Tag: Nursing School

These are all my blogs describing my journey through nursing school.

How I’m Paying for Nursing School

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

As soon as I got into nursing school I immediately started to think about the financial implications of going back to school full-time. This was a one year accelerated program and it was strongly recommended that we cease working so I quit my job. The job that I was working at was Monday through Saturday from 9am to 6pm so even if I wanted to continue working there would be no way because I had class Monday to Friday from about 8 to 4pm. I was going to go from a steady paycheck to nothing for an entire year at minimum.

If you read my ADN vs BSN blog post you know that a deciding factor when I was choosing a nursing program was cost. My nursing program cost roughly about $10,000 and that figure included tuition, books, uniform, and equipment.  I didn’t have that kind of money stashed away and no one in my family was in any position remotely to help me with this financial burden. In fact I was regularly helping my family members while I was working. Luckily I had about $1,000 saved up from working and I decided that this would have to be my emergency fund for the duration of this program. I knew the days of getting my hair and nails done, random shopping sprees, and randomly dining out were over. I went back to doing my own hair and nails, I bring a lunch everyday, and I rarely eat out. Even with all of this it is still a financial struggle for me. But I’ve managed this far. But how have I managed?

Loans

I knew I needed to apply for a loan to pay for the program. Like I said $10,000 is a lot of money for me. Thankfully I stayed in state for my undergraduate education and in high school I also received a 4 year scholarship so I graduated debt free from undergrad. Because of that I hadn’t really utilized my supply of federal subsidized loans so I was planning to finally tap into that reserve to pay for school. If you want more information about federal loans the differences between subsidized and unsubsidized loans check out my next blog post.

At the school I attend you have to apply for financial aid in advance. The mistake I made was that I didn’t inquire about loans until after school had started. I was told I had to wait until everyone who applied for financial aid before me to be processed. After that my application would be processed. But students at my school had applied in August of 2015 for financial aid for January of 2016 so I was 4 months behind. basically I was all the way at the end of the line and I wouldn’t be receiving any funds of any sort any time soon. I ended up paying for my first semester with a credit card which I’ll speak more about in my next point.

Luckily, I am only attending a one year program so I knew that I wouldn’t need loans for an extended period of time and I wouldn’t need more than $10,000. In addition to that, my lender treats my loan as if I am receiving a 4 year degree even though I am in a one year accelerated program. So I’ll be graduating in December of 2016 but I won’t be required to pay back any of my loans until Spring of 2020 interest free! This is wonderful because I know I’ll be entering the work force within the next year and I’ll be able to pay off the entire loan before my repayment date.

So what really worked in my favor was that I still had federal subsidized loans available and my lendor is giving me 4 years interest free until I have to begin repayment. However, because I waited so late to apply for financial aid I was told I wouldn’t be receiving any loan money until the summer time. I was told this in February and the summer time was a looooong ways away. So how did I manage my finances for 7 months with no job?

 

Credit Cards

I knew that starting a program like this might incur various costs and I didn’t really have cash to pay for everything. I have a decent credit score and I always paid my bills on time. So I opted to open up a new credit card with a $10,000 limit and 0% interest for 15 months. I already had two other credit cards but they had lower limits and were no longer interest free. I also made sure to pay those credit cards off before starting school to avoid issues in the future. Opening a new credit card seemed like the best choice for me and it was probably one of the single best financial decisions I made. This card is basically how I paid for my tuition, books, uniform, incidentals, gas, and everything else until my loan funds disbursed. I know credit cards aren’t for everyone but I’m pretty disciplined and it has worked for me. My plan is to take out $4,500 in subsidized loans in the fall to hold onto in the event that my credit card bill gets too high for me to pay off by the time the 0% interest period is over. That way I can pay off my credit card and still owe no interest until 2020. Hopefully I’ll obtain a job and be able to pay off all my debts within a year or two.

So that’s how I paying for nursing school right? But wait there’s more….

Scholarships

Scholarships are the best. Really. Free money, you can’t ask for anything better. So from January to May, I was still living this broke life patiently waiting for my loan funds to disburse and racking up debt on my credit card. But in mid-May a huge blessing fell into my lap. I was basically offered a $9,000 scholarship for my nursing program. The crazy this is that I hadn’t applied for it either. It was a departmental scholarship where the students were chosen by administrators in the nursing department to receive this scholarship. I was elated. Now I’m basically going to school for free. I feel so blessed and I am so humbled. It’s been two months since I got that email but I am still in awe. After I got that news I knew as soon as the funds from my loan were disbursed I would immediately pay them as well as portion of my credit card debt. But this is my story and this is how things worked out in my favor.

If you are the person reading this blog still trying to figure out what you are going to do financially keep pushing and keep believing. I prayed on my financial situation and God didn’t disappoint. So I want you to keep believing and know that you are choosing an AMAZING career path. You’ll face struggles but it will be more than worth it in the end. I hope this story helped someone out there. If you have any questions please comment below. Until next time, see ya!

