You will obviously want to dress professionally and do you best to make a good first impression. A community for nursing students and nurses who love students. this program is quite popular and difficult to gain admission, because of a restriction associated with it. Not all schools have this, but it isn't uncommon. They're also about to fail out, but they were given a shot anyway. It's learning a whole new language for the most part and connecting the dots can be really hard for some people. Nailed it. Want amazing grades, study non-stop. A lot of nursing students, that’s just how we are. I know of at least two people that got into my program with a 3.0 and a 72% on the HESI. I'm guessing some of it is exaggeration for dramatic effect. It isn't. I also believe that it may seem so difficult to get in to many students because the standards are so high now. I plan to be finished by the end of summer 2013 and enroll in nursing school program fall 2014. You're changing people, passing meds, giving shots, bathing people. On paper, nursing school education seems pretty clear-cut and it makes sense, but as you’re going through it you realize that it’s actually a very convoluted, time-consuming, and challenging education! I don't know what everyone else's experience is but I got my BS from UMass Boston. That’s really hard! It in no way compares to the hours of residency though. Got accepted within a week. So there is no simple answer. I guess alot of people barely got trough HS or didn't do anything else in college. Our semesters aka quarters are 10 weeks long. With the level of difficulty to get into nursing school, this allows for nursing schools to pick from the top applicants. That's a super small program. If one school proves difficult to get into, then chances are good that you'll have other schools in your region that are worth looking into. Go talk to a counselor who works with your program and find out if your concerns are valid! All over reddit and the internet, nursing students talk about how insanely hard nursing school is. Even with a 3.5 GPA. When you get tested on skills, is it on mannequins or real people? It just takes time. Pharmacokinetics of a hundred different medications? Alot of people also seem to try and memmorize everything without actually understanding, so I guess that could make it hard. We're a class of 116! After doing research online, it seems like the only way to get into nursing school is to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Everybody said it would be impossible because there were over 1,500 applicants, but because my school went on a point system as well, I made sure to smash the HESI and thankful my prereq gpa was much higher than my overall. If you have any questions about Purdue, CODOing, or the nursing school … Yes No. Group projects are a pain in the ass. I've never had trouble getting A's when I put in the effort, so I want to know if nursing school is going to be some crazy challenge, or if I'll be fine if I am organized and dedicated. In fact, it can be extremely … Attendance didn't matter, homework didn't matter, and clinical performance didn't matter. That depends on several factors. If you've never worked as a nursing assistant, even doing vitals the first few times can be rough, much less learning to bathe, and linen change a completely demented, mildly combative c.diff patient. We compiled a list of 34 of the easiest nursing schools to get into. Thanks for your answers! Thanks for the detailed answer. It really depends on the nursing school but most schools are very hard to get into at least the first time around. I will let you know that the nursing school is extremely hard to CODO (transfer) into and only a few transfers are accepted in the fall and spring. Yeah I'm kind of surprised to see some people getting very defensive that I even asked this question. There are NPs I work with in an ICU that don't know the difference between linear and nonlinear pharmacokinetics, let alone the implications thereof, which is an extremely basic concept in the domain of pharmacology. You're learning the pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of a hundred medications in order to be able to give them. That said, it is fucking tough, especially if you take any form of accelerated program (which many ADN programs are). It’s only natural to be a little unsure of yourself before taking on a new challenge. But mostly, its a consistent and prolonged time commitment that most 18-20 year olds are not prepared for. The material itself is not that difficult. In fact, according to a study by the National League of Nursing, 64% of BSN programs and 78% of ADN programs turned away qualified applicants in 2014.. That is a huge chunk of applicants. I got in after getting a 2.7ish the semester before. 3.81 GPA. . Along with good grades, many nursing schools, whether traditional classroom or online format, require an entrance exam to prove that you’ve got the aptitude to successfully complete the program. I transferred to a school in the south, got in without difficulty, and now I'm graduating in 12 days. If you do well in your prerequisites, it isn't hard to get into nursing school! Veteran and 400 hours as a cardiac rehab intern. Sadly, I have heard of people who contemplated not going to nursing school because they … Press J to jump to the feed. if you can get a TEAS V score above 80, and do well enough getting your prereqs out of the way, you can walk on to the ADN program at my CC. Yes, it takes a lot of hard work and studying to get your nursing degree and pass the NCLEX® nursing exam, however, just because you’re done with school doesn’t mean you stop learning. A place to discuss the topics of concern to the nurses of reddit. My program has a reputation for being incredibly competitive, so I worked my ass off to get into it. They received easily 300 applications but only accepted about 100 students. But basically the only thing I had read is how impossibly hard it would be so it's good to hear some other perspectives. Nursing school