2 year ACE program and wedding conflicts

Nurses Career Support

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Hi,

I am new here. You can call me CeCe :) I am currently taking a few prereq classes that I need to apply to a nearby BSN accelerated program that last 2 years. I am also going to apply to some other ones, including one year programs. I am about to get engaged and my boyfriend and I have been discussing when we should plan the wedding for. The 2 year begins in August. Most one year programs where I am from start in January. I would be starting in August 2011 or the following January. I would like to get married that fall or that next spring, so I have enough time to plan it, but it would conflict with the nursing program. Would I be able to get married and go on a week honeymoon? Would I have the summers off during the 2 year program so I could get married then or do you take classes in the summer too? I'm not really sure how this works or if the program and teachers would be lenient about this, but I don't want to wait another three years to get married. Can someone give me answers to some of my questions, and maybe a calendar or begin and end dates of usual programs. I'm sorta lost here. Thanks for anything you can help with!! :)

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Each school is different. My advice is to either get married before you start nursing school ... or wait to set a wedding date until after you know which school you will be attending. After you know which school you will be attending, you can then find out THAT school's schedule and plan your wedding accordingly.

There is no way to know now what your nursing school schedule will be -- when you don't even know which school you will be attending.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Certainly don't want to rain on your parade, but it is highly likely that you will not be accepted to nursing school right away so you should prepare yourself for that. Once you get in school, you will need to accept that you'll have to work work around school calendars. Nursing programs are very non-forgiving of absences, particulary for clinical classes.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Would it be possible to have your wedding one weekend, and your honeymoon later on? Do you plan on changing your last name?

I got married Columbus Day weekend 2005, while I was doing my pre-reqs. I was taking night classes that met once a week, and my Monday class was cancelled due to the holiday. I went on my honeymoon right after my wedding, and I only missed 1 day of class. Changing my name in the middle of the semester cause some problems when I applied for the nursing program.

A few of my nursing school classmates got married during school. One got married during semester break and had her honeymoon right away. Another got married over Thanksgiving and had her honeymoon later on. They also changed their last names, which caused problems at their clinical sites.

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Different schools have different calendars and vacations. I know of some ABSN programs that follow a regular academic year, and another that gives a Christmas Break of approximately Dec 22 - Jan 3 only). Summers vary greatly greatly from school to school.

If you think you would be getting married while a student, I would recommend waiting to see where you are going first (and what their vacations are). Students in our nursing program have gotten married and taken honeymoons on vacations. But we do not not recommend taking off during the class periods. Clinical days cannot be made up, and an unexcused absence from 1 day of clinical could mean an automatic failure in that course.

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Specializes in ER, GI.

Here's what you should do..... but you're not going to like it....You don't need a big elaborate wedding, after all, its just a party to feed people, all you have in the end of value are your pictures! Worry more about your MARRIAGE than your wedding.....

So get married on paper, go to nursing school, and when you're done and making money you won't have wedding debt to pay off, and you and your husband will be able to use your hard-earned RN pay for something of true value like a nice home!

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During my two year entry-level MSN program, there were 5 weddings, 10 engagements among 39 students. also, there were couple of divorces. for those who got married during the program had tons of help from their friends and family. i got engaged beginning of my 2nd yr, has been engaged almost a year, but still don't have our date yet.

it would be very stressful to do all the planning. so if you have many hands that can help you that you trust, go for it. other than that, why rush?

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Specializes in ED.

I agree with many of what has already been posted.

Every program is different and no one will have any idea about what your schedule would be like unless they are enrolled in your specific program. We also won't have any idea how forgiving your instructors will be. Even if someone knows your specific program there is no guarantee that it will be the exact same from year to year or you won't have a test the week you need to be off.

I can only speak for my program but you can't miss clinicals in my program w/o serious ramifications. Missing a test isn't the end of the world but I can guarantee that the make up test will be a monster.

I'd say you do one or the other. Nursing school is stressful. A marriage is stressful. Planning a wedding and going to nursing school would drive the sanest person to the brink of insanity.

If you were my daughter, I would advise you to set yourself up for success no matter which road you take. I just think you would be setting yourself up for failure if you do both at the same time. In my opinion, either one can wait on the other but I will always tell a young woman to choose an education and career for herself before committing to a marriage. The longer you wait to return to school, the harder it is and I speak from experience. Once you get married, there is this (almost) automatic pressure to start a family. I just think it is wise for a young woman to get her degree for many reasons but mostly because that is something she is doing for herself and she will learn so much about herself and it really is a time of some major emotional & personal growth.

Just my two cents....

m

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