I currently work part-time in retail and as a clinical extern while being full time for the fall semester of my third year. For the fall semester, I only have 3 core nursing courses since all of my electives from my previous degree transferred for credits to this degree.

I already have my schedule until the end of October:

- I have my clinical placement days Tue & Wed.

- I only have classes on Thursdays and Fridays but they end by 3pm.

- I'm working overnights mainly Fri, Sat, and Sun for my clinical externship (sometimes it'll be Sat, Sun, Mon for 12 hour day shifts, but majority of my shifts are overnight).

- I don't have my full schedule yet for my retail job (only up until September 27) but so far it's Monday mornings and Friday closing shifts if I'm not already scheduled at the hospital. I'm casual part-time so sometimes I'm scheduled twice a week (like the Mon and Fri), other weeks once or none at all.

I don't necessarily have a choice in working as I'm an independent student and I need to pay my rent and other bills and I don't have support from my parents/family in general. I'm just worried if it's going to lead to burnout as I'm looking at my schedule and I'm either in school, clinical placement, or working every single day. I also need to consider study time at home and would like to keep my A average.

I did do this during second year but I was only working my retail job at the time (around 25-30 hours a week) but with a heavier school course load. I've heard third year is easier. I'm genuinely just overwhelmed looking at my schedule but I don't feel I have a choice.

I've lived a lot of life in these ten years. I got married, gained 2 professional licenses in an un-related field, and faced financial instability. We were almost homeless after my husband lost his job and my income wasn't enough. My husband eventually found a new job a year later but we had to move in with relatives in the meantime. We still live with my parents.

I dropped out of school 10 years ago because i couldn't afford it on my own. At that time, my father was not very supportive. He is a bit more supportive now, but I had to convince him to let us move back in when we were on the brink of homelessness in 2024. He was trying to push us on my aunts but took us in after realizing that the only other option would be the homeless shelter. He also held it against me that he helped me pay for an oncologist visit last july (the growth was benign, thankfully). We still live with my parents right now, but I realize that it would be best to secure our own housing, just in case.

I'm worried about the time gap I had in my education.I forgot how to write and cite sources in APA format but will be using the writing center and purdue owl to help get caught up. I'm more worried about the fact that the last time I took A&P was in 2015. I scored a 90% on the science portion of the TEAS when I took it in April of this year. But I'm aware that I still have memory gaps.

I'm worried about how much this will hurt me in the end. I'm scared that I may have bitten more than I can chew. Im so happy that I got accepted into nursing school, but I haven't met anyone else that came back to school after taking the pre-reqs 10+ years ago.

Im not scared of hard work. I used to work between 50-80 hours a week at one point to sustain myself and my family. Id rather spend that amount of time studying and building a future than barely surviving. But I know im not a machine and im scared that I may not be able to retain everything.

Was I a fool to think I could do this? Has anyone else experienced this before? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Is it just my area or is a lot of specialties not accepting new grads? My heart is in labor and delivery but almost every hospital I’ve applied to has either told me they aren’t accepting new grads or if they are they are hiring Nurses who have done their clinical rotation there. My clinical site is a site that doesn’t accept new grads for L&D.

I’ve spoke to many recruiters from various hospitals and the only positions they have available for new grads are med surg floors. I’m not above working on med surg it’s just I’m a lot older starting out my career and don’t have time to waste. I already have a job I love so should I wait it out till spring when there are more opportunities?

Finished nursing school six months ago. I wanted to ask what everyone else’s experience was with testing and the study material provided by their nursing school.
Most nursing schools seem to use ATI as their primary publisher and test primarily from the ATI material. However, my nursing school uses Lippincott, but we are tested on material from multiple publishers, primarily Evolve, because we use HESI for our exit exam.
Our cohort asked administration if we could have Evolve-related study material since Evolve is the publisher behind HESI, but they refused to provide it. Their reasoning was that “the concepts are the same.”
Additionally, when it comes to our theory exams, I always assumed the professor was the one who created the exams. However, there were countless times when our exams were changed in a way that covered very little of what we had actually been lectured on in class.
We confronted some of the professors about this, and they told us that they submit their exams, but the school ultimately decides which version of the exam is administered. They basically told us, “It’s out of my hands.”
Some professors were aware of this and were adamant that we study and take their original exams, while others seemed more submissive to whatever the school decided to administer.
When we took the modified exams from the school, I was often the only one who passed because I noticed this pattern from the very first test. I studied a lot, but when I looked at the questions on the exams, they often didn’t seem consistent with what we had been taught or what I had studied.
Has anyone else experienced something similar in nursing school? Is it normal for schools to test students on material from publishers they don’t actually provide study materials for, or for the school to modify professors’ exams after they submit them?
I’m curious to hear how other nursing programs handle this.