Dating in Nursing School

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

If you’re reading this post most likely you’re a nursing student or a pre-nursing student wanting more information about how to navigate relationships while simultaneously getting through the beast that is nursing school. I’m here to tell you it’s doable but it won’t be easy. A lot of my classmates are married, in long-term relationships, and there is even one couple that is doing the program together. All this to say that again it’s possible to succeed.

At the beginning of my nursing program I was in a long-term relationship with a man I thought I was going to marry. I was thinking about our future together, the type of home we would buy, what our children would look like, the works. We had been seriously dating for three years and I knew going into my nursing program that this program would test our relationship. Would would sink or we would swim and I so badly wanted us to swim. We had prior issues before I started school and this is important to note because it effected why things happened the way they did. So like I said, this program was going to determine if we sank or swim as a couple. Unfortunately, we sank. Two months into the program, I called it quits. He was my first love and I always thought making a choice to split up would be devastating. I expected depression and anguish. Long afternoons watching Law & Order SVU while eating strawberry cheesecake Ben & Jerry’s. I thought it would be the same awful experience I had helped some of my best friends get through. But I was fine. I was better than fine, I was stress free. I could think clearer and a weight was lifted.

Nursing school magnified and compounded all the issues in our relationship and because I was so busy and under so much stress I knew I was better off alone focusing on school than in a relationship that just added more stress. He and I had communication issues before the program and nursing school made our issues worse. But I’m not sad about what happened. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. If he and I were meant to be than we would be together. And us splitting apart while I was in the program was a blessing in disguise. Maybe if I hadn’t been so busy I would have devoted more energy to being sad. But the fact is I didn’t have time to be sad. I barely had time to grieve. I had chapters to read and exams to prepare for. I was way too busy to spend a lot of time being sad about a failed relationship. These distractions helped me get through that tough time and for that I am grateful for nursing school.

I’m no relationship expert but I’ll offer some advice and how to navigate dating and nursing school as best as I can from my experiences.

1. Speak with your partner in-depth about what the upcoming months or years are going to be like.

Things are going to change. If you’re a couple that generally spends a lot of time together than those moments might be cut back. If you’re a couple that doesn’t get to spend as much time together, nursing school can compound that tissue. Communicating what is about to happen can prevent confusion and frustration. Communication also brings me to my next point.

2. Ask yourself what you will need from your partner during this time.

Maybe you want more space. Maybe you want less space. Maybe you want you partner to let you vent and listen to your frustrations or maybe you want your partner to tell you to suck it up and keep pushing. Maybe you need your partner to support you and keep you grounded financially or spiritually or emotionally. And this goes both ways. Everyone needs to communicate what they expect from each other. Letting your expectations be known can make this transition smoother. Starting my nursing program I was looking for my partner to support me emotionally. Don’t get me wrong, he tried, but he struggled to understand the amount of stress I was under. The stress of nursing school is really something only other nursing students can really understand. I don’t think I effectively communicated how I need him emotionally and what I expected. I just thought things would fall into place.

3. Make time for each other.

Nursing school is hard and being a nurse will be very rewarding at the end. However, don’t let this be at the expense of losing your partner. I know it will be hard but carving out time for each other is absolutely necessary. Plan a date night or a monthly staycation, whatever it takes.

4. Include your partner in this journey.

Even though your going through this difficult time in your education, your partner is also going through a transition. They may not fully understand what you experience but it’s unfair to shut them out because they may not understand. So if they ask you how your day went tell them. Tell them you did your first wound vac, if you were covered in amniotic fluid, when started your first IV, or fed someone oatmeal. Make them feel included. There on this journey with you.

 

These are things I knew before starting this program but I didn’t really implement like I should have.Although my relationship didn’t work out I’m glad it happened when it did. Like I said before I do believe every that occurred with my relationship happened for a reason. The biggest thing is communication and transparency. I hope I could help some out there. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. I’ll make a separate blog post about gaining/maintaining/losing friendships while in nursing school. Until next time, see ya!

The Basics of My Nursing Program

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

So I’ve already published a few articles and I realized that I haven’t explained some important basic information about my nursing program so that if anyone is out there reading my blog posts they can understand what I mean when I throw around numbers and terminology.

 

 

 

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Gone are the days where a 90 was still an A. Grading scales like this are why people say be prepared not to get A’s in nursing school. So how are grades calculated?

Thankfully, my school does round-up but only by 0.50. For example if I received a 76.6 as a final grade, the grade would be rounded up to a 77 which is considered passing. However, if the final grade was a 76.4 that would be a failing grade. Our grades are also calculated on a points system meaning if I get 95 on an exam which is an A, I wouldn’t get full credit as in getting a 100 on the exam. I would get a 95 exactly and that is the number that would be factored into my final grade.

Grading Scale for Courses:

93-100% A     [Passing]

85-92% B     [Passing]

77-84% C     [Passing]

69-76% D     [Failing]

Below 69% F     [Failing]

The dreaded HESI. What is the HESI?

