Hello nursing students!! I have a question for you...
I am currently working on my pre-reqs, and the sooner I get to applying, I am hearing more and more how "hard" nursing school is...how it "sucks"...and how it is "really hard on relationships"......
My advisor has even said you have no life while going to NS.
Please, please tell me what is it EXACTLY that makes them say this. Is it the work/study load? Is it clinical time? Is it that "hard"? what exactly? how is it different from what I am doing now with my classes?
I really appreciate what you have to say. At least I will know the whys of what I am hearing!
(I've also heard of how bad chemistry is, and I'm loving that...so it's all relative, isn't it??)
Specializes in PERIOPERATIVE,GERIATRICS -COMMUNITY NURS.
Nursing school can be a nightmare if you are not doing it for the right reasons. If you enjoy people, sciences and challenges it can be very interesting. Know your basics well in the very beginning. Be organized, set priorities total dedication, know your limits, and be prepared to miss out on your free time. As for relationships, the people who truly care for you will understand and support you.
In nursing school, you learn discipline and that can be very difficult if you don't apply it now.
Nursing is an honorable profession for someone who is willing to spend a lifetime learning new skills.
Nursing school is hard because you have to learn critical thinking skills, your instructors want you to learn how to think your way through any problem that presents itself with your patients. The content is important but the critical thinking skills are developed and ultimately vital to becoming an excellent nurse, so be patient with yourself first so you can become the best advocate for your patient.
Hi!!! I am a second semester ADN student and I am not going to lie to you...IT IS HARD!!! It is very time consuming, you do not TIME for a social life.....all you do it STUDY & PAPERWORK. It is very mentally draining and stressful. Nursing school is UNLIKE anything else in the world you have to completely change your way of thinking. Don't get me wrong I LOVE being a nursing student and I am looking foward to graduating May 2011 but it is very challenging and will be well worth it. You earn that RN behind your name.... nothing is give to you period. I wish you all the luck in your future and stay positive!!!
I just finished nursing school (RN) in December. The hardest thing about nursing school is just that you stay very busy, and there is a lot of paperwork to familiarize yourself with. Learning about how the body works, and how to perform the various procedures requires concentration, which is hard to maintain if you're 1) Dating someone new, 2) Getting married, 3) Having a baby or, 4) Working another job. The people we lost during the 2 years I studied had one of the above going on, for the most part. But I don't think it's harder than studying anything else that you want to know thoroughly and end up doing well. Just realize that everything in your life is going to have to take second place for a while. When you get that first paycheck, it will all be worth it, for you and for your significant others. :)We all want to say that only sheer grit got us through, but it doesn't mean that you can't do it. Good luck.
You have it right, it's all relative, all opinion based. I heard the same thing while I was doing my pre-reqs. Yes, the program is very time consuming; however, I don't think the studying is as intense as it was for A&P II and microbiology. As long as you get all of your pre-req classes done before you begin the nursing program you should be fine. It helps a lot if you have an understanding of the major disease processes and if you are familiar with medications too.
Most of us are working 20-25 hours a week while we are in the program and we are able to do well in clinicals and get As and Bs on the tests. Also, the hectic schedule goes in spurts, some weeks you barely have time to do anything outside of school, but then you will have a few weeks where it is quieter and you won't have clinicals. I personally think it isn't as terribly difficult as people told me, but you have to manage your time wisely....the social life does suffer.
It's difficult...very difficult. I earned a BA in English 16 years ago, and graduated with a 3.0, all the while drinking myself into college-age-stupid oblivion at least two nights a week at a 4-year residential university. Can you say "party school"?
Now, I'm much older (sheesh...I hate having to say that!), and I have had some healthcare experiences to draw from to make some disease and trauma states and assessment techniques easier to remember. Yet, I have to study like I've never had to before to absorb the sheer volume and content of the material.
On the last patho exam, my score was 4th out of 49 students (the raw scores with ranking were posted without identifiers)...yet I only earned an 86%. YIKES!
You can do it if you work hard, organize your time well, and have a good support system. Good luck to you!
Specializes in med surg, geriatric, clinical, pool.
Nursing school can be a nightmare if you are not doing it for the right reasons. If you enjoy people, sciences and challenges it can be very interesting. Know your basics well in the very beginning. Be organized, set priorities total dedication, know your limits, and be prepared to miss out on your free time. As for relationships, the people who truly care for you will understand and support you.
In nursing school, you learn discipline and that can be very difficult if you don't apply it now.
Nursing is an honorable profession for someone who is willing to spend a lifetime learning new skills.
Believe me my heart and then some was in it...all I ever wanted was to be a nurse. But you have to make the grades...I was let go over .3 of a point and told "we all can't be astronauts." Those were the famous last words I heard from the head of nursing program. Oh I almost forgot. She also told me, after a study group and everyone had left the room, to close the door! Mmmm....I figure something was up, but had no idea she was so heartless. She said to me, "I don't trust you." I said, "what do you mean you don't trust me?' She said, "I don't trust you giving out meds." Well what a surprise to me! I had just had my exit interview with my clinicial instructor,a retired Air Force nurse ( a real toughy too) and her words to me were, "If youdo anything right, its giving out meds, the rest will come with practice." Youwill make it because you are so determined." So I told the head ...... she should go talk to my clinical instructor because she told me if I did ....etc. I turned around and left.