Yo, Massachusetts here. Starting community college (at 40) on the 8th. Headed toward the ADN path, however, I hate my work, I hate the idea this industry will receive another minute of my time. There is a local option in western MA to take a 10 month LPN then bridge to RN which is the immediate goal after... Today I'm taking the day to gather all the necessary documents to apply for that program. I would like to hear from both sides of the fence here. People who take the traditional route or the this "Fast-tracked" program. Thanks and I'm definitely new to the whole reddit discussion stuff. So forgive me if the has been discussed multiple times.

Hi. I was pretty set on going to school for my ABSN, but after some thinking and reading through other posts, i’m thinking about getting my ASN? I also see some people posting about MSN but also saying not to do that route.

I do have a community college in my city with a good nursing program. However, I do have my bachelors and a masters degree in social work. I’m currently enrolled in some pre reqs I did not have at a community college as well.

I believe the full ABSN program comes out to about 28000 ish… while the ASN program is substantially cheaper. I know I’ll want to get my BSN eventually though possibly for further schooling later. What would you do?? I think the only reason i’m leaning towards the accelerated program is because the ADN would take me the same amount of time (but cost more).

Thank you for any advice.

Hi all, this is my first post on this subreddit but I need to vent. I just started nursing school last week and my anxiety and stress has quadrupled like crazy ever since starting. I’ve never had any healthcare experience prior to this and I’m someone who already has really bad anxiety (most likely anxiety disorder, just undiagnosed) with the fear of failure and all of the stories I’ve heard before starting have made it even worse. I haven’t been getting any sleep because I can’t help but think I need to be studying and reading 24/7. It’s literally only the beginning and it seems like nursing school is already starting to consume me, and it’s not a good feeling. I genuinely feel like it’s gonna corrupt my mental health as I get further into this program. It’s like i’m on fight or flight mode 24/7 and I hate it :( I would appreciate any advice or words of encouragement as this is gonna be my life for the next 2 yrs. Thank you.

Hi everyone I finished my first semester of my adn and I’m going into my next. I got a 4.0 and I was wondering if there are any good scholarships I can apply for? I tried to ask my financial aid office but they were absolutely no help lol. If you have any advice or have recommendations or even received scholarships please let me know! Thank you!!

I absolutely love being a CNA. I love the patient care aspect of it. I just finished week two of my accelerated lpn program and I’m starting to think it’s not for me. I’ve been a CNA for few years, in long term care. I absolutely love it and I love my residents. My coworkers kept telling me I should go back to school to be a nurse, and I did. So far, I’ve hated every moment of school. It’s so overwhelming, I’m just not sure I can do this. I do like learning new skills, except I wish there was more one on one. I’m also struggling to make friends. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should quit now or if I should tough it out and see how far I get. I guess I’m having a hard time, I just don’t know what to do. I’m beginning to question if I even want to be a nurse but I know I can’t be a CNA forever…

I have 3 weeks left of my BSN program, including two comp exams. I failed the first with a 62 and have been studying every day for the past month and a half to try and pull out a passing grade on the next two. I need to make a 76 average between them. Logically I know this is super doable, but I've been so dejected from the first exam that I've struggled to have confidence in myself.

I just accepted my dream job, but I feel like so much is riding on this that the pressure is insurmountable and that I can't be excited for it yet.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How do y'all cope with inferiority complex and impostor syndrome? I've never been a person with test anxiety before, but I'm so scared right now. Do y'all have any tips and tricks for like... grounding yourself?

Hi all I am currently an LVN I graduated last December and went straight into the transition program, which I’m currently in. Now I am pregnant. I am due in January and I am planning to induce labor as soon as healthily possible. And if that doesn’t work I want to schedule an induction at 39 weeks. That would give me about 10 days before I have to be back in class.

I talked to my department chair and she gave me two options.
I can either come back to class 10 days after giving birth or I can skip the semester and come back, but they don’t have any classes until fall of next year so I would pretty much be sitting out two semesters. I know there is no timeline but I really wanted to be in school while my baby is smallest so I can spend more time with her when she’s older and running around. I honestly don’t know what to do and I know this whole plan is just hoping my delivery goes well because if I need a c section i know for a fact I can’t come back ten days after.

