Why do some people assume NS is easy?

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I'm not talking about other nursing students, but the general public. Heck, even patients!

I have had a patient ask me was I in nursing school (obviously). She then asked how far along I was and how long was the program. I told her it was a 4 year degree with 3 years of nursing classes (at my school). She said "What?! For a nurse?" Granted, she was out of it and in pain, but it was just the way she said it. The general public is really uneducated on what nurses actually do and their schooling. We need to work on improving that so people don't just think we are all assistants who work under the doctor.

Then there are the people who call themselves nurses, or have others call them nurses, when they are medical assistants and such. I'm not going through all this rigamorue in school to be compared to someone with a certificate who went to school for a few months. I'm sorry but that's not a good look.

Nurses might as well be aliens because apparently who we are and what we do is a mystery covered by the CIA.

Compared to *some* health science areas, the pre-reqs for nursing programs are *relatively* 'easy'. No calculus or physics required. Sometimes the chemistry and physiology coursework required by nursing schools is lower level than that required for some other majors. Some nursing schools do require higher level coursework, but many don't. I'm not saying that that means that nursing school *is* easy, but that may give some the impression that it would be.

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Just want to add on to the above post. The pre-reqs for nursing ARE too easy if you ask me. That is another reason they think nursing school is easy. This is one reason people say "I had a 4.0 in my pre-reqs and failed in nursing school!" It's not because nursing school is THAT hard, it's because the courses required are on a freshman college level. There are maybe 3 reasonably difficult courses required to get in. And I use difficult loosely as a subjective term because some ppl pass these with no issue(A&P, Micro, Math or stats and I'm not actually sure what else is hard). Everything else is like English 101, social science elective(BS fluffer classes like Sociology 101), humanities like(history, art, psychology or whatever). As much as we learn about pharm, disease processes, etc. why don't they require Biology I and II, or Chemistry???

A LOT of schools require no chemistry or biology. Definitely no physics, organic, or biochecm. I was a chemistry major before I switched to nursing(pre-pharmacy) and I had to take Organic I and II, Physics I and II, Biochem etc. etc. Those apply to chemistry right? Right. BUT..to get into optometry school or pharmacy school(neither have much to do with physics), you have to take physics and other "higher" level pre-reqs. As an optometrist, do you really need Organic chemistry or Biochemistry? I'm not sure, but I don't really think so...and they require it to get into almost all Optometry programs. The nursing programs in my city require microbiology, but it's actually a "special" micro. The one for science majors is Micro 3500, the one for nursing is Micro 1230.

If you ask me, they should beef up the pre-reqs. This would eliminate some of the "shock" of nursing school. If people say nursing school math is hard...try doing some physics II and then talk to me about hard. Or some of the math from Organic Chemistry. And remember, those are the PRE-reqs for some other healthcare programs.

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Specializes in Oncology.

To answer the question about getting my BSN:

I wanted more options once I got out of school. I figured that if I got my ADN, yes, I could begin working earlier, but eventually if I wanted most promotions, transfers, etc, that having my BSN would open up more opportunities for me. I also believed that if I just got the ADN, I would eventually have to go back to school in order to move up, whereas my goals about getting my PhD are not necessary for me to work in jobs I like. I also worried that one day they might actually require a BSN to practice, if the economy keeps going the way it has and hospitals can be choosy, and that an ADN wouldn't be marketable for even floor nursing.

If you ask me, they should beef up the pre-reqs. This would eliminate some of the "shock" of nursing school. If people say nursing school math is hard...try doing some physics II and then talk to me about hard. Or some of the math from Organic Chemistry. And remember, those are the PRE-reqs for some other healthcare programs.

We had to take two semesters of Chemistry (one of being Organic ;)), two semesters of A&P, freshman English, and Psych 101 as pre-reqs for nursing school. Since my acceptance, my university has changed the pre-reqs and they DO seem easier.

However, for me at least, it wasn't the coursework and material in lecture that was hard as much as it was learning to be a nurse: taking on the mental/emotional stress of being around sick/actively dying patients, dealing with what seemed to be too-soon timelines for large assignments (a 15 page care plan due within 48 hours of clinical being over every week in med-surg!), learning how to manage tasks at clinicals, the strict guidelines, the grading scale changing from 90-100 to 92-100 for an A with lack of grade rounding and "failing" being below 76%, taking exams that were more critical thinking skills than regurgitation, and just the overall pressure and environment within nursing school to be the best.

