What is a day or week like in nursing school?

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Hopefully I will be starting nursing school soon and I'm just interested to know what a typical day is like.

Do y'all have classes everyday? How long is the classes? What do you do during clinicals? How many days do y'all have clinicals? What part of nursing school are you struggling with the most? If you are working and going to school full-time how do you manage? What resources are you using to pay for nursing school? etc.

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

Monday through friday hell... :yes:

On a serious note, it has been 7 years, but if I remember correctly it was lecture 2 days a week and clinical one day a week in the first semester or two, then it went to lectures 2 days a week and clinical 2 days a week. Lectures I cannot remember for sure, if it was one or two days or both... There is a lot of busy work with the reading, studying, projects, papers, and care plans. We also had lab which I think was 2 hours a week, but I cannot recall.

Basically you loose your life as you know it for as long as you are in nursing school, just remember its temporary!

I did work 40 hours a week, but it was as a medic so I had down time here and there to get my school work done.

I am speaking from a two year degree point of view, the above does not include general education type classes like you english, A&P, microbiology etc.

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

Other posters did your school offer day or evening clinicals?

Mine did and it was fantastic, it was very flexible, basically you picked which one you wanted every semester!

So did any of you take academic courses like engl & bio during this time or was it taken care of before entering nursing school ?

Specializes in Aesthetics, Med/Surg, Outpatient.
My only thing is that I work overnight and it's not a set schedule ? lol. I'm not sure if I should save up some money then quit and just focus on school or just try to work and go to school ..

I was also in the same situation. I worked midnights every weekend but it just got to be too much so I switched jobs... If you can, I'd say try to get a weekend position to help with the bills but if not, do what's best and quit if you must... This truly is an investment and sometimes they require sacrifices

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Other posters did your school offer day or evening clinicals?

Mine did and it was fantastic, it was very flexible, basically you picked which one you wanted every semester!

Ours does not. You do not pick the time or the clinical site. It's like they draw them out of a hat, but everyone in the same semester has clinicals at the same time (so far), just the class/lab times vary.

So did any of you take academic courses like engl & bio during this time or was it taken care of before entering nursing school ?

I got it all out of the way before I started nursing school, and I'm so glad I did. Having the understanding that I do now of A&P and microbiology has made this semester easier, I think. I already knew all of the physiology stuff they were trying to teach us, so that has left more time for me to spend studying actual nursing skills and doing charting, and all that other stuff.

So did any of you take academic courses like engl & bio during this time or was it taken care of before entering nursing school ?

I'm in an evening ADN program through a community college. Here's what my week looks like:

Monday: work, then study at home

Tuesday: work, then class (lecture) from 5:30-9:30

Wednesday: work, then study at home

Thursday: work, then lab* from 5:30-8:30

Friday: work, then lab* from 5:30-8:30

Saturday: clinical from 7am-3pm

Next semester I'll only be in class two days per week, but clinicals will be 7-7 on Saturdays.

To your question, in our program, most of your other course work you have to get done before starting nursing classes. About one third of our class, though, has to take Anatomy I & II along with our nursing classes, so they are at school every night. I don't know when they study. We have a waiting list to get into the program, so most people just get all of their other course work done before starting.

* Lab periods for us are normally about one hour of lecture on some practical area (like how to perform a certain skill), then two hours of demonstration and practice in that area. It's also the time we go over the math for dosage calculation.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
So did any of you take academic courses like engl & bio during this time or was it taken care of before entering nursing school ?

I had taken all my pre-req's before I took my BSN courses, so I can focus on the nursing courses; I made that mistake when I had to takes course when I was in a ASN program. :no:

For my BSN program, I had classes toe nights a week for 3 hours, had clinicals every other weekend; and when available did clinicals during the week; I worked 30 hours a week and was able to maintain a respectable GPA and had no issues securing employment afterwards.

During my PN program it was Monday-Friday, so I worked weekends as a Tech and picked up doubles on Saturdays, and picked up weekend shifts when available.

I am third semester ADN, it's better if you go for this full time, a lot of work but well worth it!!! I am non-traditional also.

I am third semester ADN, it's better if you go for this full time, a lot of work but well worth it!!! I am non-traditional also.

Yes that's what I was thinking about. I was going to go to the this college but their nclex pass rate is ****! Now I'm just going to try to get in a university for a bachelors degree. In the meantime I'm taking my prerequisites and saving up money. Hopefully everything works out for me.

Specializes in LTC.

Lvn program 4 days a week, 2 theory, 2 clinical. Yes I work. I have children too. I work 24 additional hours in my 3 days off school. I'm very very tired all the time.

Specializes in Emergency Department.

I completed an ADN program this past year while working full-time. I was fortunate in that I could work that much and go to school at the same time. My typical week went like this:

Sunday: Wake up @9, study until 12, family time until 2:15, off to work until 11pm (study time from about 7pm - on)

Monday: Wake up @7, kid to school by 8, do pre-exam review until 11 or 12, veg the brain until 2:15, repeat Sunday PM)

Tuesday: Wake up @6:15, leave house by 6:42 to beat traffic, be at school by 7:30 or 8am, depending upon schedule, be in class until 1pm or 3pm depending... then home, pick up kid at 4:30, rest brain until 6, dinner, study time (for all) until around 9. Veg until 11 pm, go to sleep.

Wednesday: Wake up @6:15, leave house by 6:42 to beat traffic, be at school by 7:30 or 8am, depending upon schedule, be in class until 1pm, head to clinical site for prep until 4pm, head home & pick up kid along the way, same as Tues - working primarily on patient care plans.

Thursday: Wake up @ 5:45am, be at clinical site before 6:30am, be there until 1:30pm, off to work until 11pm (study time from about 7pm - on), finish care plans

Friday: Wake up @ 5:45am, be at clinical site before 6:30am, be there until 1:30pm, off to work until 11pm (study time from about 7pm - on)

Saturday:Wake up @9, study until 12, family time until 2:15, off to work until 11pm (study time from about 7pm - on)

That's pretty much my schedule, subject to some variation, for the 3 years that I was in school. As you can see, while school was in session, I had something to do every day. Even with all that activity, I still managed to earn B's or better. It wasn't easy and fortunately my work schedule usually meshed well with my school schedule.

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