Will my social life really be over?

FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Sep 23, 2022

On 9/17/2022 at 8:06 AM, Kennakenna said:

Hello! I am in my first semester of nursing school at an ADN college. I am taking fundamentals and pharmacology. All I hear all day and every day that you will have no social life. So far I have been studying every day for about 2-3ish hours every morning when I wake up. I have made an 80 and 94 on 2 exams and feel like I have TONS of free time. Before y’all answer if I will have a social life/free time. I am 21 years old live with my parents, and do not have a job. I am very blessed that they pay for everything I need. How my program is set up is that I have 2 lectures a week Monday 8:30-10:30, Tuesday 8:30-10:30 11-1 and 1 clinical (12) every week per semester. Also my program doesn’t believe in busy work so no homework and no papers. So I'm here “waiting for the other shoe to drop” per say. Can anyone give me some what of an answer if I will still have a social life. I'm incredibly good with time management I think. I study when I wake up on my free days and have the rest of my day and study between or after class the rest.

My first semester was like this too. I had a lot of background knowledge from my EMS career and much of what we were covering was just building slightly on old knowledge. I barely looked at my books and my studying consisted of doing just the practice EAQ assignments - I easily passed that semester with a 91%.

The very next semester, I scored so poorly on the first exam that I was advised to drop the class because it would have been nearly impossible to pass the class (I could have only missed 1 question on the final). From then on, every single exam was exponentially more stressful because if I failed one more course, I was completely done.

Lessons Learned

1. Good nursing schools get harder as you go. The exams become harder, the homework becomes more detailed, and the volume of material per week increases.

2. Develop and fine-tune good study habits early. Again, its only going to get harder from here. The more acclimated you are to studying the material in a manner that helps you retain the information, the better.

After that failure, my life was 100% devoted to my full time job and studying. Some semesters were "easier", some were a bear. During peds, I was easily studying 6-8 hours per day, 6-7 days per week. It's worth noting that I had already earned a bachelors degree with honors in another field prior to starting nursing school.

YMMV

Guest1198722 · Oct 11, 2022

Those that actually have no social life vice those who say they don't, are usually the student who's working full-time or part-time, is a single parent, etc.

From what I read, you have no homework or papers to write? You have it very easy. Enjoy!