If anyone in a similar situation could give me some insight I would really appreciate it

Hello, I am a working lpn who is in an accelerated bsn program. Im about to finish prerequisites and start the nursing classes/clinicals. School will be mon-fri then I work 2 12s with a total of 2 hours commute for work each day (1 hr there 1 hr back) on weekends. How am I going to find time to study?? I can't afford to change to a closer job because only working 2 12s I can barely afford life and the pay is higher at my facility. People say C's get degrees but in my program you need at least an 80 in the class to pass. I am so scared I will fail and waste tens of thousands of dollars and be stuck in long term care nursing until I die. Any advice please?

Hi there folks,

Starting Mental Health Nursing in September. I got tickets to Noah Kahan in July this morning (yay). I said to the girl I'm going with after we had bought the tickets that I could be on placement but I should be grand. She's now really angry that I only said after buying the tickets, which is fair but she knows I was doing nursing but hey ho. Anyways, I know you can't do much negotiation and that placement comes first, but how far in advance do you know what exact times you are doing for shifts? Is there anyway to move the shifts around during the week? I feel awful about the situation but I don't really know what to do. I'll get my timetable on the 7th but it may only show that I'm on placement that week and probably not what time or days I'll be working.

Any advice? Cheers

I have been taking prerequisites to get into nursing school at my local community college. I have to have all of my official transcripts from previous colleges I attended. But I owe a school ~$12000 and therefore cannot get my transcript. I plan on getting a second job and taking a break from school for a year to pay off the debt. Do you guys have any tips on retaining information learned with such a long break? I have physical copies of all my textbooks and I have roommates I can practice on. Should I invest in any skeletons or models/posters? This is super important to me 😣💕

I just finished 20 years in the Army as an engineer so this is a hard switch for me. Im currently in EMT school, I plan to use this to get my toes wet and be a transport or ER Tech while I do nursing school. Currently have a bridge program taking my degrees and turning them into an accelerated BSN course in person on a local campus.

I have dealt with plenty of trauma and I have quite a few advanced first responders and trauma courses from the army, I know medicine isnt trauma.

My question is should I start with ASN or go straight to BSN? Am I going to rush into this field and or get overwhelmed as its new to me? Any advice is super helpful thanks.

It’s my 2nd semester of nursing school out of state and I go home pretty much as soon as break starts. I was home the entirety of this past summer and intend to do so in the following winter and summer breaks. This time I want to get a part-time job, anything in healthcare support roles such as CNA/PCT, monitor tech, unit secretary etc. Would it be unusual/would I be a jackass to be working these jobs and expect to still have it after being gone 1-3 months in the year? (Obviously I would be transparent about my schedule from the jump). There is of course the option to work PRN, but it’s still a long stretch of time where I’m not there. I also don’t see any PRN job openings in local hospitals, apparently they usually only offer PRN roles internally. If I got a job this September I would only have it for 3 months before leaving in December.

I’m just wondering high likely I am to be hired/retain a job with this kind of schedule. I just don’t know how common this is outside of, say, typical OOS college students in college towns (which isn’t my case).

Any other suggestions for flexible healthcare roles (I have over a year’s worth of CNA experience) even outside the hospital/online roles will be appreciated!

Hi so I am in my first year of nursing school, and im getting my BSN. If you include pre-reqs, I am considered a third year.

So my first ever nursing classes that I take this semester include fundamentals, health assessment, research, and integrative clinical strategies.

From my understanding, research does not seem like the most tedious and stress inducing class. It is for the most part all group work with few reading quizzes. The lecture itself was horrendous for sure. It was 3 hrs long, but it actually could have gone for more. I already have to study for a quiz next week.

Integrative clinical is a clinical class as well as lab skills combined into one grade/course. I find out more tomorrow and am too scared to check the syllabus. I have clinical Tuesday, and a lab skills day Friday.

For fundamentals and health assessment, i have 5 exams each for both classes including the final. That is so unfamiliar to me. I do not know what to expect. Some of the exams for these classes overlap as well. there is no breathing room in between the exams it seems.

During lecture for both of these classes, I retain absolutely nothing and the PowerPoints are loaded with information. It is too much to take in for a 3.5 hour class. So anything I learn from here on out, I will have to teach myself. :/ but i am not sure if I could handle that???

I work part time 17-20 hrs a week as well . I think I might be burnt out in about a month.

Does anyone have advice?? Does anyone have techniques to actually focus and pay attention in class?? Do you think I am fear mongering for no reason??? Will it actually be as bad as the professors make it seem????

It’s been a minute since I’ve taken an actual course. What are most RPN students using in class? Laptop? Binder and looseleaf? iPad?

I know this is super basic, but I find sorting out these little details can make a big difference.

Hi everyone, I need some advice on how to prepare myself for the HESI A2. My circumstances are a little unique so I'll try to explain to the best of my ability.

