help me get my junk together so i don't fail out of school before I even start
June 2, 2011 10:04 AM   Subscribe

I am not a type A person. How do I balance classes, work, and life when I go to nursing school this fall?

Despite the odds, I managed to get into my top choice nursing school and am starting this fall. Hooray!

The problem: the program was very competitive to get into initially, and I will need to reapply again after the first year (when we get our LPN license) for the next RN year. Only around half of the people make the cut.

My undergrad study habits were basically nonexistant. I was the ultimate procrastinator and only got work done when I woke up extremely early the morning of and whipped something together, which usually resulted in a B. I rarely studied for tests and my grades showed it. This time around I NEED to get good grades in order to make the cut for the RN year. I think that the only reason I got into this program in the first place was because I took the prerequisites one at a time and was able to keep a handle on my schoolwork. Even so, I received a D in one of the classes and had to retake it. That's not an option this time around and I'm really nervous.

Also, I will need to work at least two shifts a week at my current job. I'll be in school/clinicals four days a week. I'm no stranger to working and going to school (I did it throughout my undergrad) but in the past school definitely took the back seat.

The main hurdle is that I'm so disorganized. I always have been. I've already missed one pre-orientation meeting just because I blanked on it! This is a totally normal occurrence for me but I want to change. My problem is that I just can't stick with a system and when too much stuff is going on, I just let it all fall to the wayside and try and tread water. During my undergrad years I had a vague idea of due dates and often missed them, but managed to pull decent grades regardless. I have trouble understanding papers in (ie, mail) --> what is expected of me. I got an admissions packet in the mail but there is so much stuff in it, its overwhelming. I have a daily planner but I can't manage to keep track of it. My boyfriend and I are getting iphones in the fall, which will hopefully be of organizational use.

I'm looking for organizational hacks. I don't want to be waking up at 3am every morning this fall to be studying for exams and writing labs. Thank you!
posted by pintapicasso to Education (11 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm an academic librarian and I work with a lot of nursing students. Many of them are full-time students who work full-time and have children. One of the things I've noticed about them is that they form little mutual support groups, they study together, they eat lunch together. Friends like that will remind you that you have work due.

Don't get behind in any of your classes, get all of your reading and other assignments done before their due dates. Get yourself an appointment calendar book and write in all of your deadlines. Expect everything to take longer than you have anticipated. Ask questions when you don't understand things, don't be afraid to look stupid, chances are excellent that others don't understand the material either but are just too chicken to say so.

A lot of the nursing professors here and at other schools are retired from the military and they run a very tight ship. Cross your Ts, dot your Is, make sure you cite everything properly. They also expect to be yes ma'amed as they were in the military, mind your manners!

Seek out the reference librarians, they can help you!

As an aside, a Second Grade teacher pulled me aside one day to tell me that she just loved my son because he was so disorganized and she saw it as a sign of great intelligence! IMHO she was right.
posted by mareli at 10:50 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Organize or join an existing study group. I did this when I was in nursing school. We would stay a few days a week after classes and review/study. We would also meet the morning of a test and go over our notes and quiz one another. Even if you can't study with another person, plan on staying at school at least three days a week to study in the library -- in the daytime or early evening.

You must read the packets and syllabus. Take a five minute break if it is overwhelming.

Write it down twice so there are no excuses. 1. Get a very large calendar and put all due dates, class times, and any other important information on the calendar. I keep a large calendar on my fridge and write down important upcoming events. 2. Enter the same important dates in your Gmail calendar and/or your phone. You'll be reminded twice.

Tell your boyfriend about the important upcoming events. He shouldn't have to remember them for you but the act of saying it out loud helps you to remember.
posted by Fairchild at 10:51 AM on June 2, 2011


An iPhone will help. You can sync it with your email provider's calendar (be it gmail or outlook or the mac equivalent). That way, if you receive an email with important meetings/dates in it you can type it into your calendar right there and then and it's already on your phone.

Also, when you get your phone sit down with your timetable and put all your important dates in it. Then set an alarm so you'll get a reminder the day before.

I'm terrible with keeping a diary too, but at least if your regular appointments and due dates are in there you'll have the basics.

I was the biggest procrastinator at undergrad, but turned it around and I am now anally organised. The key is not to set yourself too many routines and systems (cos you will forget) but be honest with everyone. Make sure you tell your academic/pastoral supervisor that you are scatty. If your peers know too then they will have your back, and will know to remind you of the important things.