isn’t just for twenty year olds, as some may think. Are the hours of school/clinicals too long? Medical school is much much more competitive. I wish I was as strong as her. My BSN program didn't always fill their slots, so only minimum requirements were needed. They talk about countless hours spent studying, giving up friends and family, breaking down in tears at least once a semester. Most BSN/RN programs at U.S. universities require applicants to have a 3.5 GPA in the pre-nursing required courses and an overall GPA above 3.0. It's hard to learn how to do the whole critical thinking thing. College isn't easy for anybody, for the most part. So much competition here. Wait, was the HESI what southern programs considered rather than the TEAS test? These include insertion of foley catheters, insertion of nasogastric tubes, IV insertion, sterile glove changes, sterile wound dressings, and more. The only thing that counted was quizzes and exams. On top of all this, you're going out for 12 hours (or more) a week to practice in the field in clinicals. The community that asks, “how hard is it to get into nursing school,” involves everyone inside healthcare, everyone who may require quality healthcare in the future, and those planning to enter the field of nursing. Nurses love to be martyrs and I truly believe that starts as early as nursing school. Also, many of the seats are reserved for people who deferred from the previous acceptance cycle. I took it because it gave you extra points toward admission. I don't think there's anything wrong with finding school difficult, I know everyone has different learning styles and situations in life. I never once cried over nursing school, and I left it with a solid GPA. Got in everywhere I applied (accelerated BSN programs) in Boston. All are welcome. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Props to your classmate. And makes it more competitive to get into a nursing school. It all seems a bit intimidating and crazy. Lol. You perform skills in front of professors watching with a keen eye. We had proctored exams on a near weekly basis. It's easy to get caught up trying to help classmates get through things. Go to the office of the Nursing Chair and introduce yourself. But it's such a prevalent sentiment, and I'm wondering what exactly is behind it. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Our A&P exams consisted of 30 stations around the room with a diagram or random bone at each station you had to identify. Don’t get any PPE provided. I’m really upset to see how they are treating us and “taking care” of us. Nursing program admission is increasingly competitive. Hearing everyones stories makes me think I might have to move out of state to get into a program. The commitment to school is the hard part. Really depends on what the program emphasises. For me the thing that brought me to tears was clinicals. Its the course work. Your letter of intent or admissions essay should demonstrate not only why you want to become a nurse, but also that you have what it takes to succeed in nursing school. I lost 7 classmates in our final term who couldn't pass the HESI after passing every other course. Jesus Christ. I was rejected for one program because I retook more than 2 classes in undergrad (very weird rule but whatever), and was rejected from another solely because of my GPA. Then I found out some of the people in my class didn't even have a 4.0 in the pre-reqs or have a very good score on the TEAS test. I feel like I just read the script of a Lifetime movie. Nursing students just enjoy the melodrama and nursing student complex. No school is going to let you go to 50% of your classes because you work a a mirroring weekly schedule of 12s or whatever other fucked up schedule you work. Its leagues apart. 3.9 should get you into most BSN programs wherever you are. I think critical thinking is one of my biggest strengths. For Stephanie, the challenge of getting into nursing school was a bit of a surprise. Nursing school is as hard as you make it. I expected school to be hard. She just learned the NCLEX bs early and played the game since every exam is styled that way. Half of me wants to take spring semester off even though it is my last semester in nursing school. Ended up being twins, went in to labor at 24weeks in a gas station 4 hours from home and was flight for life'd where both girls passed, and she had to get blood and an emergent D&C and only two days later she came to school to finish the last exam of the semester trying to hide her tears, and passed the exam with a B. Do you know if this is common for grades to be completely based on tests? And now with this new 70% more contagious strain, I’m feeling stressed. Example: my best friend in class with me had a rough time during school. Each semester, you’ll need to … Nursing is a science, and science is constantly updating rules, regulations, procedures, and information so something you learn your first month of school may not even be correct by the end of your first semester. This is like asking is it harder to get into an Ivy league college or a community college. Nursing school is hard. If you don't study, you won't do well on the exams. TEAS is very easy. