will i be smart enough for nursing school????

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2008

I worried about this constantly. We're talking about over 30 years ago. I changed careers, had toyed with the idea of nursing and was on a waiting list as well as took pre-reqs. You just never know. The unknown is always a source of fear. I think that just about everyone who does this has the same thoughts. Some will openly admit them and some will never will. What helped me was thinking about the many thousands who went to nursing school before me thinking and feeling the same way. After all, we all start somewhere, don't we? If you never give it a try you will never know if you were nurse material or not. And as a very wise doctor told me, no education is ever wasted. I faced my demon and I did OK. And I keep facing those doggone demons. They never go away. Now, its your turn. One thing I can guarantee you after all these years I've been living--this won't be the first or last fear you have to face. There'll be others. This one, however, will change a lot in your life. Education and/or nursing school teaches you a lot about yourself and about life, so even if you never make it through a nursing program you haven't lost anything at all, but gained a lot more in life experience.

cadyjayne · Nov 29, 2008

I worry (worried) about this, as well. ALOT.

When I first moved to a four-year university (for a dietetics program), the stress caused me to become...Well, depressed. I trucked through the first semester and managed to get through with a 3.0 (decent for someone who could barely get out of bed.) When I decided to transfer to a different college to finish my pre-reqs for an ASN, I was really worried that I wasn't "smart enough" since I suddenly had to work so hard for so little results.

After a while, I realized that most of the depression and lack of motivation came from the fact that I knew that I was in the wrong place. I wanted to go to school for as short amount of time as possible (some of us weren't meant for college - bad to say these days, I know!) but still have a job that I could love. As of now, as I go into another semester of pre-reqs, I am worried, but not as much. I know that nursing is where I need to be from the joy I get from helping others and the interest I have in the field and all that comes with it.

I am positive that nursing school will be a challenge, a BIG one, but I am lucky to be young with few responsibilities and a solid view of where I want to go from here.

All of that said, I truly don't believe that it is an issue of being "smart" enough. It will take intelligence, but I feel most of all it will take tenacity. I think when you begin nursing school things (this is how I feel about myself, anyways) will click and you will become more confident.

For people with anxiety, often confidence is something that comes after the fact. When you get in there, if you really know that is what you want to do, and you start doing well, you will quickly believe that you are smart enough.

missjennmb · Nov 29, 2008

IMO its a lot more about finding the right way to study (for our classes, reading the material over and over is bringing more results than studying main points) and putting your mind to it. There is a brilliant girl in my class who is struggling terribly with it, but says she "doesnt have time" to read the chapters (she is not old enough to go out drinking, has no responsibilities beyond helping her mom clean the house, and has no job outside of school) There is also a lady in my class who is a little bit on the slower side as far as learning things, and who struggled a bit with skills lab when we started, but gets high 80s on all of her tests, because she wants this so badly that she puts tremendous amounts of effort into it. I would have pegged her to fail out the very first class and she's still hanging in there strong. Another girl who has been a Med Assistant prior to coming to school, but who was always putting family problems between herself and school (ya know...couldnt study because Uncle Bob or Cousin so and so needed to cry on my shoulder type) She has mad skills and already DID most of the proceedures that we were learning in Fundamentals, but failed out miserably, b/c she did not make school her main priority.

So if you don't want to put 200% of yourself into it (or however much it takes you to pass) then no, you won't make it. But if you want it bad enough to eat sleep and breathe nsg school, then you'll very likely be fine. :)

RetrieverGirl, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2008

If you want it bad enough you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. I have sacrificed a lot of my time to get through this first semester, and it is paying off already. I am not the greatest at science, and I am not the best test taker, but I make sure to write everything down in lecture, and occassionally study with a group for a more difficult test. Not to mention this website has been a great help as well. I've found out that your confidence level can change everything. Just remain confident and believe in yourself. It will be hell getting to the end, but you'll get there!!!! Buddy up with someone in the group, someone to help you along the way. It can be emotional at times. JUST DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!!!!! I am still training myself. I'm sure you'll be great. I never thought I could do any of those science or math classes, but I did and it felt good!!!!!:wink2:

diane227, LPN, RN · Nov 30, 2008

I was a B and C student. I took good notes, never studied and hardly ever read the required reading. But what I did have was a lot of common sense. Nursing came very natural to me and to get from point A to point B seemed very logical.

I knew students who made A's but who could not function at the bedside. I always made A's in clinical and to be honest that was all that mattered to me. The book stuff you can always look up, the real question is can to handle the actual work. I mean, you have to have the basic skills, and especially when it comes to safety and medication administration but to function at the bedside you have to have the extra skill of having nursing make sense to you.

I graduated from nursing school 30 years ago. I have fond recall of my time there and all that I learned. My basic nursing education was very strong. It was a tough school but they taught me the basics and gave me a good foundation to keep me safe in my practice. The rest was easy. Diane

Nepenthe Sea · Nov 30, 2008

I'm scared, too. I'm hoping to enter this spring, and am waiting to hear if I will be accepted or not. I have a 4.0 average, and expect to keep that even at the end of this semester. I am taking micro, a&p, nutrition, and a speech class, so I'd like to think that if I can handle all that then maybe I can handle nursing school. But...I seem to have problems with critical thinking. On the HESI, I made a 92, but scored an 85% on the reading comprehension part. I have been reading since I was 3, never made below an A in English ever, but I read too much into the questions that concern comprehension. I do the same thing on the critical thinking-style questions on my nutrition test. It's really frustrating, and I'm afraid I'll never figure it out. That's my fear.