What to expect in a two-year Nursing Program

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Apr 10, 2010

Congratulations on your acceptance, read through the students forums, their are hundreds of topics on all of these things. Only you will be able to determine if you can keep your A's or about the weight though. There is no set thing that in Nursing school you WILL gain weight and you CAN'T get A's.

But search around the forum, doing that gave me a huge advantage when I started nursing school. I had a good idea of what to expect.

Intern67 · Apr 11, 2010

Any advice will be helpful!

Congratulations. Welcome to the suck.

I am finishing the first year of a 2-year program. Some general stuff:

The pace will be fast and furious. The academic load will be like nothing you have ever seen, but if you work hard you can handle it. Most 2-year programs make it difficult to get straight As. Many of my classmates have learned that Bs and Cs are just fine.

The instructors will be very.....different.

There will probably be a lot of older and second degree students in your class. Many of them will have families or healthcare related jobs. I think in my program of 80 students there are exactly 2 that came right outta high school.

Will you have time for your boyfriend and family? Of course - it will just be FAR less time. If you are thinking of dumping your boyfriend, go ahead and pull the trigger. Same goes for family.

Will you gain weight? I dunno. Many people gain weight during college for many reasons. How many people stay at their high school graduation weight? (You don't want to know the answer to this.)

It is NOT easier after the first semester. I don't know if it is any harder. Maybe you just get used to getting punched in the face. Figuratively of course. (Most of the time.)

Pros: If you make it through and pass your boards, you are an RN!

Cons: Everything else. (Just kidding. Kind of.)

semester1kid · Apr 11, 2010

The upside is that there is nothing that really seems particularly difficult when broken down topic to topic. The downside is that there is so much info being pumped at you in a short period of time - and from different directions (lecture, lab and clinical), it's very difficult to prioritize and/or keep organized. I don't know your situation, but I go at night (two year degree stretch out to three years) and still work full time in my old field in a finance/accounting dept at the home office of a well know chain of retail stores - and I'm also a 45 y/o husband and father to a 12 y/o daughter. If you're in a similar circumstance, make sure you start now planning a schedule that includes studying several hours every evening...juggling will be your biggest challenge. To be blunt, you will more or less become a slave to your work study. Make sure you plan it out ahead of time so that whatever other responsibilities you have in life can accommodate this new (huge) responsibility. Without intending to sound cruel, someone in my family better be deathly ill before thinking about interrupting this schedule.

Btw, are you done with your pre/pro reqs? If not, I have to tell you it will be that much harder. My school generally won't accept you into the program until you're mostly complete this pre work - especially your sciences. Also, I don't know how your school works, but in ours, the length of the semesters last much longer than your typical college course...We don't go on break until some point in the second week of July. We then restart at the beginning of Sept. Next year will be the same - but in the last year, we go 12 months straight:eek: Also, the grades are different - getting a 60% (D-) isn't passing....73% or better is passing. You need 70% just to participate in clinical and if you don't have that, you're out...we've already lost a full 1/3 of our class because of this - so don't fall behind.

To make you feel a little better - once you develop a certain discipline, you'll find that you can start to include a few 'let your hair down' moments in life...but you have to remain discipline. For example, I love to fish but have little time for it. Last Sunday, I got up, studied for 3 hours, went fishing for 4 hours, came home and studied for another 3 hours - so I got in 6 hours of study and 4 hours of play. As long as you don't putz around, you can do that...but the point is, it can be done:)

Anyway, I don't mean this to sound discouraging because it's a definite accomplishment even getting selected into this well respected field...but you need to start getting prepared for how much dedication required for this venture. Just stay organized, dedicated and you'll make it...because as I said at the start, there is nothing that, by itself, is that difficult.

semester1kid · Apr 11, 2010

Looks like the last two posts are conveying similar messages - be prepared but not discouraged...just keep in mind it's what you wanted to do:)

starmickey03, MSN, RN · Apr 11, 2010

Also, the grades are different - getting a 60% (D-) isn't passing....73% or better is passing. You need 70% just to participate in clinical and if you don't have that, you're out...we've already lost a full 1/3 of our class because of this - so don't fall behind.

Seriously?!?!?! In my program anything less than 80% is failing (80% = C). I wish I went to a school where I could pass with 73%. That just goes to show how different each program is.

I would recommend going to your schools website and reading over the policy/procedure manual and getting as much info as you can before you actually start the program. It would also be a good idea to get familiar with things such as medical terminology, dosage and calculations, reviewing A&P, etc.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Apr 11, 2010

Oh and for the record, my first semester was a breeze, the first half of my second semester I lost my focus and good patterns I developed in first semester and I struggled. Now second half of my second semester I am taking Peds/OB and breezing through again. Good grades mostly with minimal effort.

