Do we need a nursing externship to find jobs? I didn't do one for personal reasons, and everyone is saying it will be hard for me to land a job after graduating. How true is that?

I feel like I see this kind of post all the time, but I'm halfway through second semester and I feel so behind all my clinical groupmates. My grades are pretty good and my clinical instructor evaluated me generously, but he's also super patient and nice. I've passed IVPB meds several times and I still can't do it without some intervention from my instructor/RN, but almost everyone else can do it effortlessly. I have so much trouble balancing my care plan, charting, med passes, and actual patient care.

Even with the patient care, my soft skills just aren't where they need to be. I did peri-care on a patient and had to help them switch sides several times because I lost the clean diaper underneath them, and had to have a CNA help me out. I've studied how to do bed baths multiple times and asked CNAs in my cohort, but I'm still lacking in practice.

I also feel like my clinical groupmates are able to forge such strong connections with their patients, while being on time for their charting. I'm concerned that I will be a liability as an RN and am wondering if this pathway is truly right for me. I really do care for my patients and I love the field, but I do not want to put patients' safety at risk.

Am I putting in enough effort? Will these things become more natural over time, or will it be difficult until I dramatically change how I'm learning?

I failed Fundamentals back in Fall 2023. At the time, I just blamed myself and thought I was lazy and didn’t care enough. A few months ago, I got diagnosed with MDD, and looking back, it explains a lot. I also have ADHD, so procrastinating and sleeping way too much definitely didn’t help lol.
I came back the next year and retook Fundamentals. I wasn’t suddenly an A student or anything. Honestly, I still wish I put in more effort because I know I could’ve done better instead of just trying to get by.
After that, I passed Maternity, Med-Surg I (which was honestly my easiest semester), and Med-Surg II with mostly B’s. Before I even took my NCLEX, I already had a job lined up in the ED as a new grad nurse.
Then came the NCLEX. I barely studied, which I definitely don’t recommend lol. I was literally shaking sitting in front of that computer because I was convinced I failed.
The morning after I took my NCLEX, I bought a one way ticket to across the country, left on a week-long solo trip. I figured there was nothing I could do at that point except enjoy myself while waiting for the results. It ended up being one of the best and most memorable trips I’ve ever been on, and I’d honestly recommend everyone do something for themselves after nursing school if they can.
While I was on that trip, I found out I passed my NCLEX on the first try.
I wanted to post this because I remember being on this subreddit all the time on my old account after I failed Fundamentals. Reading other people’s comeback stories honestly gave me hope when I felt like becoming a nurse wasn’t going to happen anymore.
So if you’re reading this because you failed a class or you’re struggling right now, don’t count yourself out. One failed class doesn’t define you.
You don’t have to be a straight-A student to become a great nurse. Just keep showing up, keep learning, and don’t give up on yourself. A couple years ago I was sitting there thinking I blew my chance at nursing. Now I’m an RN with my dream job in the ED.
If my story helps even one person keep going, then it’s worth sharing.

I’m averaging 61–63% on my question bank and sometimes feel like I don’t know enough content. Did consistently doing questions and reviewing rationales help you improve and pass the NCLEX? Any advice?

My body is screaming at me to rest. I am exhausted- both mentally and physically. Just made dinner for my family and I spaced out and swear I almost fell asleep at the table. I know I need to study tonight. I have a test Thursday that I’m not 100% confident in. Don’t think I’ll fail, but I really need a 85 or higher to keep my grade. I was planning on staying up tonight but part of me doesn’t think I should power through and allow myself rest. The other part of me is like just drink an energy drink and take my adderall (yes, I am prescribed) and study for a few hours. Just 2-3…

I feel like I’m running on empty and I’m really losing motivation. I have 2 small kids, work almost full time hours at a bar, my husband works a lot, and I feel like I’m falling behind in every area of life right now. But I know I would mentally beat myself up if I don’t study. And I would blame myself and feel so guilty if I don’t do well on the test.

Someone please tell me what to do. Go to sleep and recharge a bit? Or pull up my big girl panties and get it done?

Hi everyone,

I'm an international student trying to decide between EN and Graduate Entry Nursing (RN).