While I think that pre-reqs do play a part in preparing students adequately for nursing school, there just ISN'T a preparation for nursing school. I thought I was a really smart person until I got into nursing school, and now I'm not so sure that I'm as smart as I believed I was. :p There wasn't any amount of guidance or preparation that could have more adequately prepared me for taking care of a prisoner who has no family and is dying alone in the hospital, or what it would feel like to make a serious mistake in clinicals, or taking care of sick kids with crying parents, or the feeling of "*** WAS THAT?!" after that first exam in nursing school, or working on a care plan for 12 hours straight, or getting a 91.8 and having it end up as a B.

Nursing school is a unique experience that I truthfully think only other nursing students understand. I am so thankful for finding this community because it does reassure me that I'm not alone, even if my classmates put up a good front about it.

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Just want to add on to the above post. The pre-reqs for nursing ARE too easy if you ask me. That is another reason they think nursing school is easy. This is one reason people say "I had a 4.0 in my pre-reqs and failed in nursing school!" It's not because nursing school is THAT hard, it's because the courses required are on a freshman college level. There are maybe 3 reasonably difficult courses required to get in. And I use difficult loosely as a subjective term because some ppl pass these with no issue(A&P, Micro, Math or stats and I'm not actually sure what else is hard). Everything else is like English 101, social science elective(BS fluffer classes like Sociology 101), humanities like(history, art, psychology or whatever). As much as we learn about pharm, disease processes, etc. why don't they require Biology I and II, or Chemistry???

A LOT of schools require no chemistry or biology. Definitely no physics, organic, or biochecm. I was a chemistry major before I switched to nursing(pre-pharmacy) and I had to take Organic I and II, Physics I and II, Biochem etc. etc. Those apply to chemistry right? Right. BUT..to get into optometry school or pharmacy school(neither have much to do with physics), you have to take physics and other "higher" level pre-reqs. As an optometrist, do you really need Organic chemistry or Biochemistry? I'm not sure, but I don't really think so...and they require it to get into almost all Optometry programs. The nursing programs in my city require microbiology, but it's actually a "special" micro. The one for science majors is Micro 3500, the one for nursing is Micro 1230.

If you ask me, they should beef up the pre-reqs. This would eliminate some of the "shock" of nursing school. If people say nursing school math is hard...try doing some physics II and then talk to me about hard. Or some of the math from Organic Chemistry. And remember, those are the PRE-reqs for some other healthcare programs.

The need for the standard premed prereqs (chem, o-chem, physics, etc), which are essentially the same for pharmacy, veterinary, optometry, dentistry, etc, have been debated for a while now. Many think they should go because they drive away people with the potential of being good practitioners, yet others feel they've been there traditionally so leave them. Of course, we've all heard of them as being "weeder" courses. The question is not so much "Do you really need those courses to be a good doctor," but rather can you commit to something difficult. I can't, lol, so I didn't go that route.

A&P, micro, general chemistry (the standard nursing science courses) don't come near the difficulty of organic chemistry and physics. At my institution, biology majors don't get eight hours of credit if they choose to take A&P as electives. They'll only get credit for one course (4 hours). However, the classes are the same that nursing majors take. The microbiology course is the same as well as is general chemistry.

I think to move on into nursing courses that one should make at least a B in the A&P courses. Here, I believe if you pass the course (D) you can move take nurse stuff. I think it's essential knowledge, and I love it. It's what draws me to the major which will be my second degree. The first I received in 2003. Most of the others in my class don't know crap about the topic. I think they should all have a separate pathophysiology course as well. Many do, as does mine, but many don't.

I wanted to add that here you can get the ADN, do an RN-BSN, or be in the "generic" BSN program. To get the ADN you'll need three years, one for sciencey prereqs and two others for the nursing classes for a total of three years. The RN-BSN part will require about another year of nursing courses and about a year of other liberal arts classes necessary for any bachelor's degree. To get to that point you're looking at five years. To get the standard BSN you need four years from start to finish. I think it's the best bang for the buck regardless of future compensation for everyone be it a traditional student, a career changer (like me), and someone who already holds a degree (like me).

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.
We had to take two semesters of Chemistry (one of being Organic ;)), two semesters of A&P, freshman English, and Psych 101 as pre-reqs for nursing school. Since my acceptance, my university has changed the pre-reqs and they DO seem easier.