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the StudentNurse community. So I guess I'll be a step ahead as far as that goes. Press J to jump to the feed. I'm starting an ADN program in fall and just wondering what I need to be prepared for. I mean the whole point is to learn how to competently take care of a human being suffering from complex heath issues. That’s exactly why choosing a career is so challenging. Nothing. So, you might learn nursing skills a certain way in nursing school, only to find out that some minor changes have taken place once you get on the job. It all seems a bit intimidating and crazy. I love to look at all the sides and pieces of a puzzle and see how they interconnect to solve a problem. It wasn't the part where I was actually taking care of patients, it was the exhaustion. I am starting my Pre-nursing major next semester to get all of my pre-reqs out of the way. If you don't prioritize, you'll scramble. Getting into nursing school is hard so the only way to get what you want is to stay focused and persevere. You Will Pull All-Nighters. Nursing school is hard for all the above reasons, and then probably fifty-five more. If your Cs are in high school science you may have problems. As long as you were above a certain percentage in a formula, which was very easy to obtain, you had a shot of getting in. Nursing school wants you to know a few specific facts about particular drugs, like you have to take an apical pulse for one minute before administering digoxin, that penicillin allergies may produce a cross sensitivity to cephalosporins, or that pyridium will turn urine orange. But it's also rewarding. I'm oddly jealous. Nursing school isn’t for the faint of heart. 2 years ago The CSU system is notoriously difficult to get into. There was no putting together the pieces and attempting to understand the whole picture. Sorry if the title sounds snarky but it's a genuine question. But aspiring nurses now have more educational options to pursue than ever before. I am oddly jealous of you. Exactly! Remember the nursing school classes are actually harder than the prerequisites and only the strong survive! The difficulty of the material largely depends on the person, and how well you handle large amounts of information, what your background is in medicine, and how well you can take tests. Although the two people I know who didn't take API and II before getting into the program both failed out in the first quarter. I know things have been hard on actual nurses as well. Etc. I'm guessing some of it is exaggeration for dramatic effect. Anything below 78 was a fail. You can do a bachelor's, accelerated bachelor's, or associates. Jumping into something new is scary when you don’t have all of the facts. However, I do agree that there are limited student positions available due to a deficit in nursing instructors. The hardest part I could see in my program was that most of the work you do doesn't affect your grade. Getting accepted into nursing school is the first step toward a rewarding journey. I am sure it's harder if you have a family to raise but as a single person with no kids, it was easy. It's woven into our DNA from the beginning. I am in the San Diego area. However, getting accepted into nursing school and ultimately earning a degree is challenging even for the most well-prepared nurses. Is the material itself really complex and difficult to understand? We’re type A personalities. Is there just too much to memorize? Easiest Nursing Schools to Get Into. Getting rejected is not an easy part of life and getting into nursing school is not an easy thing to do. My clinical was pass/fail, so my entire grade was based on tests, so if a topic was confusing, if you weren't good at math pharmacology, or if you had trouble with NCLEX style questions, you did poorly. Come to the south. You will need some basic chem & anatomy and micro. Considering all that is required and approaching the application process with information and a plan will help to insure the highest possibility of getting accepted. If you are not sure of the caliber of education, go pick up a few of the texts on nursing or the journals and browse through them. When you are in nursing school, you’ll learn a little bit of information about nearly every nursing specialty. I quit nursing school. . Some of them hadn't even taken A&P yet! We’re perfectionist. You wind up taking 20+ credits a semester because of the clinicals. When I started my nursing classes (the formal part of classes after pre-requirements were filled) about 120 of us were all gathered into one large lecture room for the welcome/orientation to the Nursing school. Is there any way that my neuroscience degree would help me get into nursing school or would I have to get a second degree in nursing to get in? Depends. Sure, it will definitely be a challenge. wow your friend sounds freaking amazing. www.jackysodyssey.com I am going to document my journey. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. She still passed nursing school, and that was with barely opening a book, and hardly anyone knew she was going through so much. Is nursing school hard? This depends on where you are and largely what your completion is. There is a lot of melodrama, but most of it can't be blamed on school, plus it's how you deal with it. What I'm trying to say is do your best, because you're probably trying a lot harder than everyone else. I remember how scary vital signs and diapers were at first. Nursing school is not only hard to complete, but it is also hard to get into. You may need to consider moving to another region in order to make it happen. Want to get by with decent grades, study like any college student and have a life. I started nursing school with high hopes, but after my fourth semester, I dropped out. These issues often force nursing schools to downsize their programs. But succeeding in nursing school is possible if you put in the work, get organized and are willing to sacrifice some of your free time in the short term. And probably some selection bias, because people who coast through school are less likely to talk about how easy it was. How Hard is it to Get into Nursing School? It’s not like you can just spend a few years in school, try out a job for a bit and jump to another if you don’t like it—well, at least not without more education and training. It takes into account the most recent NCLEX pass rates and acceptance rates. 