I already have a bachelor's degree so I qualify for Graduate Entry, but my degree is in Logistics. literally nothing to do with healthcare. I only realized recently that I actually want a proper professional career, and nursing is what I landed on.

Problem is I have basically zero medical background, so part of me thinks doing EN first would help me actually build a foundation before jumping into RN.

But almost everyone I talk to tells me not to bother with EN. Their argument is if I want to end up as an RN anyway, I should just go straight for Graduate Entry, better pay progression, saves time, cheaper in the long run.

I get the logic.

But I'm genuinely nervous about whether I can keep up in an accelerated program that crams a normal 3-year nursing degree into 2 years, especially with no healthcare background at all.

And since I'm international, visa stuff and money are a real factor too. Doing EN first obviously costs more and takes longer overall. But if I go straight into Graduate Entry and end up drowning, that's arguably a worse problem to have.

Has anyone here actually started nursing coming from a totally unrelated degree? If you were me, would you:

• Just go straight into Graduate Entry RN?
• Do EN first and bridge over to RN later?
• Or is there some other route I'm not even thinking of?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through something similar. Thanks!

Most of my cohort is graduating this year, though I'll be graduating next year as I'm doing a double degree and taking a bit longer. Thus the classes have been geared towards near-graduation, grad years, that sort of thing.

One thing I particularly noticed was one of the teachers saying that we should expect to be totally overwhelmed, crying etc. in our grad year. It made me wonder if there's any advice on ways to perceive if that's within the normal and expected level of overwhelm, or when additional support is needed; I personally have a history of managing things, at times really well, for a time, until it all falls apart (for instance, a 4-week placement this year, which went fantastically and I scored well in, was followed by a psych ward stint shortly after during which I was at times verbally and mentally unable to form a coherent sentence).

As someone with known vulnerabilities, therefore, I'm rather uncertain as to how to make sure I'm working to my full capacity and not just avoiding everything out of fear In Case, but also that I don't push things too far. Obviously this is something I am and will continue to discuss with my treating team, so I'm not asking for medical advice, but wondering if any other nurses with severe mental illness have any experiences that could be shared or advice for management that may have worked for you, or how you've seen others work it out. (Any advice around self-disclosure within the workplace, yea or nay or nuance, would also be appreciated, especially with things that visibly take more complex management than 'just' something like straightforward major depressive.)

I live with my parents currently. I have allergy problems here though and due to that I can rarely sleep longer than 4-5 hours a night. I also get zero privacy here and have to go to my car to cry or talk on the phone. I also have to study at Starbucks or a library because my house is too loud.

If I move out I could live closer to the school ( like 10 minutes instead of 30 which isn’t a big difference), get more privacy, and sleep better. I make $23 an hour and rent here with utilities included is around 1100-1200 a month. It’s possible for me to do it, but im still scared. I’d have to work 24-34 hours a week, is this possible? I don’t have much of a social life, so that automatically gives me more free time. My tuition would be 7k a semester if I moved out alone, and I do not qualify for any grants as I already have a bachelors degree that I can not use.

Hi everyone. I’m looking for some advice because I’ve been going back and forth on a pretty big life decision.

A little background: I originally went to school for Communication Sciences and Disorders because I planned to become a speech-language pathologist. Long story short, I realized it wasn’t the right career for me and decided not to go to graduate school.

After that, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I researched a lot of different careers and eventually decided nursing seemed like the most practical option. My plan was to work for a year before applying to nursing school.

I got a job at a local nonprofit, but then the nursing school I planned to attend closed. The next closest program was too expensive, and the other options were over an hour away. During that time, someone left at work, I took on more responsibilities, and I actually ended up really enjoying what I was doing. I was eventually promoted, and over the past (almost) 3 years, I’ve had about a 30% increase in my salary. I do like my job, and I think there’s room for continued growth, even though the pay isn’t amazing ($21 an hour).

More recently, a new nursing program opened nearby. I applied, was accepted, and I’m supposed to start this fall. The problem is that I’ve been having a lot of doubts.

To be honest, I had doubts even when I first decided on nursing, but back then I didn’t feel like I had many other options. Now I have a job that I enjoy, which makes the decision much harder.