That's not real organic - that's just the General Chemistry I and II sequence. However, you do make a minor point: many of the BSN programs do have harder and more varied prereqs, but as ImThatGuy stated, many schools allow nurses to take the wimpier versions of many classes.

However, for me at least, it wasn't the coursework and material in lecture that was hard as much as it was learning to be a nurse: taking on the mental/emotional stress of being around sick/actively dying patients, dealing with what seemed to be too-soon timelines for large assignments (a 15 page care plan due within 48 hours of clinical being over every week in med-surg!), learning how to manage tasks at clinicals, the strict guidelines, the grading scale changing from 90-100 to 92-100 for an A with lack of grade rounding and "failing" being below 76%, taking exams that were more critical thinking skills than regurgitation, and just the overall pressure and environment within nursing school to be the best.

While I think that pre-reqs do play a part in preparing students adequately for nursing school, there just ISN'T a preparation for nursing school. I thought I was a really smart person until I got into nursing school, and now I'm not so sure that I'm as smart as I believed I was. :p There wasn't any amount of guidance or preparation that could have more adequately prepared me for taking care of a prisoner who has no family and is dying alone in the hospital, or what it would feel like to make a serious mistake in clinicals, or taking care of sick kids with crying parents, or the feeling of "*** WAS THAT?!" after that first exam in nursing school, or working on a care plan for 12 hours straight, or getting a 91.8 and having it end up as a B.

Nursing school is a unique experience that I truthfully think only other nursing students understand. I am so thankful for finding this community because it does reassure me that I'm not alone, even if my classmates put up a good front about it.

A nursing degree is a practice degree as well as an academic degree. You can be as "book smart" as you want, but applying it at the bedside is a whole other skill.

The need for the standard premed prereqs (chem, o-chem, physics, etc), which are essentially the same for pharmacy, veterinary, optometry, dentistry, etc, have been debated for a while now. Many think they should go because they drive away people with the potential of being good practitioners, yet others feel they've been there traditionally so leave them. Of course, we've all heard of them as being "weeder" courses. The question is not so much "Do you really need those courses to be a good doctor," but rather can you commit to something difficult. I can't, lol, so I didn't go that route.

At least for the medical schools, they're doing just fine in getting applicants, as are the other professional specialties you mentioned. One of the issues with nursing is that, compared to those other professions, there have to be more nurses, and so the academic bar is lowered. While those of us with science backgrounds might breeze through prereqs (or, if we're lucky, have them already covered by our undergraduate degrees), our expectations may be skewed by our experiences. That said, learning the practice skills of nursing are often hard - academically, it's not, it's just a matter of work and effort.

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Let me preface this by saying that I by no means think nursing school is easy...

I don't think nursing school is nearly as hard as people make it out to be! Honestly, I found A&P to be much harder than my first semester of nursing school, and I'm doing much better in nursing school than I did in A&P without putting in any more effort than I did for A&P.

A lot of nursing school is critical thinking which in and of itself isn't that difficult...just difficult for many people to grasp.

I realize that I'm just beginning the whole process, but at the same time, I think people (especially people here on Allnurses) tend to blow the whole "OMG nursing school is soooo hard" thing way out of proportion.

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Specializes in Oncology.
That's not real organic - that's just the General Chemistry I and II sequence. However, you do make a minor point: many of the BSN programs do have harder and more varied prereqs, but as ImThatGuy stated, many schools allow nurses to take the wimpier versions of many classes.

Oh I'm sorry, are you in my class? Did you take my chemistry course with me? :rolleyes:

"Real" organic or not, we still learned and were tested over concepts of organic chemistry. I made a typo there - "one test of being Organic" is what it's supposed to say. I don't know if you realize how arrogant you've come off in your posts, but please do not insult my school or its program and call its prerequisites wimpy.

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Specializes in Oncology.
Let me preface this by saying that I by no means think nursing school is easy...

I don't think nursing school is nearly as hard as people make it out to be! Honestly, I found A&P to be much harder than my first semester of nursing school, and I'm doing much better in nursing school than I did in A&P without putting in any more effort than I did for A&P.

A lot of nursing school is critical thinking which in and of itself isn't that difficult...just difficult for many people to grasp.

I realize that I'm just beginning the whole process, but at the same time, I think people (especially people here on Allnurses) tend to blow the whole "OMG nursing school is soooo hard" thing way out of proportion.

