of school, so all of the new employee training/physicals/etc/etc are out of the way.

[Dianacabana]

i'm in the same boat as you, starting this fall. i purchased some of my textbooks already and so i'm doing math for meds right now. i figured it would be good to get it out of the way.

also, i'm organizing my supplies (there's another thread around here somewhere on what to buy...or not buy).

i'm eating a lot of ice cream with my 4 year old son and we walk around my new campus together. that's the most important thing i can do right now!!!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I say take the summer off. NS is going to be hectic: you are not going to have much downtime once it begins, so I'd savor all that you can get now. Do all those errands that you won't have a chance to do once the semester starts.

That being said...if you have to take any non-NS classes to graduate, this is the best time to do it.

You could start reading the textbooks, but unless you have a syllabus, it may be hard to know what to read. You will find that very rarely you'll start at page 1 and go straight through the end: most instructors skip around the book. Or you could get yourself a copy of Fundamentals of Nursing Made Incredibly Easy and start with that...FYI: the Nursing Made Incredibly Easy is awesome. It will make your life a lot easier.

[tachybradyRN]

Take a nice vacation, spend time with your family and pets.. it's going to get hectic for the next few years, and summer is the time to catch up on much needed time with those you love. School will start soon enough.

[goofygreyhound]

Take any classes that they will allow you to take this summer (if not too late). Contact your teachers and go ahead and start reading! Learn the first 12 chapters well, then go to the next book.

[shrimpchips, LPN]

I have been relaxing because I hear once you start NS you'll wish you were on vacation! I have also been brushing up on math - I haven't had "formal math" since my senior year in HS (I'll be a junior this year) and I took statistics my freshman year in college but that didn't count - and I have to take a math test before clinicals (I'm not even sure if it's the NET) - and if I don't pass, we can't do clinicals! Luckily they give us 3 tries to pass but I'm so math retarded I'm really worried

btw if you're interested, the book I'm using is Math for Nurses: A Pocket Guide to Dosage Calculation and Drug Preparation (6th Ed) by Mary Jo Boyer. I paid $24.95 for it at Border's. The first half reviews basic math - fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios/proportions, addition/subtraction/multiplication/division and conversions. the second half deals with actual dosage calculations. It's been a great help so far :)