Well in a few days we had our final in pharm math. Do you know when I got back my test some of my answers had been erased? So my advice is to write all answers down in ink!
I left, but I came back with a 3 page letter, front and back, to the dean of students. In it I listed everything that had been happening as it was all focused at me for some reason. She even called on me 8 times in our class!
Every Friday I went into the lab to practice on how to put in a foley catheter. I knew this was part of our final test, so I wanted to learn how to do it with my eyes closed without hem hawing around.
I really should have went farther with the letter, but I was exhausted with the whole mess! Come on. I still had 4 more nursiing classes to pass. Why didn't she just leave me alone?
My husband said to me, and this means the world to me too,"she has no idea just how good of a nurse you would have been, you are so picky."
But I picked myself back up and went to LPN school which was a breeze after passing all of the pre reqs for the RN program. My RN clinical instructor was tough, but at least she had enough kindness about her to say, "you will make it."
Nursing school is just a completely different way of learning, instead of teachers telling you information and you just repeating it on tests now its all about "critical thinking". Now the questions are all scenarios and you have to chose the "best" answer which most of the time 2 answers seem like a good choice. Plus everything builds on each other, you cant just learn things for a test and then forget it. If you really dont understand something you have to take the time to understand it because you WILL see it again for sure.
Nursing school is not impossible, dont be scared of it. Your teachers are just trying to prepare you. But actually keeping a social life is essential otherwise you'll just burn out. You need time for yourself too
Specializes in med surg, geriatric, clinical, pool.
You guys are so consumed with learning how to be a nurse, you just have no idea what lyes ahead in the real working world.
And there will come a time when you wonder "why did I do this", "my heart was in it", "I made good grades," "I didn't have a social life," "infact I gave up everything to do this and its not worth the pay".
I used to think because RNs got paid more, that would compensate for all of the extra work I had put on me....NOT!
I got paid good money even being an LPN and I can tell you right now, it doesn't make any after years of doing nursing, something you once loved, can make you such B.
It will, mark my word.
I got out! I now work with my husband who is a wonderful boss, unlike the many supers I had that allthey wanted to do was write you up! I put everything in nursing. I gave up seeing my two kids grow up in their most vital years, a relationship with my dear husband, seeing my family on holidays, and you know what? None of this makes a hill of beans to the ones you are nursing. They could care less.
I think out of all of the years I worked as a nurse, I only met 1 other lady who was married, the rest were divorced!
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
My husband owns his own business and often times has mentioned jobs he would love for me to do and join in on the business, I can assure you that if we worked together we would be divorced!!!!!! I have met many nurses that have been married for a long time.
You guys are so consumed with learning how to be a nurse, you just have no idea what lyes ahead in the real working world.
And there will come a time when you wonder "why did I do this", "my heart was in it", "I made good grades," "I didn't have a social life," "infact I gave up everything to do this and its not worth the pay".
I used to think because RNs got paid more, that would compensate for all of the extra work I had put on me....NOT!
I got paid good money even being an LPN and I can tell you right now, it doesn't make any after years of doing nursing, something you once loved, can make you such B.
It will, mark my word.
I got out! I now work with my husband who is a wonderful boss, unlike the many supers I had that allthey wanted to do was write you up! I put everything in nursing. I gave up seeing my two kids grow up in their most vital years, a relationship with my dear husband, seeing my family on holidays, and you know what? None of this makes a hill of beans to the ones you are nursing. They could care less.
I think out of all of the years I worked as a nurse, I only met 1 other lady who was married, the rest were divorced!
So ask yourself, Is this really worth it????
Way to NOT be encouraging :/ Nursing isn't for everyone so if it wasnt for you then thats fine but dont discourage the rest of us.
Specializes in PERIOPERATIVE,GERIATRICS -COMMUNITY NURS.
I'm sorry you had to go through such a horrible experience. Unfortunately, there are certain individuals that should not be in a position of authority and their abusive ways should be known to the people that can do something about it. As students, we are not aware of our rights, and we are afraid to rock the boat and make the situation even worse.
Mmm, perhaps a few court cases will change things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a result we put up with the abuse because it has become the norm. All nurses have rights!!!!!!
I hope and pray that things will change.
With everything, you have gone through, I believe that you have developed a beautiful character.
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PherbRN
11 Posts
Nursing school can be a nightmare if you are not doing it for the right reasons. If you enjoy people, sciences and challenges it can be very interesting. Know your basics well in the very beginning. Be organized, set priorities total dedication, know your limits, and be prepared to miss out on your free time. As for relationships, the people who truly care for you will understand and support you.
In nursing school, you learn discipline and that can be very difficult if you don't apply it now.
Nursing is an honorable profession for someone who is willing to spend a lifetime learning new skills.