Working while going to school?

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I am starting my first semester in the Fall and my plan is to get a CNA job over the summer to get some experience under my belt. I am very timid of trying to work and go to school and find time with my family when I start my classes. What do you recommend hour-wise of working while going to school?

And I know it all depends on time management thing, but I want to hear from the people who have family while going to school and working part-time? Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

I tried it in the beginning, but my manager (wasn't a hospital job) wasn't very understanding, and scheduled me a ton. He kinda forced me to quit. If I didn't have a family, I might have managed it, but all of it together is hard. Only a couple of the parents in my program have worked. The rest of the working students are single without kids.

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Nursing school (doesn't matter ADN or BSN) is harder than you can possibly imagine. Not impossible. Just unbelievably demanding. My recommendation is that you clear the decks, make sure your car is in good working order and reliable, you have child-care all settled, and (if I may be so bold) don't get pregnant until your well within 9 months of graduation. Maximize your support systems, get your flu shot, don't get sick. Dump the demanding boy or girl friend. Only hang with people who are encouraging. Do everything you can to allow yourself at least 40 hours/week for class and study. Going to nursing school is a full time job. The CNA job really does not help you with the kind of cognitive leaps and bounds you're about to make. In fact, it can be an impediment. Professional nursing is orders of magnitude different than CNA duties. (Note... I didn't say more honorable or better or of more intrinsic value... I said professional nursing is different.)

I cannot tell you the number of students I have urged (begged) to cut back or quit work. Many of them don't have the luxury. And many of those have had to repeat courses.

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Working+school= a terrible terrible life.

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Is it true that second semester gets a little easier? Or no?...would clinicals be harder if you were not a CNA before?...sorry if these are dumb questions...I just can' afford to fail.

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Specializes in ICU.

FWIW, many of my fellow students work while going to school; however, most of us that work as CNAs or PCTs do so at facilities where we have been for some time and so we have flexibility. For example, I was an aide at my facility for nearly a year before starting school and was able to get moved to per diem. If you can land a per diem job, it makes working a whooooole lot easier. That being said, first semester is rough due to clinicals, skills labs, lectures, and just the shock of everything. Bottom line, I am in the end of my second semester and currently work about two 8 hr shifts per week with one on being on a Sat, but during med/surg I might have worked three shifts the entire six weeks.

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All I can say is I wish I had the option of NOT working and going to school.

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I wish I had the option to not work while in nursing school! It's a must for many of us. there's not way I could do otherwise.

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Yes... almost ALL my students that work while going to school do so because they MUST. (Their job is where the health insurance is, or divorced spouse is not paying child support or whatever.)

There is no good answer to whether "2nd semester" is easier than first. In our program the answer is ABSOLUTELY not. Fundies is where several out of every 37 student cadre crash and burn. 2nd semester is where many struggle and it's a ball-buster semester (in our program it's paired with Pharmacology AND Maternal-Child.)

Again... I have not observed that CNA experience is a predictor of success. Neither is EMT. Some pass, some fail. Makes little difference.

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