Career and School Info for RNs (Registered Nurses) in Oklahoma

I wish I would have been told, or better yet warned, about the constant flow of homework and the hours that I was yet to endure late into the night and sometimes early mornings from studying. I had no idea coming into this how many nights would be spent with my nose in a book. Now that I have completed my first semester, I would like to better warn others who are looking into nursing school about the late nights. Since I have started school, students have told me from experience that it will get better. The late nights will go from studying out of a book to actually studying in a doctor's office; these future nights, I am expecting with open arms!

In order to survive nursing school, preparation beforehand gives the student an extra boost towards swimming successfully in the torrent of homework, massive amounts of new information, and living independently of the parents. In order to complete nursing school within the typical four year time frame desired by tuition-paying parents, the average nursing student must take, at a minimum, seventeen hours each semester, not counting the summer classes advised. I am exceedingly grateful to my high school counselor and parents for “suggesting” that I take college classes concurrently before ever entering college; this has made all the difference in the world! Within one year, I was able to complete one semester of general education classes required for nursing school. In essence, I can now take fifteen hours of classes instead of the stress-filled seventeen-hour marathon-type semesters originally outlined in the degree plan.

Other words of advice: Advanced Placement classes in high school aided my transition from high school to college. Although not offered in every subject, these classes challenged me to stretch and grow in scholarship, pushing me past the point I had originally set for myself. While intellectual growth might not be a motivator for some, the opportunity to take tests in order to gain free credit for a college class might motivate others. With the help of AP tests, I was able to earn twenty-eight hours of college credit before setting foot in a classroom at Oklahoma Christian!

One last tip to the pondering pre-nursing student: take science classes and nursing-type classes in high school to ascertain whether nursing is a correct path to take. I was fortunate enough to enroll in a Certified Nursing Assistant course at the local technical school. The opportunity to learn the very basics of nursing and medicine gave me enormous insight into the truth behind the romanticized drama of television hospital shows. Through these classes, I learned about my fascination with the inner workings of the body, that I can handle blood and other oozing liquids, and that I do love to assist others in their lives.

To find things a surprise normally fills people with mixed emotions. There can be joy, sadness, fear or shock. Most of these and more are what I experienced when I was handed my application to the nursing program.

I was overjoyed with the opportunities and fate that was in my grasp! I was ready to expand beyond the classroom and get into a clinical setting. My heart was racing because I knew I was on my way. Yet, as I looked through the application process that I was just handed, I was hit with shock and fear and sadness. The shock came at all there was to do just to apply. The fear was due to the uncertainty of being accepted, and the sadness came due to my checking account being so low and all of the “tests” and such that I would soon be having to pay for.

I would have liked to have known from the start that the physicals, critical thinking tests, vaccinations and so on would be coming out of my pocket. These were not built in to my tuition; they were not even something I was aware of until I opened that nice manila envelope!

To the future applicants of a nursing program, my best piece of advice is to save. Money is a hard thing to come by when you have little time to work. School and nursing clinical hours will take up your time and your money. You will be drained in every aspect of the word, however, if you prepare now, you will make it.

Prepare for unexpected costs. Prepare for buying stethoscopes, getting vaccinations, going to have physicals. Prepare to spend money you don’t have, and find a way to get it.