What is the Pre-Nursing and Nursing School Schedule Like?

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Hi there,

I was just accepted into my university as a pre-nursing student. I know that schedules differ from school to school, but I was curious as to what kind of schedule I can expect? I volunteer on a regular basis (currently 50 hours per month but I would like to start 70 hours per month soon) and wanted to know how I can integrate that into my school schedule. I will not be working while in school so it will just be school and my volunteering.

What is your pre-nursing schedule and or nursing school schedule like?

Thanks in advance! =)

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Well, the pre-nursing schedule is very different for many people. For you, in particular, since you do not have to work, will be different from mine, since I do have to work. Also, based on the number of pre-reqs you need to complete and your desire to go fast or slow, it may take you 1, 2, 3 or even 4 semesters.

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Thank you for your comment!

I was actually hoping to find out about the typical weekly schedule, though. For instance, how many days a week do you go to classes, how many hours a day do you have to be in school, how are the days/hours broken down, etc.

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Thank you for your comment!

I was actually hoping to find out about the typical weekly schedule, though. For instance, how many days a week do you go to classes, how many hours a day do you have to be in school, how are the days/hours broken down, etc.

Ok, so I work 2 days a week Tue and Wed, and have A&P 1 every night 8-11. This is summer so it is very fast-paced. Since I just started the courses (it has been only a week), all I can say thus far I have studied, maybe, an hour each day. At least for now I do not feel it is that difficult. However, during spring semester I also worked two days per week, but I had 3 courses: Stats, orgo lecture and lab and intro to psych. At that time I had to study quite a bit to pass orgo and stats. I would on average spend 5-10 hours per week studying for orgo since it was not an easy course.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I did all my pre-nursing courses in my first degree or online, so my impression is that pre-nursing is just like any other degree - you go to class x days per week (MWF for 1 hour classes or T/Th for 1.5 hour classes, plus 1 hour of lab per week if you're taking a lab course). Nursing school runs on a totally different and weird schedule though. For my first year, I was in class on Mondays for 6-7 hours, I had a 1 hour lab lecture on Tuesdays followed by 2 hours in the lab, then clinical for 4-8 hours every Wednesday and Thursday. Additionally, I had to spend a good chunk of my Tuesday looking up and writing a care guide for my patient assignment for Wednesday and Thursday.

Second year I'll be in classes for 3 hours on Mondays and Thursdays, clinical for 8 hours each day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and lab on Friday (probably 1 hour lecture + 2 hours in lab). It's going to suck not having a Friday off every week but I'll make it work :p

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Thanks for the reply! I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what my first year will be like. But I see that years 2 through 4 will most likely have a hectic schedule (as expected). In your honest opinion, can you see yourself devoting 50 or 70 hours a month to something non-school related at this point in time? For perspective, a part time job is about 80 hours per week.

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My first semester back was all online, so I did everything at home. The next semester I had Chemistry with lab, so I went to class on Tues/Thurs from 6-9, and my other classes were online. The following semester I did A&P with lab in person from 12:30-3:30 M/W, the rest of my classes online, this past semester I did A&P II on M/W from 12:30-3:30 and Micro on T from 9:25-10:40 and Thurs 9:25-2:30, with two other classes online. This (last) summer semester I'm taking Chem II in person M/T/W/Th from 2-4 with two other classes online. Then the real fun will start with nursing school in January, all things working as planned, of course.

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Oh and I also do volunteer at a hospital and I'm married with two kids that I home-school, so you can juggle things and still make pretty solid grades (my GPA is a 3.7).

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Thanks a bunch! Hope all things work out with nursing school! =)

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.

Throughout my prereqs I took majority of my courses online. My science courses, most of them were M/W or M/T/W in the morning. i.e., last Spring I took math for 8 weeks then stats for 8 weeks and took chemistry for the whole 16 weeks.

I had math/stats in the morning from 8-10am T/W (or something) and chem lecture + lab Mondays from 10am-1pm then lecture on Wednesdays from 10am-11am. Those are rough estimates but close enough.

Last Fall I took anatomy and microbiology. These are also pretty close estimates.

Anatomy: lecture Monday 8-10am

lab Wednesday 8-10am

Microbiology: lab Monday 12-2pm

lecture Wednesday 12-2pm

Your semesters will depend on how many credits you take and whether your ideal schedule is available. Another factor is whether you want your schedule condensed or spread out. I prefer my schedule condensed so that working isn't an issue.

This past Spring was my first nursing school semester and this was my actual schedule:

Monday: 8-10am fundamentals lecture

12-2pm fundamentals seminar

Tuesday: 7-11am clinicals

12pm-4pm skills lab

Wednesday: 12-2pm fundamentals lab

I also took pharmacology I online.

Finally, this summer I'm taking physiology and since the summer semester is only 11 weeks, I have long Mondays...

I have lecture in the morning from 8-10am then lab from 10am-12:45pm

On Wednesdays I have lecture from 8-10am.

Next semester is my second semester of nursing school and this is my schedule:

Monday: 8-10am med/surg lecture

10am-12pm med/surg seminar

Tuesday: 8-11am med/surg lab

Clinicals are TBA but can be any day and anytime and I also have pharmacology II online.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Trauma.

It all depends on which classes you're taking and what the school's schedule looks like. I like to try and compact my schedule, but that doesn't always happen. For example, one quarter I had statistics Monday through Thursday from 9 to 11, and I then had speech Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday from 12 to 2:30. However the quarter before that I wound up having English on Monday, Wednesday from 9 to 11, and biology on Tuesday, Thursday from 9 to 11 with biology lab on Friday from 9 to 11. :/ That was not a very fun quarter, especially since I worked evenings then and wouldn't be home until midnight.

I spoke with my nursing advisor and the first quarter of my school's nursing program is 4 days a week, but they are not all full 8 hours days and one of those days is set aside for clinicals.

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if i were you i wouldn't worry about volunteering so many hours. For instance my 1st semester of nursing school: mondays I'm in class from 10-4, tuesday 8-11, Wednesday i had to do pre clinical which is where you get your patient info and learn about their illnesses for the next day and decide your plan of care, Thursday i was in the hospital for my clinical days from 6 am-4 pm. Friday was no class but we had to do write ups about how we cared for the patient and what we can do better .On top of that we have exams every week. I work weekends and that only left me monday afternoon and friday to study for the most part. of course i also studied evenings on the weekend after work. We read and study about 3-5 long chapters a week ( test material) and then there is my 5 year old i have to try and give some attention to.

All schedules is different but nursing school can be time consuming and it feels like there isn't enough hours in a day. good luck. I made it through my first semester

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