What's it like to be in an accelerated BSN program?

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Hello - I am waiting on acceptance to an ABSN program (should hear in a few weeks), and although I'm sure they'll fill me in on all the gory details when/if I get in, I can't wait to find out what it's going to be like!

If you, or anyone you know, are going/has gone through an accelerated program, please share what "a week in the life" is like! You don't have to go into exhaustive detail... I'm just wondering about how many hours/days you spend in class, clinicals, studying, etc. I know all schools are different, but since most accelerated programs are pretty similar in length, I would imagine that scheduling is much the same as well.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences - I can't wait to hear what you have to say!!!

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This past semester (Summer-12 weeks): Had Med-Surg 1 & 2 Lecture/Clinical

Monday: off; crammed all day (8am-midnight) because I had a test practically every Tuesday

Tuesday: Lecture 9am-4pm

Wednesday: Studied/Went to tutoring 10am-12pm; Lab 1pm-4pm; 5pm-I fell asleep caught up on stuff for clinicals (SOAPs, PATs, Case Study)

Thursday: Clinical 6:30am-4:30pm; afterwards I was so exhausted all I could do was sit in front of the TV and fall asleep or I went to work from 5-9

Friday: Clincal 6:30am-4:30pm; afterwards sleep, sleep, sleep or went to work from 5-9

Saturday/Sunday: Work 9am-7pm, then study if I had any energy left

Did LOTS of NCLEX questions in my free time (ha ha), especially during the last couple of weeks in preperation for the 3 finals I had during the last week of the semester. I'm not gonna lie. ABSN programs SUCK if you're interested in having free time and lots of energy when the day is over. Say goodbye to your family anf friends cuz you won't have time for them until you graduate. I'm on a 3 week break before my last semester and I'm so exhausted I can barely do anythimg with my free time except sleep (and unfortunately work). Good luck, I hope you get in!

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My ABSN program is spit up into 8-week sessions. We do a semeste worth of classes in 8-weeks, and then move on. My first 8-weeks session wasn't too bad. It took most of us about 3 to 4 weeks to start feeling comfortable with our schedules and amount of work. My week 7, we all were really in the groove, and thought we could handle things pretty well. Then just when we thought we had everything under control, the 2nd 8-week session began. And boy, were we wrong. It was much harder then the 1st 8-week session, and we all were really struggling. We felt like we were just putting one fire out after another, because there was soooo much work. Most of us only got about 5 hours of sleep each night during this session. I've heard that it gets a little easier for us from now on....I hope this rumor is true. Anyway, study hard, say goodbye to friends and family, and know there is light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck .

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Specializes in Neuro.

This summer my schedule was very busy and time-consuming. We did psych and ob clinicals divided into 3-week rotations (3 days a week). So the past few weeks looked like this:

Monday: 9-12 Exam (OB/Psych -- we rotate every week), 1-4 Seminar (whatever the test was on in the morning). Afterward, get things ready for clinical, read some books, write some papers

Tuesday-Thursday 6:45-3:00 Clinical, including presenations in post-conference, care plans, and filling out clinical evals (which involves writing in a billion tiny boxes, which is quite time-consuming) Not much done after clinical because I'm so tired

Friday: 9-12 Health Policy and Politics (usually a presentation and paper due), 1-3 Epidemiology (usually a quiz and homework due)

Sometimes I have free time, but it's pretty limited. Sometimes I get really mad about that, but I graduate in November and my boyfriend reminds me that I'll have LOTS of spare time after that, which is true. :)

Oh, and this coming week is finals:

Monday:

9-11 Psych Final

12:30-2:30 Psych ERI (standardized exam)

3-5 Therapeutic Communication ERI

Tuesday:

9-12 Policy class (listening to presentations)

1-3 Epidemiology Final

Wednesday:

9-11 OB Final

12:30-2:00 OB ERI

Then I have 2 and a half weeks off! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but there's still some serious obstacles in the tunnel the next 3 days

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OMG!!! And I thought I couldn't get anymore imtimidated than I already was before I read this thread. I start an accelerated ASN in October, and its only from October '07 to July of '08. They have warned us repeatedly that its going to be an intense struggle and that we won't have any free time to even scratch our noses. I'm glad that I read this and you all shared your experiences. I know getting an ABSN takes longer than an AASN, but this just shows me that I need a be a little more mentally prepared for what they're about to throw my way. Thanks so much for sharing.

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OMG!!! And I thought I couldn't get anymore imtimidated than I already was before I read this thread. I start an accelerated ASN in October, and its only from October '07 to July of '08. They have warned us repeatedly that its going to be an intense struggle and that we won't have any free time to even scratch our noses. I'm glad that I read this and you all shared your experiences. I know getting an ABSN takes longer than an AASN, but this just shows me that I need a be a little more mentally prepared for what they're about to throw my way. Thanks so much for sharing.

LOL! You'll be fine. It's intense and time consuming and it really sucks sometimes, but apparently people actually make it through and so will we.

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