What is a day in your life?

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Feb 11, 2012

I am a full time, second semester student in an ASN program. I have clinical on Monday and Wednesday from 6 PM-12 AM, and class on Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 PM-7:30 PM. I stay up all night (I'm naturally a night person) and study, write clinical papers, read my books, review notes, or do whatever else I need to do. I am generally in bed between 5:45-6:45 AM, and I get up between 12:45-1:30 PM.

I learned all my nursing skills, and did all the related skills labs, during first semester, so I don't have to worry about that. I pretty much do nothing but school related things Monday through Friday, and I try to take Saturday and Sunday off. Sometimes that doesn't work, and I often end up doing nursing related work all week long. Nursing school is hard, stressful, time-consuming, and, often, very frustrating. Be prepared to devote a lot of time, lose a lot of sleep, get up early, go to bed late, and have a crazy schedule.

Even though I am a full time student in the evening/weekend class, some of our stuff is still scheduled in the morning. This means that I might be on the night shift schedule for three weeks, and then, for one day only, have to be at a school an hour away from me at 8:45 AM. On these rare days, I am lucky to get three hours of sleep because my body is so conditioned to staying up all night, and I tend to be a walking zombie. Fortunately, these experiences don't occur often during the semester.

Just_Dez · Feb 11, 2012

What is your schedule like now that you're in NS? Please specify whether you're FT/PT and how many days/hours of lecture and clinicals you have each week. How many hours outside of class do you spend studying? I am trying to get a feel for what I should expect. I have a 2.5 year old (will be 3.5 by the time I start the program) and a husband, but when I"m not working I'm caring for my daughter so he can work. I am trying to choose between going FT if I can get enough loans (it will be a 2nd degree) and have enough savings to cover it or PT with some loans (how much can I get PT I wonder?) and working to cover the gap between financial aid and actual expenses.

I'm full time in an ADN program. 2nd semester. School 4 days a week.

Monday, 9-11 med surg F&E. 12-3 on campus clinicals

Tuesday 9-11 med surg F&E. 12-3 on campus clinicals

Wednesday 9-11 med surg Diabetes. 12-4 pharm.

Thursday 9-11 med surg Diabates 12-3 on campus clinicals

This is my schedule until May, then clinicals will start and we will go 20hrs a week (2 days a week) and only have 4 hours of pharm on Wed.

3rd semester will be 3 10hr days of clinicals and 2 7hr days of class.

I'm married have four young kids 8 and under. I study around 5 hrs. a night. I wish I could do more, but after getting dinner and baths, kids hw done and check on the cattle, 5 hrs. is all I can do. Every other weekend my kids go to their grandparents and spend the weekend there so I can get a good amount of studying in. If I have a big test, they go more often to give me more time. My husband drives over the road, so I have to depend on them.

bigsick_littlesick · Feb 11, 2012

I'm in my 3rd semester (out of four) in an ADN program. This is our psych semester as well. Our program is 3/4 time which sucks because it feels like it should be FT. Anyway, here's my schedule:

Monday: Theory lecture 0800-1200 (some people go to clinical prep after class) // I usually review material after class

Tuesday: Clinicals 1430 - 1115 (Since we have PM clinicals, we all show up around 1000-1100 to prep before we start caring for our patients)

Wednesday: Clinicals 1330 - 2230

*I'm sure when I start psych for the last 5 weeks of this semester, it will go back to AM times. But I'm not sure of the times, maybe 0630 - 1430...

I also work on-call about 24-32 hrs q 2 weeks. Anytime I have a day off or if I have energy after work is when I study or tidy up my clinical paperwork before it's due. This semester we only have 4 exams + the final so that makes about 1 exam a month which we take on Mondays before lecture. If it's an exam week coming up, I always put myself unavailable for work the weekend prior so I can get some good studying in.

I have heard our 4th and final semester is different. We go to clinicals Tues, Wed and then we have theory/lecture on Thursday. All clinicals are PMs. Then the last 4 weeks or so is when we do our preceptorship. (Can you see? I am dreaming about getting to this part of nursing school! )

Hope this helps!

MorphineIVSTAT · Feb 11, 2012

Monday: class from 955am until 215 pm. Rush home and work until around midnight. Study for 2-3 hours.

Tuesday: class from 8am until 105pm. Rush home and work until around midnight. Study for 2-3 hours.

Wednesday: same as Monday.

Thursday: same as Tuesday.

Friday: class from 9am until noon. Rush home and work until midnight. Study for 2-3 hours.

Saturday: Work for about 5 hours. Study for the rest of the day.

Sunday: same as Saturday.

I also shower, get about 5 hours sleep per night (this is actually my sweet spot with hours of sleep) and I eat usually once a day (go to my moms and bug her for food lol because I cannot cook at all). I only eat that often because I am only hungry once a day. I also squeeze in 30 minutes of exercise a day (this is my "me" time). Social life revolves around study groups when my classmates and I have time to get together. I am in my second semester.