<p>My understanding is that the workload at Penn Nursing is quite heavy. I'm wondering about any of the following:
-- Would the first year workload likely be much more time-consuming than my current high school schedule: APs in English, Biology, Statistics, and Psychology, plus several courses with very little homework?
-- Is the General and Organic Chemistry course as much of a backbreaker as the Organic Chem course that pre-meds take?
-- Is the out-of-class work for the non-nursing courses very time-consuming?
-- Does the total time commitment increase during the third and fourth years due to clinicals?</p>
<p>I have no problem working hard and I know that I'll enthusiastically do that during my nursing career, but I wonder whether I'd have time during college for any of the great extracurriculars (e.g. a capella, a 7 hour a week commitment, I believe) that Penn has. Thanks!</p>
<p>My daughter is a junior and often complains about all the time she spends “in class” compared to her friends in other programs. “Class” includes classes, lab times, lab practice and 12 hours of clinical time. Many of her nursing friends are only taking 3 classes this term to make it more manageable.<br>
The first year workload is fairly normal and even sophomore year isn’t too bad time wise. There are many nurses who participate in Penn activities - as long as the schedule works out you can manage it. You can choose to have clinical in one 12 hour session or two 6 hours - my d did the 12 this time to avoid having two early mornings but found that it was exhausting and wiped out anything else she could do that day. Next term she picked two 6 hours and will just suck it up and wake up early twice a week (she has to be at the hospital at 6:30 am).</p>