hi! i’m a current high school junior who is considering nursing as a possible career options. are any current nursing students/ friends of nursing students give me a summary of what nursing majors are like? in terms of:
You might get more answers by posting in the nursing major forum, but I can give you a broad idea of what it’s like for my freshman (direct admit program, no clinicals yet). Maybe @Charliesch can help - he/she has a daughter who is an upperclassman.
She studies - a lot. She uses big breaks in between classes to study. She tries to give herself one night of the weekend to relax and unwind. That usually consists of video games with friends, etc. She is not a partier. Did I mention that she studies a lot?
The class that takes most of her bandwidth is anatomy and physiology (a two semester class). She often goes to extra review session for that class in addition to pre-lab sessions. You’ll find that there are some classes that just take more work. A&P is the weed out class for her school, but there is a lot of opportunity for extra help.
Her sleep schedule is kind of weird, to me, but it works for her. She stays up late because she’s a night owl. Some of her classes don’t start till 11, but she has a couple earlier classes this semester.
Also wanted to mention she has a couple extra curriculars, none of which are particularly time consuming. I’m sure all of the above is different for a student doing clinicals.
@bearcatfan Curious of your D had A&P in HS or not? I have heard this is a tough class. Signing up for senior HS classes in a couple weeks, and A&P is on the list, but AP Chemistry is as well…and she doesn’t want both.
I can’t attest to the clinicals, as I am a freshman right now, but I’ll try to help with what I’ve experienced taking freshman & sophomore nursing classes 
Homework is mostly studying on your own or the occasional essay in some classes, so you need to make sure you are a diligent student. I am taking difficult classes right off the bat because I didn’t have to take English, Math, Stats, or Psychology classes because of AP credits, so definitely take your AP tests seriously!! At my school, the two A&P classes and microbiology are the toughest pre-reqs. I got a 4.0 last semester (taking A&P 1, A&P 1 Lab, Chemistry, Chemistry Lab, Sociology, and the Freshman Honors course) and averaged 7-8 hours of sleep so its definitely possible! I make sure that I get a lot of sleep because it is very important mentally and I see how people act after pulling all nighters and I cannot imagine doing that, so study in advance so that later on you don’t punish your body.
I study A LOT though because it is very important to know the material, especially in anatomy & physiology where they are constantly telling us that once we are in the nursing courses, they will NOT re-teach us the concepts. I took A&P in High School and it has been extremely beneficial but the college classes still go into WAY more detail and it is tough, but in the end it will be worth it.
I am not into the party scene and I go to a Christian college; so I typically just go to my classes, study, go to chapel/church on their given days, and then hanging out with my friends usually includes studying together.
@bigmacbeth My daughter took anatomy in high school for a full year as a junior. It was a good primer. She was at least familiar with the concepts and vocabulary, but college A&P requires a different level of work and studying.
She took honors chemistry as a sophomore, but did not take AP chem. She did well in her biochemistry class.
@drbunny79 I am a freshman advisor who handles my fair share of potential nursing majors. My oldest finished a BSN and is now 1/2 way through her MSN (but NOT to become an NP–there’s so much more to the field). She does sometimes have students on the floor.
The freshman bio courses, most notably A&P, require a lot of studying and will often serve to weed out the students without the work ethic to continue; however, it is the nursing courses themselves that will pound you with homework. Students describe the experience as “drinking from a firehose.” You need to be prepared to take an exam, the NCLEX, at the end of your program. That exam can pose questions over anything from pharmacology to disease symptom to assessment and intervention. Questions in this field often have best answers, not right answers, and you’ll need to prioritize, select all that apply, calculate, etc… To be prepared, you have to know a lot of material. The bulk of your busy years, the years with the most homework, will be the last two, when you are in the major. How much homework? Obviously, it depends, but…
Consider questions here on cc about whether it’s possible to play college sports and be a nursing major. While somebody’s neighbor’s niece managed to play DII for school X,Y,Z, the answer is an generally no. How much homework/clinical commitment is there? Enough that most students couldn’t manage the major and a very busy extracurricular. Some programs go so far as to suggest students not work a part-time job while in the major or suggest an hour limit. When do you sleep? At night. But if you’ve got to be on the floor for a 7am clinical (and you’d better be early), partying/playing video games/hanging with friends into the wee hours isn’t wise. However, by junior year when clinicals start for many programs, maybe you’re past the point where that’s what you want to do anyway.
Your days will be like most college student days. You’ll go to class. The first years, you’ll have some labs. Once in the major, you will need to go off-site to clinical rotations. How long depends on your program, but a full day isn’t all that unusual. You will study more than your friends who are not nursing majors.
So far I say ditto to @bearcatfan my freshman daughter studies A LOT - more than she ever did in high school. She is also not a partier and is very organized about her study vs. down time. She hangs mostly with other girls who are equally serious – her current best friend is a bio major that is considering med school.
