Working full time

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Hi,

I am new to this site and was wondering if anyone can give me some insight on whether it is reasonable to think that I can work full time while going to nursing school. I am finishing all on my non-nursing classes and will start at Flo Valley next fall. I will be taking the 2 nursing classes each semester for 4 semesters. One of the advisors said it would not be reasonable to try to work more that 16 hours/week, but that is not possible with house payments, car payments, and daycare for 2 kids. Wondering if those of you who have been through it could give me some insight......

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I need a little encouragement on the same subject. I have no choice but to work full-time with a hubby and kid. I now just chant Nike's slogan......"Just do it" . Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

We had students who did it @ Meramec. They worked as techs in a couple of local hospitals.

I will say however, that they had older children with the exception of one single mom who had MASSIVE help from her mother. She worked 12-hour days on our one day off during the week and also every Sat & Sun.

Funny, she seemed pretty sane by the time we finished and it didn't kill her. I don't think it was easy though....

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If you only take the 2 nursing classes each semester, what is a typical week like....class time, lab, clinicals, etc?

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Keep in mind that things can change....but we went an average of 2 hours 3 days/week first semester and had one day of clinicals every other week (I understand that's changed to weekly). We had one day off every week. Second semester was similar, but clinicals were weekly, or twice a week every other week (?) -- that was awhile ago, lol. But we still had one full day off. Third semester we had one day with a 3 or 4 hour lecture, but otherwise only 2 hour days and again, one full day off. Clinical days are usually from 0630 - 1230 or 1330. It's not all time-consuming like some colleges are -- at least not in the classroom.

Again -- this is for Meramec. There is time to be spent practicing labs and then doing skills checkouts. Initially, this maybe took anywhere from 2 - 5 hours week depending on how much you could/would practice at home. I took fastidious notes and practiced/memorized as much as possible at home. I LIKE my house, lol! But some folks needed more. If you didn't pass, then you had to add on more time for practice and to schedule another checkout.

It's hard for me to gauge for someone else, I just know we had several who did it. And from reading on these threads, lots of moms do it, but you need a ton of support and understanding from family/friends and the ability to prioritize and give some things up while you're in school if necessary.

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Specializes in ED.

Personally, I am from the school of thought that taking out loans for living expenses is totally worth it. Is this a possibility for you?

I am in SLU's accelerated BSN program, so working full time would truly be impossible for me. I do work one day a week as a tech. I am taking out a conservative amount of money for living expenses so I don't stress out too much about needing to work a certain amount of hours a week.

I value the time with my daughter so much during these formative years of her life. Plus, I want to get the most out of my schooling, and I am afraid working more than this now would cause exhaustion. I love my job, and working as tech really gives you valuable experience and confidence for nursing school, so I will try to continue to work until I graduate.

Considering you will be making 20-25 an hour as a nurse right out of school, paying off loans should not be unbearable.

Just some insight from a student nurse mom.:D

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Loans are a thought, but expensive. And if you have to add in the cost of tuition to those loan amounts, can really put you behind the 8-ball at graduation. $$ becomes more of an issue than finding and waiting for the job you love.

I WILL add that if you can get a job in a hospital you are interested in, and in a unit you are interested in post-graduation, you will be light-years ahead of the rest of us who come in off the street for some of the specialty areas such as OR, ER, NICU, etc.

Best wishes!!

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Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

There are plenty of people that can (and do) work full-time and tackle nursing school. I wasn't one that could do it. I didn't even try - and I was glad that I didn't when I got a part-time job in my second and third semesters of nursing school. I was working 24 hours per week and I was so overwhelmed and stressed that I eventually had to give it up. It's very difficult to do.

I always recommend getting into school first, then seeing if you can tackle a job on top of that. Take out loans for that first semester, and if you think you can take on a part-time job after that, you can still take out loans to cover the shortfalls in your budget. I'm paying out the nose for my student loans now, but it was more important to me to take the time I needed while I was in school to get a high GPA and still have time to study and spend what little precious free time I had with family/friends. Even with my part-time job, by the time I went to school, worked, and studied, I had absolutely NO free time. It was very stressful. And I didn't have children.

I will say that the few people that I knew that chose to work full-time during school certainly did not graduate with honors. This may be something for you to think about if you think you may want to attend graduate school in your future, where the minimum GPA is 3.0.

Best of luck to you.

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Specializes in Emergency.
There are plenty of people that can (and do) work full-time and tackle nursing school. I wasn't one that could do it. I didn't even try - and I was glad that I didn't when I got a part-time job in my second and third semesters of nursing school. I was working 24 hours per week and I was so overwhelmed and stressed that I eventually had to give it up. It's very difficult to do.

I always recommend getting into school first, then seeing if you can tackle a job on top of that. Take out loans for that first semester, and if you think you can take on a part-time job after that, you can still take out loans to cover the shortfalls in your budget. I'm paying out the nose for my student loans now, but it was more important to me to take the time I needed while I was in school to get a high GPA and still have time to study and spend what little precious free time I had with family/friends. Even with my part-time job, by the time I went to school, worked, and studied, I had absolutely NO free time. It was very stressful. And I didn't have children.

I will say that the few people that I knew that chose to work full-time during school certainly did not graduate with honors. This may be something for you to think about if you think you may want to attend graduate school in your future, where the minimum GPA is 3.0.

Best of luck to you.

I agree!! I am in an accelerated BSN program right now and do not have a job....and I don't see how people could do both...but there are people in my program who do both plus have children...and so far they are doing fine...but I'm sure it's just that much more stressful for them....honestly though, nursing school is very time consuming...so having a job full time on top of it would leave NO extra time for anything else.

Hey Becca....our group all just finished the lab modules this past friday....it's so nice not having to deal with those post-tests and return demos any more!! :) Just thought I'd fill you in. I love UMSL so far!! We have our clinical orientation this week (I'm at Barnes Jewish Extended Care...just like I remember you saying you were!!)...in about two weeks I'll get my first patient....and I'm so scared. Anyways....:) Have a good day everyone!

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Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.
I agree!! I am in an accelerated BSN program right now and do not have a job....and I don't see how people could do both...but there are people in my program who do both plus have children...and so far they are doing fine...but I'm sure it's just that much more stressful for them....honestly though, nursing school is very time consuming...so having a job full time on top of it would leave NO extra time for anything else.

Hey Becca....our group all just finished the lab modules this past friday....it's so nice not having to deal with those post-tests and return demos any more!! :) Just thought I'd fill you in. I love UMSL so far!! We have our clinical orientation this week (I'm at Barnes Jewish Extended Care...just like I remember you saying you were!!)...in about two weeks I'll get my first patient....and I'm so scared. Anyways....:) Have a good day everyone!

Congrats! Glad you like UMSL - I loved it as well! Clinicals will be fun so try not to worry too much. Med/Surg clinicals will be more fun than BJEC, but you have to start somewhere, right? I remember the biggest challenge was finding all the info for clinical prep in those textbook-thick charts that the pts. have at BJEC (because they have been there and in the hospital for a L-O-N-G time). That's one thing I did like about working labor and delivery - you could pick up the chart with one finger instead of a forklift! ;)

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