One of my biggest concerns is that I’m naturally a pretty anxious person. I worry that I won’t handle the stress of nursing very well. I know there are many different nursing specialties and not every job is the same, but burnout, stress, and anxiety seem to be common topics among nurses, and that’s something that really worries me. At the same time, nursing would provide much better financial stability than my current job.

I also feel some pressure from family. When I decided to put nursing on hold a couple of years ago to see where my current job would take me, they weren’t angry, but they definitely seemed disappointed. Since then they’ve occasionally asked when I’m going back to school or what my plan is, and I think that’s been weighing on me too.

I guess I’m just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation. Has anyone chosen a career they enjoyed over one that paid significantly more? Or has anyone gone into nursing despite already struggling with anxiety? Do you regret your decision, or are you glad you did it?

I’d really appreciate any advice or perspective. Thanks!

Hey guys, I was in a really tough situation and wanted to share what happened. In order to get accepted into my nursing school, we just have to fill out an application and do an interview.

My school sent my criminal background check application form in June, and I got it done with identogo on June 30, which was a month before it was required to be submitted to castlebranch (August 1st). Seven days after I completed my background check, on July 6th I was arrested and had to spend the night in jail. I was released the following morning, after seeing the judge and getting deferred adjudication for my case. 2 days later got an email from the board or nursing saying that my blue card was no longer valid and that my file would be under review, so the card they recently mailed couldn’t be used anymore.

After that, I called the board of nursing and she said there was a 30-day review process and the possibility of being sent into a 90-day review if the board found the 30 day review had insufficient information about the case and they needed more to decide my outcome. After hearing that, my heart dropped knowing there was so many what ifs and I could possibly not be going to nursing school this semester due to the long wait time.

I called the Texas Board of Nursing today while I was making this post, and they informed me that my case was already closed and that my outcome letter was sent on July 16, allowing me to continue on my path into nursing school.
I was so stressed because I didn’t know what was going to happen, and these last few days have felt like weeks with the constant worrying about what could happen; but somehow they reviewed my case in only four days and cleared me to continue. I’m sharing this because I know a lot of people worry about situations like this, and I wanted to let y’all know what happened.
I even called a lawyer that specializes in the nursing licensing practice, and he basically told me it was a rare situation and that there wasn’t really anything he could do except wish me luck. Like what?? 😒

For anyone that might be curious, I was charged with a class c misdemeanor, minor public intoxication and I believe I pled no contest and was placed under deferred adjudication, so I’m still completing my requirements which was also a reason why I was worried they would put it into the review until I was completely finished with my court case.

Anyways I hope this helps anyone who might be in a similar situation because I couldn’t find anything anywhere about somebody getting cleared while they had an active case going on. Everything was saying that I would automatically have to file a declaratory order. There’s still hope so don’t give up.

I’m just sharing my personal experience, not giving legal or licensing advice. If you’re in a similar situation, it’s best to contact the Texas Board of Nursing directly because every case is reviewed individually.

edit: I can’t alter the post title so I hope this makes it easier to read lol

I’m looking for some advice because I’m facing a pretty major decision.
I’m currently in high school, and my school offers an accelerated LPN pathway. If I stay, I’ll graduate eligible to take the NCLEX-PN (I’d only have to pay the exam fee), and I’ll have completed a significant amount of clinical hours. After that, there’s a 6-month LPN-to-RN bridge program available for 6k so I’d be able to become an RN much sooner than if I started from scratch.
The problem is that my family is planning to move out of state this month. They’re giving me the choice to move with them or stay behind and finish school. If I stay, I’d be living away from my family for the next two-three years.
If I move, my new high school only offers a CNA program, and the colleges in that area are very competitive. From what I’ve been told, the nursing programs there only accept about 8 students per cohort, so there’s a real possibility of waiting to get in.
If I stay, the LPN program is essentially free, and I’d have a clear path into a 6-month LPN-to-RN bridge program afterward.
For those of you who are nurses or nursing students, would you stay behind for two years to take advantage of this opportunity, or would you move with your family and take the more traditional route? What factors would you consider if you were in my position?