My daughter was in a direct admit program and was able to play a varsity sport during her 1st and 3rd semesters. However, she knew she wouldn’t be able to play a sport after that. It was a division III school, so it was not highly competitive.
(By the way, all NCAA Division III colleges are forbidden from giving out athletic scholarships).
The worst part of playing the sport was the long travel times to a couple of the colleges. Most of her non-science classes her first semester were not very demanding.
@socalnurse Which nursing program are you attending, if you don’t mind me asking? My DD was just accepted into APU’s nursing program as a freshman, and was curious about information about their program.
My D17 is finishing her 2nd year of nursing school. She had A&P in high school and found it extremely helpful. She also had AP chem. She says that she thinks A&P was more helpful and would recommend it if you need to choose between them.
For her school, A&P and microbiology were the weed out classes but she managed them well as she is a diligent student who studies in advance. She’s been told that it just gets tougher from here though. She has over elected taking 20 credits in her off-season (D3 athlete) to add a minor and a certificate. She does study all of the time and has more work than some of her friends in other majors. She certainly doesn’t mind it though as she is driven and truly wants to be a nurse.
@EngTchrMom I go to Grand Canyon University which is not direct entry but I actually got out of a ton of classes because of AP credits so I get to graduate a year early! It’s relatively easy to get into the nursing program (3.7 GPA average and 90% HESI) and despite the stress about having to get in, I am glad that I need to work diligently to get good grades because I want to be a CRNA in the future so my GPA will matter and it motivates me even more. There are also a lot of nursing majors here so I’ve noticed that the pre-reqs actually go into a lot of detail about the medical field, for example in Chem and Microbiology I focused/will be focusing on diseases associated with chemical imbalances and bacteria, viruses, etc. respectively for the last third of the semester. The fast-track program was one of the only reasons I was interested in coming here, considering I got into several really good direct entry programs; however, I’ve found that it’s better than I was expecting. It is non-profit now so I hope that betters the reputation here… Anyways, sorry about the tangent!
I have a friend that goes to APU for nursing so I could possibly ask her about any questions your daughter may have! I was interested in APU as well but I had track meets there and decided that I wasn’t thrilled about the campus layout.
I am not a nurse but a faculty member at a top-ranked school of nursing and I have a sizable advising load of BSN and accelerated (second-degree) BSN students each year. At the university where I work, Nursing is one of 4 undergraduate schools, and the nursing students have substantial distribution/GenEd requirements to fulfill in addition to the nursing curriculum. Clinical courses start second semester of sophomore year after the hard science core, nursing fundamentals (3 courses) and a challenging A&P and pharmacology sequence. Bottom line: The students are working HARD. The preclinical courses are demanding, and the clinical courses are demanding, and getting everything else done in the distribution reqs is challenging. The students are highly motivated and most get it done but it’s harder to get a top GPA in nursing compared to other undergrads, and none of the other undergrads are hands-on taking care of patients starting sophomore year.
Edited
Once accepted to a direct entry program, do students find it hard to maintain the minimum GPA to remain in the direct entry programs? For example Arizona State University has direct entry nursing but you need to maintain a 3.5 GPA to remain in the program.
@azparent18 My daughter got a 3.79 her first semester and worked her tail off for it. I don’t think she will have quite that high a GPA this semester but I hope it’s in the ballpark. To advance in her program they have to have a 3.0 with no grade below a C. It doesn’t sound like much, but as @Itisatruth said, those courses can be very challenging.
A 3.5 sounds pretty high to me - probably doable, but challenging.
3.5 sounds high to me too. In my D’s college the numerical scale goes like this:
A=4.0, A– =3.67; B+ =3.33; B =3.00; B– =2.67
A 3.5 assumes almost an A- average.
Not even sure if there is a minimum gpa for my D’s program.
@azparent18 Just like high school, gpa can vary greatly across schools. My D’s program requires a 94% (no rounding even with a 93.99%) to get a 4.0 while a friend is in a program where an 89.5 is a 4.0 so very different. A high GPA has been attainable for my D but she is only a sophomore. I saw the nursing school Dean’s list last fall and only 6% of students in junior and senior years were on it. The cutoff is a 3.5 so clearly they could not make that the cutoff to stay in the program. I think what really matters is the percent of students able to stay in the program. That will give you some idea of how tough it is to maintain that GPA.
My D’s school requires a 3.0 and nothing less than a C in any science class to move to clinicals
@socalnurse Hello! I saw your post that you are attending GCU for nursing. My daughter is considering attending their prelicensure BSN program. How is it going for you? Have you lived on campus? Any regrets, tips, insight? She is a senior in HS, so would start in Fall 2021. Thank you in advance.