So it really just varies person to person.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Apr 11, 2010

Seriously?!?!?! In my program anything less than 80% is failing (80% = C). I wish I went to a school where I could pass with 73%. That just goes to show how different each program is.
I would recommend going to your schools website and reading over the policy/procedure manual and getting as much info as you can before you actually start the program. It would also be a good idea to get familiar with things such as medical terminology, dosage and calculations, reviewing A&P, etc.

My school it's 77% to pass and 100% on the Dosage Calcs exam that we do at the start of each Clinical rotation. 77-84 is a C, I would love for it to be 73% also!

Shelby R. · Apr 11, 2010

Thanks! You all gave really good advice. About the pre-reqs situation, I have some of my sciences out of the way and I'm taking some classes over the summer. Starting this fall, my semester will consist of Anatomy and Physiology 1, Pharmocology, and Nursing 1. Is that TOO much to handle at once? How hard are these classes?

semester1kid · Apr 11, 2010

Thanks! You all gave really good advice. About the pre-reqs situation, I have some of my sciences out of the way and I'm taking some classes over the summer. Starting this fall, my semester will consist of Anatomy and Physiology 1, Pharmocology, and Nursing 1. Is that TOO much to handle at once? How hard are these classes?

That would be too much for me given that I work full time. However, I think if you're still at home and either don't work or only work part time, it's do-able but very tight. Nursing unto itself is pretty much equal to having a full schedule of liberal art course (or maybe even more???). And as noted above, you have to maintain a higher grade average.

Btw, wait until you see the tests. A number of your correct answers will come via eliminating the wrong answers vs knowing the right answer:D. And with that, I thought of another thing that will help you - start trying to teach yourself how to learn in critical thinking terms instead of by knowledge based memorization. If you do any pre-semester reading and you see definitions, don't just learn the definition and move on - try to ask yourself why you need to know that and what situations might I see that...it's a little difficult to do that before you have the help of your instructors, who have a vast amount of experience. But if you at least try that, you'll begin to see how you need to look at things. I have to warn you now that if you like to just skim chapters and memorize terms, you won't make it through the program. You need to absorb the 'hows and whys'

Shelby R. · Apr 11, 2010

Thankfully, I don't plan on working during Nursing School so that I can be 100% dedicated to the program. So like you said, that might be easier on me... hopefully lol. So I've been reading alot of posts about people recommending to do some reading before starting classes. Which Saunders NCLEX book editions do you recommend I should get so I can "get my feet wet" into Nursing? Any suggestions so the it all doesn't come as new to me when I start the program?

semester1kid · Apr 11, 2010

Thankfully, I don't plan on working during Nursing School so that I can be 100% dedicated to the program. So like you said, that might be easier on me... hopefully lol. So I've been reading alot of posts about people recommending to do some reading before starting classes. Which Saunders NCLEX book editions do you recommend I should get so I can "get my feet wet" into Nursing? Any suggestions so the it all doesn't come as new to me when I start the program?

That's good to hear - you're giving yourself the best chance of success. Other random items I can think of to help you get ready is to 1) make sure you're immunization records are updated or if you don't have an immunization book, get a titers test done by your primary care physician - but wait until the summer to get your 2 flu shots because the school will most likely require that they are updated yearly and you probably don't want worry about school administrative paperwork in the middle of a semester (you don't know how many things you almost forget when you start to get buried in your studies - anything from maybe forgetting to pay a bill to even forgetting what day of the week it is)...also, when ordering the titers test, make sure you're aware of ALL the proof of vaccinations the school requires. My problem came with chicken pox(varicella) - the school wanted proof that I was immune to that but the doctor hadn't ordered it (I basically went into it 'stupid' and simply thought a titers is a titers - what else can it be???). Well chicken pox wasn't included because the doctor didn't order it - the reason was because he took my word that I had them as a kid and assumed I was immune. The school didn't accept that. So I had to go back for a second titers (my primary care physician wasn't happy). Well it turned out that I was immune, but it was an additional hassle.

2) make sure you're CPR certified - this is also most likely required

3) if you plan on borrowing money, make sure you do all the (computerized) paperwork ahead of time - it's several steps and time consuming. Go to your financial aid office for details. But just as a heads up (educated guess) - unless you're very poor, if you go the gov't loan route, you'll most likely end up with a Stafford loan (which is what I have). With that, you don't have to start paying back the loan until 6 months once you've completed the program.

Also, the admin offices for these programs are known to lose paperwork - just go with the flow, make copies of everthing, and if you get a letter stating you need to supply them with such and such, simply give it to them again:)