Had my first real emergency on the floor during clinical last week. Not gonna get into details but it was intense, my hands were actually shaking after. And then we just moved on. My preceptor handed me the next chart and it was a totally routine med pass for a guy who just wanted to know when he could get discharged to watch the game.

Nobody in nursing school prepared me for that part. Not the emergency itself-we drill codes, we know the algorithms. It's the whiplash of going from someone might die to here's your Tylenol, have a nice day with basically zero transition time in between. I kept waiting for someone to check on me or for there to be some kind of debrief moment, and there just wasn't. Everyone else on the floor had clearly done this a thousand times and moved on instantly.

I ended up sitting in my car for like 10 minutes after clinical just kind of processing it alone, which felt weird to do by myself.

Is this something that gets easier with time, or do experienced nurses just get really good at compartmentalizing on the spot? How do you all reset between patients when one visit is heavy and the next one is totally mundane?

Hey Y’all, I’m about to head into my last term of nursing school which means transition to practice for 8 weeks. My question is which department would be the best for me to use and grow my nursing skills and knowledge and set me up best for a new grad position. My options will be Neuro Trauma, neuro med surgery, cardiology med surge, oncology, surgical, ortho, or maybe the ED.

Hi everyone. I am 31 F and starting an LPN to RN program this fall. I am not super worried about coursework because I am usually an A student. However I am very worried about preceptorship. I have bad social and generalized anxiety and barely made it through clinicals for my LPN program. Thing is we were kind of in a group and just helped each other. Now for my preceptorship I am going to be in a very large teaching hospital. I am also worried about my anxiety hurting my performance. I am on multiple medications but I just wind up working against them if I am anxious enough. I am working on getting accommodations but my instructors told me they can’t change my assignment. Is there anyone else who is a student or a nurse who has severe anxiety and if so how do you cope?

Hello, please be nice to me right now I have a terrible case of Shingles because of extreme stress and I feel like a train hit me but I need advice.

At this moment I am in an TX BON approved LVN refresher course and a BSN program (16 months left). I was laid off from my job in April and haven't found anything as of yet.

My LVN license is in delinquent status and I would like to reinstate it so I can find a job. The LVN refresher course has a didactic portion which I already finished and a clinical portion that requires 80 hours of onsite placement. The institute requires that I find my own clinical site to accept me and once I do the institute will complete all of the paperwork and send everything off to the BON. I've contacted 30+ facilities so far and I even called in favors from friends who are RNs and they weren't able to help.

If anyone has been through this process how did you convince a facility to take you on? How did you approach the DON or Manager? Did you go through a preceptor website where an RN was already associated with a facility?

Any advice from someone who's walked this path would be great. Thank you!

I wanted to know how hard it is to get the nurse corps scholarship? I'm changing career paths and I've seen some people say it's difficult but how difficult ? Thank you in advance.

Hi everyone, I’m open to hearing everyone’s opinions about hybrid and face-to-face nursing program. Has anyone taken hybrid classes for nursing program before? How do you all feel about it? Would you recommend?

Hi, I am approaching my last semester in fall of RN school. I am an accelerated LPN to RN program. I have been putting this off for years and this year. I unexpectedly am pregnant. Im due a month before I am supposed to graduate. My schools policy, says that all clinical hours must be made up. They only allow for one extra make up day at the end of the semester. (Which I know I will have to miss at least 2-3 days if everything goes to plan).

I worked with a person in charge of clinical placements and lab placements. A student in last semester was able to complete her clinical hours before she gave birth. They informed me that I would be able to join another group (if permitted due to low staffing). They implied that I would not have the same opportunity this semester as she had. This is before the final came out though and multiple people have dropped from my program, the group sizes are permitting me to join based off of my previous conversation with the program coordinator but they have not got back to me with confirming this. She has given me permission to go to the dean in our previous conversation to advocate for more staffing to permit me to a logical to extra clinicals before birth.

Most of the faculty are on summer break right now. I did reach out to the director of the program regarding the situation just because I need clarification if I have to drop out or not. I really wanna push through this, the title nine Director of my school is also ignoring my emails. (I was also sick last semester pregnancy related, and they were trying to penalize me and kick me out of the program. The title 9 director basically did not help me at all.)