Congratulations! You must be a great student!
posted by dumdidumdum at 10:55 AM on June 2, 2011


I used to forget important things, too. Then I started using google calendar. I use it to remind me about homework, tests, birthdays, et cetera. You can have it set up automated email and/or text reminders.
posted by aniola at 11:08 AM on June 2, 2011


At the start of each quarter, I put all my homework in the calendar labeled "homework." Then I get preset automatic reminders starting 10, 7, 4, and 2 days before the assignment/test.
posted by aniola at 11:16 AM on June 2, 2011


I'm going to nth using a google calendar or something like it. I can get to my calendar anywhere I have internet access (including my old phone, which wasn't 'smart' per se.) The new color coding function is nice.

Start scheduling things now. Schedule anything. Hair appointment, dentist, when bills are due, anything that is eventually coming up. That way you get used to it now. It is massively important when you're trying to figure out what shifts you can work when you have a clinical placement that changes frequently or a test coming up.

Life management-wise, consider what else might be best scheduled, so you don't get behind on it. Laundry. Meals - planning meals for each week gets so much easier with time, saves time and money at the market, and doesn't require anything than a notepad or Gdoc and brainstorming with anyone else who lives with you.
posted by cobaltnine at 11:17 AM on June 2, 2011


I'm a reformed procrastinator. For me, various strategies have successfully helped me become productive, and I'll leave those strategies to the others. What I'd like to throw in is, however it is that you manage to achieve productivity, it is crucial to keep it up. It will be hard to stay on track at first, but the longer you stay on the more effective you become and the easier it becomes to stay on the rails. A few months in, and I find that being focussed, productive, and awesome is the most natural thing in the world.

Then a friend visits from out of town and we party for a week straight, or I travel somewhere, or I get the flu - and I'm back to step zero, a disorganized procrastinator trying to get himself together. Its happened many times and its not getting better, so my advice is: once you've found your groove hang onto it for dear life.
posted by tempythethird at 11:31 AM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Congratulations!
What has been most important to me (like you, school + work): Let your non-study group social life fall to the wayside for now. You'll need to focus all you brain power on school and use whatever's left for work. The people who love you will understand and will be raucously cheering for you at the finish line. Also, my iPod Touch has saved my scattershot arse more times than I can count. Calendar and email synching powers activate!
posted by mcbeth at 2:27 PM on June 2, 2011


Lists, lists, and lists.

Have a calendar that you use. Keep a pocket notebook and pen with you all the time and write *everything* down. Make a regular evening ritual to transfer the day's jottings from the notebook into your calendar and your various to-do-lists.

For a more elaborate explanation of approaches to this, check out David Allen's Getting Things Done. I listened to the audio book version while commuting, which worked out pretty well.
posted by colin_l at 5:22 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


colin_l beat me to it, but get Getting Things Done. Really. I'm one of the most hard working, yet disorganized people uh, I know and this is the book that allows me to actually make it through life.

Saying that, I think the guy's a total tool (his idea that everything is, "work" - blech!), so use what you like and don't use what you don't want to use.
posted by alex_skazat at 9:38 PM on June 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Greetings from the other end of that LPN year in nursing school!

I'm definitely a reformed procrastinator, and it really took nursing school to turn me around. Like others above, I'd like to advise you to have more than one method of reminding yourself about due dates and important assignments/tests/appointments. There are TONS of them in nursing school, and you'll really suffer if you don't keep up. I currently use a combination of Google Calendar, Teux Deux (for making daily lists), and a written planner for major stuff. I usually intermittently slack on keeping up with one or two of them at any time, but using them in combination manages to keep me on track.

Definitely definitely definitely also find a study group. They are indispensable! Not just for studying material, but also in keeping your spirits up and bouncing ideas off of. Also, it's really nice to have a go-to group whenever you have to do group projects (my program makes us do a lot of these), and for carpooling. Plus, I'm really looking forward to having these girls (my group just happens to be all-girl) around in the future, because nursing school is truly a trial by fire, and we are going through this together, and nobody else has had the same experience that we are having. That sounds like pure cheesy crap, and I'm not usually a mush-bucket, but I'm serious.

Good luck!
posted by scarykarrey at 12:41 PM on June 8, 2011


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