How is it like to major in nursing? Any tips for handling the rigorous courses and exams? How do you know if nursing is really the right choice for someone?
Hopefully some actual nursing students/parents of students will chime in. My DD18 will be a nursing major in the fall in a BSN program, so I can only partially help. @Charliesch has a child who is a year or two in.
When my daughter first came to me thinking she wanted to be a nurse, personally I saw a great fit for her. Interested in science, attentive to detail, bulldog persistence and a calling to help others - not necessarily in that order.
I did, however, make sure she knew the downside. Shift work, working every holiday at first, dealing with difficult people (both co-workers and patients) and having to touch people. You’d be surprised how many people don’t think about the gross side of nursing, dealing with anything and everything that can come out of a human body. She still wanted it.
In terms of coursework, you can google some nursing schools or BSN programs and get an idea of the coursework or “schema” required. My daughter’s school has all four years laid out, with only one elective and one humanities course and clinicals starting sophomore year. We have both seen youtube videos from nursing students who explain how they organize their binders and coursework by color, using lots of tabs and highlighters. A good thing to check out. That system may or may not work for you, but it gives you a taste of how organized you will probably need to be.
I think you have to go into nursing programs knowing you will work. Being a quick study helps, but you have to apply what you know. My daughter’s program (University of Cincinnati) has a lot of options for tutoring, extra help, study groups, etc, but you still have to seek out that assistance. You also need your fellow students, assuming you are in a direct-admit program. I had one dean tell me that she dislikes programs where students compete for admission in their sophomore year; it fosters competition, not cooperation. She will be a suite with four other freshmen nursing majors, so they hopefully will be able to support and understand one another better than other majors might.
@bearcatfan Thank you so much for the helpful insight!! Also, congratulations to your daughter for making it into the nursing program!
This is aimed for students in high school:
- Try to do some type of paid or volunteer work in a health care setting. Sometimes it is hard to get volunteer spots in a hospital, but you can also work or volunteer in a nursing home or for an ambulance squad. Take full advantage of opportunities to talk to nurses or paramedics about their jobs.
- Take AP bio in high school. That is probably the best test for whether you will be able to handle the work in nursing school.
- Look at the typical curriculum of nursing programs, and try to take as many of the same subjects as possible in high school - such as anatomy, nutrition, psychology, statistics, etc. if they are offered. It is easier to learn the material the second time in college than the first time.
- Work at earning AP or dual enrollment credit in high school. Then, save those credits to have a lighter load when you are taking the hardest semester of nursing classes.
- To lighten the load during the school year, my daughter took an online class each summer from the local community college. She took classes to meet social studies requirements. That allowed her to concentrate on her nursing and science classes during the school year. Because the online class allowed great flexibility, she was still able to work full time during the summer and have a social life.
- Watch videos of real surgeries to develop a strong stomach.
- Watch documentaries or serious dramas of what it is like to work in a hospital. (Grey's Anatomy doesn't count)
- Make sure you have a strong back and keep in shape, which will reduce the risk of injuries on the job.
(Bearcat - my daughter is a recent grad who is working as an emergency dept. RN in a large hospital. She wants to move into the trauma center, once she has the required experience).
@Charliesch Thank you so much! I’m actually a senior in high school right now so this is very helpful!!