I had a 4.0 my first semester even while taking 17 hours. It gets way harder after you move out of the realm of normal assessments and relatively healthy patients, in my opinion. Are you doing 12 hour clinicals, performing skills beyond a CNA's scope of practice on patients, or writing out the long care plans yet? I don't think people are blowing it out of proportion either, because some schools really are hard and have high expectations of their students, both in grades and their clinical conduct. There was someone here who posted in another thread that less than an 84% is failing in their program! :uhoh3:

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Specializes in future OB/L&D nurse(I hope) or hospice.

SingDanceRunLife: You have no idea how happy I am to hear what you had to say about A&P. I am "trying" to finish my A&P II now and I am struggling!! I am happy to finally have hope.

Also, about the ADN vs BSN. Out here in Nevada, the only real difference between the ADN and BSN is the pre-reqs. There are a lot more pre-reqs for BSN, but once someone begins the actual nursing classes they are basically the same.. That said, if I were to graduate with a BSN degree I would certainly want it to be known. It is a bigger accomplishment!! As for me, I am going for the ADN. I am 41 and would like to get finished a little faster. :)

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Some people may assume that nursing school is easy because they have run across nursing students or graduates who did not find it to be particularly challenging.

Nursing school is no different than any other field of study. Some people find it difficult and some people find it easy.

To me, the only challenging things about nursing school were the unrelenting pace and the high-stakes nature of every exam. Conceptually, however, it was not nearly as difficult as my chemistry or engineering studies.

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I had a 4.0 my first semester even while taking 17 hours. It gets way harder after you move out of the realm of normal assessments and relatively healthy patients, in my opinion. Are you doing 12 hour clinicals, performing skills beyond a CNA's scope of practice on patients, or writing out the long care plans yet? I don't think people are blowing it out of proportion either, because some schools really are hard and have high expectations of their students, both in grades and their clinical conduct. There was someone here who posted in another thread that less than an 84% is failing in their program! :uhoh3:

I will never have 12 hour clinicals...my school does 5 hour clinicals the first year, and 6 hour clinicals the second.

Starting next semester, we will be passing meds and doing complete assessments and documentation etc. We have started writing care plans as well.

By saying that I think people are blowing it out of proportion, I mean that many people make NS seem pretty much impossible which it's not.

Also, I did say "I realize that I'm just beginning the whole process . . ." and I do know that it does get harder...but as I said, I thought A&P was much harder, and I put in more work but did less well than anything I've done this semester, my first in NS.

I also just might be one of those people that it comes fairly naturally to. I study probably about 1/3 of the time of most of my classmates, and do better than at least half of them.

SingDanceRunLife: You have no idea how happy I am to hear what you had to say about A&P. I am "trying" to finish my A&P II now and I am struggling!! I am happy to finally have hope.

Also, about the ADN vs BSN. Out here in Nevada, the only real difference between the ADN and BSN is the pre-reqs. There are a lot more pre-reqs for BSN, but once someone begins the actual nursing classes they are basically the same.. That said, if I were to graduate with a BSN degree I would certainly want it to be known. It is a bigger accomplishment!! As for me, I am going for the ADN. I am 41 and would like to get finished a little faster. :)

There is definitely hope! I thought A&P was so incredibly difficult (though I found A&P II to be much easier than A&P I) and NS (at least the first semester), no harder (definitely easier to study for etc).

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I'd say nursing school is easier than biology with biology being the simplest science. I'd say the seven psychology courses that I took were easier than nursing. Cummulatively, those are the biggest collections of courses I've had. The hardest classes I've ever taken were in the business department. Besides the degree I have, the one I'm working on currently, I have about 2/3 of a degree in accounting as well. I started working on it early in my law enforcement career in hopes of going federal, but my color vision deficiency precludes me from that. Upon discovering that, I finished the semester and never went back. Accounting and all of the ancillary courses were much harder than nursing, biology, and psychology.

What squire mentioned about organic chemistry is probably true. It's a hard class. Often, it's considered the most difficult on an undergraduate campus. I'm not saying it's too hard for someone to take. I'm just saying it's probably not a component of a nursing curriculum. It requires a year of general chemistry as a prerequisite. The books are larger than Lippincott, and the understand required is immense.

As he said the demand for nurses prevents such a course from being required. It'd be helpful mostly in understanding the chemical names of medications as well as some of the biochemical processes covered in A&P. That understand, however, isn't necessary.

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