92 and above was an A. After some remarks, the department head said “Ok, look to your right and left”. I think for a lot of people they are learning a whole new way to learn. That means only 24 other people need to have 4.0 GPAs + mad TEAS v scores and your chances just got slim if you didn't own the prereqs. Nursing school is pretty competitive. But I've had a couple glasses of wine so fuck if I know. My program has about four hundred applications/semester for about 25 spots. Where I went, 40 spots opened for 250 people. If so, I need to start looking into getting a HESI study guide.. California ADN programs are mostly lottery based. You need to both be great academically AND be unique enough to draw attention to your application. However, the application process leading up to enrollment can be extremely challenging when you are just getting started. It varies program to program BUT, I had terrible grades from when I was attending classes 8 years ago and I raised my gpa .5 points over two semesters and got in. I knew nursing school was going to be hard. While getting accepted into nursing school … It's frustrating, it's annoying, and at times, nursing school can be really trying. It is a lot of information and work ( ATI modules, projects, papers, clinical paper work) in a short amount of time. Our grading rubric was tough. My tips: study hard. Everyone wants to act both like its a team effort to pass nursing school, and that its every man for himself. Most C students do not get into nursing schools. So that aspect is actually exciting to me. It depends on how you look at it, I maintained a 3.9 GPA and I did pass with an average score on my teas. Just learn to play the game and you'll be fine. People EVERYWHERE are freaking out about nursing school, making ME freak out. I go to a private university but their nursing program is known for weeding people out. This is where things start to get a bit more difficult. Nursing programs. Obviously go for the BSN first to save you time, but if you go the ADN route first, with a 3.9 I wouldn't be worried. You typically get three chances at most to perform this skill before you are marked for failure. All over reddit and the internet, nursing students talk about how insanely hard nursing school is. I was locked in my program for four years, now I'm planning my pre med career after undergrad, It took too long to get into nursing, might as well become a doctor huh? I wouldn't be worried about that. It's now competitive; I think they get about 40 applications for 30 spots. Manage your time, ignore the drama and stress that magically seems to follow certain people, and stay in your lane. It's pretty basic stuff. Nursing School is Broad; Nursing is Narrow. People switch careers all the time during their life and choose to go to nursing school in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s (yes, even 60s). This is actually really comforting to hear. However, I think if you treat school like a full time job and take advantage of every opportunity to get a better grade, you will be fine. In Conclusion. The day before clinical I would go to the hospital sometime between 4 and 6pm, spend 30min or so digging through a chart and then I went home and spent hours upon hours preparing, I had to look up all the medications, I had to look up all the diagnosis, I had to come up with a plan of care, and I had to be able to explain how all those things related to each other. Please. Did many people not do homework or have poor attendance without the incentive of grades? Then, she startled us. She had a thousand things happening at once, VA not covering tuition as promised forcing her to work overtime at 2 jobs while trying to figure it out, roommate ditched out making her have to move back in with her parents (she refused to "burden" me when I tried to make her stay with me), dad went full Vietnam vet PTSD on her so she decided she was safer living out of her car till he cooled off, got pregnant while using nuvaring and since she had a repared uterus from early trauma felt she might not get another chance to have a kid. There are many different types of tests you might take, and what’s required depends on your program and the level of your degree. It's so competitive in California I said screw it and am now aiming for med school since I have the grades. I've worked two years as a CNA in long term care and rehab. The other thing is that McMaster has teamed up with Mohawk college to bring the BScN program as well (2 years at Mohawk college/ 2 years at Mcmaster university). Conquer nursing school with confidence. They take 64 students and receive around 200 or more applicants per cohort. I hear people saying that is near impossible to get into nursing school yet I know several nurses who aren't that 'bright'. Nursing requires compassion, the ability to remain calm and collected in life-threatening situations, empathy, kindness, strong communication skills, and hard work. For most of my pre-reqs it was just about memorizing something and regurgitating it for a test. It will take motivation, preparation and creativity to make your nursing application stand out from all of the others. It’s very hard to get into nursing school so once we get into nursing school and then we realize that we have to work a little harder maybe in nursing school than we did to get in, it can be very hard for us. But even with a 3.0 I was accepted into a MSN program because they looked more at your personal statement, involvement, and grade trends than just the numbers. If you struggle/d in school, what in particular were the hard parts for you? Purdue will often accept you into the school under "Undecided" undergraduate studies. Thanks for your answer. Applying for nursing school is no time to be shy. Is It Hard to Get into Nursing School? Then a few months in it's so easy. And then, in many schools, at the end of this 2 or 3 year process, you may have to pass a HESI or other thing that determines whether you're allowed to graduate or not. Try to network with any people who are already attending the nursing school you are trying to get into. The nursing school I graduated from is not a huge university but a university in a smaller town. They talk about countless hours spent studying, giving up friends and family, breaking down in tears at least once a semester. Get by with decent grades, study like any college student and have a life sounds snarky but it so! 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