whats the difference between undergrad and grad school

[jaznia15]

After talking to a lot of my non-nursing friends who are currently in grad school, I've wondered if people pursuing an MSN would describe grad school in the same way as them. For the most part most of my friends describe grad school as easy compared to undergrad in the fact that you're not learning a lot but improving upon what you already know. They describe the work as tedious and a lot of paper writing but not impossible. I understand that pursuing an MSN is far different from other masters degrees in that we deal with clinical hours as well as real life events that don't follow the book, I was just curious as to how graduate courses compared to the dreaded undergrads when most of us had never given a subQ in our life

[ParkerBC,MSN,RN, PhD, RN]

It is true the learning model is different than that of an undergraduate program. However, I also think it depends upon the intended major. Perhaps someone studying to be a nurse practitioner can weigh in on what I am about the say. I would imagine there are still exams, especially in courses like: Advanced Pharm, Advanced Patho, and Advanced Assessment. I chose the Education route because I plan to teach for the rest of my career. In that major, there aren’t any exams, but tons of papers as you eluded in your post. Since the program in which I am enrolled is online, I am also required to participate in Discussion boards.

It does build upon one’s undergraduate degree. There is a slight difference though; you learn how to research the best practices and incorporate them into projects and papers for a presentation. A current paper on which I am working is about HIV and the Healthy People 2020 project. There are criteria I am required to present in the paper. I am also required to provide supporting evidence of the information I provide through peer-reviewed articles. The papers I write about are research based. My personal opinion of the topic isn’t desired or included. The same is true with the Discussion Boards. So, rather than taking exams to show your mastery of the content, you participate in Discussion Boards and write papers that require you to incorporate the material along with supporting outside sources (journal and research articles) to demonstrate your understanding of the material.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Depends what you're studying. I did NP, and constantly felt like I was back to being a beginner ; learning the medical model, how to do H&P, physical assessment, putting in lines, intubating. We had tons of exams, constantly.