The HESI (Health Education Systems, Inc.) is a computerized exam designed to assess prospective students entering the health science fields. In my blog posts I’ll be discussing the HESI in relation to nursing. HESI exams are not specific to any one nursing program. What that means is that the HESI may or may not cover topics that my program didn’t cover or include in the curriculum. Scary right? The HESI is used to prepare students for the NCLEX. For my program, I must take and pass 7 HESI exams in the following courses:

Fundamentals of Nursing

Pharmacology

Pediatric Nursing

Obstetrical Nursing

Psychiatric Nursing

Medical-Surgical Nursing

Exit Exam

I take each of the HESI specialty exams and the conclusion of the course. For my program, the HESI is worth a whopping 15% of the course grade for every course so it is something I have to take very seriously. Not scoring on the HESI  can severely affect my grade and cause me to fail a course. At the conclusion of this program, every student is required to take a HESI Exit Exam. In a nutshell it’s a mini NCLEX that reviews all the material taught in nursing school and is a good indicator of how prepared a student is for the NCLEX. In my program you have to pass the exit HESI to graduate and to have the school submit your name to be able to sit for the NCLEX.

You can score anywhere from 0 to 1500 on the HESI. To pass the HESI within my program you need a 750 or greater. If I score 850 or above that basically means I know the subject well and I’ll get the full 15% factored into my grade. If I score between 849 and 800 that means I’ve grasped most of the necessary topics so I would only get 11% out of the 15% factored into my grade. If I score between 750 and 799 that means I’ve grasped the minimum necessary topics so I would only get 7.5% out of the 15% factored into my grade.

Grading Scale for the HESI:

850 or above = 15% 

800 to 849 = 11%   

750-799 = 7.5% 

749 or below = 0% 

I hope I was able to clarify any confusion. If you have any comments or you’d like to hear more about my experience with the HESI (I’ve taken 3 HESI exams thus far) just comment below and I’ll make a post about it.

OB Exam #1: Friend or Foe?

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

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So if you read my previous blog post you know that I had my first OB exam last Friday, July 15th. I was SO nervous before the exam. I never really know what to expect when taking exams with new professors. No amount of preparation can ever make me feel 100% confident.

I’m happy to report that the exam went very well 😁. At least that’s how I felt walking out. A lot of the questions that I made up to study with were extremely helpful and a lot of the content I focused on was on the exam. Now that I know how my professor words her exams I don’t feel as nervous for the next exam.

The nursing school I attend has had issues in the past with cheating so when we take any exams we cannot have any of our belonging with or near us. Our bags are placed in the front of the room, we cannot wear a jacket, and we cannot wear a watch. We are not even allow to have water with us. And it’s the same when we review our exams. Almost all of the exams are scantron based and we usually have to wait about a week to get our results which are given to us on paper. So basically, there isn’t much utilization of computers outside of powerpoints for lecture. I’m sure this is because of the cheating issues and that most of my professors aren’t the most tech savvy so they prefer gold ol’ paper and pencil. Anyways, I could not sit still while I was waiting to get my results back at the end of class yesterday. But what did I get on the test…..??

I got an A 😭🙏🏾. A 93.75 to be exact. Such a huge sigh of relief. That exam was worth 25% of the total grade for this course and I’m so humbled that I was able to start strong. Don’t get it twisted, by no means am I the perfect student. I’ve bombed my fair share of exams and had to pick myself up off the ground but it is so gratifying to see your hard work manifest itself academically. I don’t have much time to celebrate because I have another exam this Friday, July 22, which is also worth 25% of the total grade. Oh and it’s also my birthday 😑. So I’ll be bringing in my 24th birthday studying. But that’s okay with me. I’ll be celebrating my birthday after this class concludes and I like I mentioned in the ADN vs BSN blog post, I’m okay with sacrificing birthday festivities to do well in this program. In addition to this exam on Friday, I have my final and the HESI on Monday, July 25th, and after that I’ll be finished with OB and my second semester of nursing school. Right now I’m surprisingly calm seeing as I’m about to be lounging in hell for the next week. But I’ve made a study plan and I’ll keep praying and giving my anxiety and fears to God. So that’s my first update with OB. I really hope to keep this momentum moving forward. Until next time, see ya!

Oh and if you aren’t sure what the HESI is or the how grades are calculated at my nursing school check out this blog post.

First OB Exam 😱

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

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So I have my first OB exam tomorrow and I’m pooping bricks.

I’m extremely nervous. I’ve finished studying all the content I needed to review for this exam but this is the first time I’m taking a class with this professor and the first test is always nerve wracking for me. And in this 4 week OB class…….yes…..4 WEEKS, we have 2 test, a final, and a HESI (standardized exam). So there is absolutely NO room for error.

This exam covers fetal development, antepartum, intrapartum, and pain management fetal monitoring and this is a the bare minimum. We are still responsible for everything in the book. And this test is worth 25% of our grade. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why people say nursing school is hell so instead of tearing my hair out or crying I’ll just vent to the interweb about my struggles.

I’m going to go back to studying but Lord………….please send up some prayers for tranquility and wisdom. I’ll check in tomorrow to tell you how the exam went.