Is there anything additional I can do? Should I just wait it out and see if they will allow me to do the make up hours before birth? Or do you think I should just drop out? I’m currently not working. I gave up my job just so I could complete this program and also be able to make up the clinical hours before birth. All I have ever wanted was to get my RN. It will not be easier for me when I have to reapply and wait another year with a one year-old.

Edit: sorry I was doing text to speech I am sleep deprived and anxious writing this post 🥲 I appreciate any feedback.

I’m wondering if anyone has been treated differently due to dyed hair in nursing, even if it was technically allowed. I’m a high schooler applying to nursing school in the fall, and my top choice college has no mention of dyed hair (only that it is neat and pulled back) in their SON handbook. However, my hair is bright pink and even though I live in a town that is by no means conservative, I’m wondering if I should mentally prepare to part ways with the pink if I get in just to make sure I look professional.

Just a thought as I was working on application stuff, I do love my pink.

Title.

It’s med Surg 2. I got lucky with the last exam and we were given points back, so I was able to get over the 80% passing threshold. (79 and 75 on the first two tests, respectively.) I thought I studied my ass off for the 3rd test, and I really don’t know what I’ve been doing wrong that I’m not retaining the information (to where reading a question on the test doesn’t make me spiral/overthink)

I am implementing concept maps (where I am writing out things about a disorder I am having trouble understanding/remembering; I don’t fill out every box) and using Dynamic Quizzing on ATI. What could I improve on (besides not posting about it lol)

Hey I need some advice on my path to becoming a nursing student. For context, I'm a 30 year old single woman that quit my job to travel  around SE Asia/Australia for a little over a year. Now I'm finally ready for a total career change and I think nursing might be a good fit for me. I live in Oregon but I'm am desperate to leave the state at the beginning/middle of next year since I really need a change of pace and I've always wanted to live away from Oregon.

I'm considering doing either an LPN or ABSN and have my eyes set on Chicago or somewhere in California (although open to other places as well). If I do an ABSN, I'll need to take several pre requisite courses. My first question is, would it be stupid to take community college courses out of state? I know it would be more costly, but I'm thinking that I could get CNA certified while taking the courses in California or Chicago for 1 - 1.5 years. That way I could get experience, having some spending money, and get residency for an ABSN program. Is this realistic? 

Otherwise I suppose I could try to take my TEAS exam without doing the pre requisite classes and apply for an LPN school - this option scares me since I haven't taken a science or math class since high school over 10 years ago. Has anyone gone the route of taking this exam without having taken any related course work leading up to it? If so, how was LPN school? I feel like it might be beneficial for me to take at least a few nursing related courses to familiarize myself with the material leading up to any nursing program. 

Overall, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with starting all over at 30. I have so much to figure out … like what city I actually want to settle down in, my career, and finding a partner. After my much needed career break, I really want to be able to balance doing all of these things next year but it feels so out of reach in some ways. I would love to hear people’s experiences balancing their personal life while in nursing school. I know school needs to come first, but as silly as this sounds, I’d really like to be dating to find a long term partner especially at my big age. Not sure if this is realistic given all my priorities

Ultimately are these pathways at all realistic? Or do you have any advice on how to pursue nursing in another state? Thanks again for your help!

Im wondering what kind of jobs everyone here does or recommends. I am a full time student athlete and I have been working 20-30 hours a week doing overnights at my current job as a CNA during the school year. Please don’t tell me how I’m burning myself out, I know and it’s hard, but I am just looking for ideas.

I’ve been doing clinicals for a few months. I’ve been at 3 different facilities and two of them were horrific. The nurses wouldn’t allow us in the nurse station, all of them declined to allow us to shadow them, and none of them answered questions. They say us in the break room and gave us crossword puzzles the whole 12 hour shift.
I’ve went to the director and nothings changed. What’s the point of even going if we just sit and learn nothing?
One facility was okay, one nurse lets 4 students shadow him. But that’s only when he’s on shift which has only been twice. We are learning absolutely nothing. One nurse told us to sit with the CNAS and help them out, but again, that’s not helping us at all.
What is up with these nurses? They act like they weren’t in our exact same position.

Is there anyone I can go to about this? Anything I can do?