Congratulations! You have taken your hours of science, math, English, and humanities courses. You spent time preparing a well thought out admission essay and have submitted your nursing school application. Finally, you check the mail one day, and there it is. Your acceptance letter! So exciting! There may be squealing, tears, jumping for joy! This is the start of an amazing, stressful, wonderful, hard adventure. Your next thought will be, now what!? How do I prepare? I am writing to help give you some ideas of things to do to prepare you for nursing school!

Talk to family and friends

Most likely, not all of your family and friends having been through the pain that is nursing school. Therefore, they may not know the amount of time and dedication it takes to be successful. I highly suggest that you sit down with them and let them know what is to come. Tell them that you are going to be in class all week, and you will have to come home to study and do homework on top of that. Also let them know weekends will not be free. You may have to work, and you definitiley will have more homework and studying to do. You may need to delegate some of your daily routine. Let them know however that this is not forever, and that this is going to make your life and career better! Signifigant others and children may find comfort in knowing that you becoming a nurse can help to provide a better life for them too! Get everyone on the your side and the same page. A support system will make getting through nursing school much more manageable!

Budget

This is the time to look at your monthly budget and see if there is any places you can make some financial cuts! Nursing school is expensive, and many people do not work full time while they are in school (props to the people who do!) I switched from full time nights to float pool while I am in school. Personally, it is just to much for me to be in nursing school and work three full time nights shifts a week. Getting off work at 0700 on Monday and going to an 8 hour class not only sounded exhausting, but unsafe. I knew I wouldn’t retain the information I needed, so now I am able to pick up day shifts when I have the time. Nursing School is a ton of information, and the tests are intense, so I feel dedicating myself as much time as possible is extremely important to my success. If you are planning on working, ensure your job will work with your school schedule. Also realize your schedule can vary with class, clinical, and exams, so your availability could change with every class.

$ave $ave $ave

Save as much money as you can now! You never know when you will need a new book, scrub top, whatever! Having money in the bank will help you feel more secure in school. I started putting money into savings for school about 6 months before I started, and also put away my tax return to live off of. I am by no means rich and am still living on a tight budget, and 6 month into school I can say my bank account has seen better days. However, even if you can only put back a small amount, or even start a change jar, it will help! 

School Supplies

If you are anything like me, you love shopping for school supplies! I remember when I was younger, I totally dreaded it! But now that I am in college, it is fun to me. Obviously, you need your usual pens, pencils, highlights (a few colors) and notebook paper. I suggest a separate binder for each class so you can keep everything separate and organized. Also, a computer! This is my biggest suggestion for college in general.  I have a lap top and love it. I am able to take it on campus, a coffee shop, or work from home. Sometimes I find that it is difficult for me to concentrate at home. If I am not in the mood for homework, I will find anything else to do. Dishes, laundry, dust, anything can sound more fun than homework! Changing things up and heading to Starbucks is just what I need sometimes. Also, the school library can be an excellent place to work. If you have a lap top, you can take a secluded table to work at versus being in the computer lab surrounded by people.

If you are going in public to study, I definitely suggest head phones and some classical music as well. I find if music has lyrics, I can’t concentrate, but classical music is perfect to drown out background noise. Bonus: studies have show it can help to better retention of information while you study! Also, you will be typing a ton of papers, care plans, assessments, and so much more. You also will have to conduct research, and may need to submit assignments online. Having a computer you can have with you in your dorm or at home will make your life so much easier. Yes, there are libraries on campus. However, as much as you will be doing homework and studying, after a while you will want to be able tomatillo leave the library. If you can budget internet at home or a plan for your computer, that also helps. Some other things I also suggest is a mini stapler, hole punch, post-it notes, and labels. A good drug book, lab value book, and NANDA nursing diagnosis book are also helpful (most likely will be suggested through your school, if not, ask me!)

There is some basics to preparing to start nursing school. Through experience, I feel that people that took the time to prepare before they started school, had a much easier adjustment to school. Nursing school moves at lightning speed, so you definitely want to be prepared from the start! Good luck to all the new students out there!

Do you have any suggestions for people starting nursing school? New students- Do you have any questions before you start your adventure?