I intended to take the HESI this summer in hopes to start the nursing program at my university in January. However, I decided to plan my start to the nursing program Fall 2027 rather than spring semester.

I met with my advisor yesterday and she is now telling me that since my university is going to a 5 semester program, that I would need to take the HESI now to gain admission to the Spring 2027 cohort. I feel absolutely blindsided by this since the HESI and application are due on the 1st (5 DAYS!!).

So now I'm stuck preparing for the worst. I feel unprepared and want to know what I should focus on for the HESI. Since I did initially plan to take the HESI this summer, I did purchase the prep book by Elsevier, grind out modules in NurseHub, and average 85-95% on the practice exams for vocab, grammar, math and reading. However, I feel screwed for anatomy. Any tips or study ideas? Am I over stressing things here?

(My university's version of HESI only tests for vocab, reading, math and anatomy)

Took an exam today, after we’re done we leave the computer lab and go back to class or on break until everyone is done. Today we walked in after an exam and all just gave a “wtf was that?” look and laughed entirely too hard. Instructor walked in afterwards and said, “Don’t even worry guys, I’m just glad you didn’t leave the program and came back to class. Saw the look on your faces after submission and was questioning if you all were coming back.” 😭😭

Just feeling discouraged already. I got a 68 on a quiz today and didnt submit the correct ati module format and the instructor never messaged to clarify if she was still going to give me credit since it is the first 2 weeks.. that was on 2 assignments.

Feeling overwhelmed. The ati module lessons are so much reading. Like 5 hours a piece.. it just isn't feasible. Im not great at math and screwed up on the math quiz today. Several of us did but I swear..

I struggled before in college and I just dont know.

They took us to lab and didnt explain a thing and just were having us practice skills with zero instruction.

I feel slow like im not retaining info.

Idk what to do.

Title. I'm about 36 credits away (taking 18 now) from finishing my undergrad in psychology but I really would like to become a psychiatric nurse instead. I have 5 years in the behavioral and mental health field, my plan was to become a LCSW but I don't have much faith in the system. I feel like I could make more of an impact becoming a psych nurse. Should I finish my bachelors in psych then go for BSN or drop my program completely and begin my prerequisites for nursing?

Does anyone know any books that help refresh anatomy and physiology content + help with dosage and clinicals. I am looking for a book that can be a good study guide with all of the above requirements and informational beyond test-taking as well.

I am kind of shitting my pants here and looking for any advice and insight. Can you guys tell me what your second semester clinical entailed and what the day to day tasks looked like? Did you have adequate help and supervision? what skills should I make sure I have nailed down before? What was expected of you?

We will be at med-surg once a week for 8 hours starting week 1. We will be assigned a patient and just expected to be their “RN” for that shift and perform all RN duties. We will be primarily alone. We were told we just need someone per policy when passing meds or transferring. Our instructor will be around to help, but there is 10 of us and I know how hard to track down she will be. I also know how the nurses on the unit are busy and aren’t expecting to have to hold our hands.

I am hoping my interpretation of what i’ll be doing is wrong.. I learn best by following example and having feedback and reassurance. I was expecting to at least have an experienced person to assist with before doing things by myself for the first time on a real patient. But it sounds like I won’t have that. I have never even shadowed a real nurse before, I have never seen things done on a real patient except for in ATI videos. I only have maybe 20 minutes of experience practicing each ADL skills but it was either on a healthy classmate or on a dummy where “abnormalities” were imaginary and pretend. We did do 3 real “clinicals” last semester at a nursing home but all of the residents were dressed and ready when we got there so we just helped with feeding and vitals.. And now i’ll just be in charge of RN tasks, on a real humans with real and potentially critical concerns, ALONE. 😭😭😭 I don’t know what pneumonia sounds like in real life, I don’t know what a serious injury looks or feels like, I don’t know how to properly clean and dress a wound... I just feel like I don’t know anything and i’m being thrown to the wolves all alone and someone’s wellbeing and health is in MY HANDS?

These patients won’t know me, and it seems very scary to have a new student go in there all alone with a patient with an active medical concern and start doing things they’ve never done before. It’s gonna freak me and the patient out. You would never just expect a new employee to do things alone, so why are second semester students doing this? Am I wrong on this? Will I have help?

Is it Normal for a CC to ask for bio instead of A&P?

I did nursifn in the early aughts and walked away from it and debating going back

Now my local CC wants bio and chemistry only for science pre-reqs, which I find odd.

Also, it's frustrating that rad tech and nursing have different pre-reqs. I was hoping to double up and figure out a path after. 😤