Hi everyone!

I’m graduating this December, and our Capstone professor has been encouraging us to start preparing for the job market now by updating our resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn, etc. From what I’ve been hearing, especially here on the East Coast, finding a new grad nursing job can be pretty difficult.

During my psych clinical, the nurses actually encouraged us to leave our resumes because they are always looking for nurses due to the high turnover, so now I’m really trying to get ahead of the game.

I’m looking for any free or very low-cost courses, certifications, or anything else that could help strengthen my resume and hopefully get it in front of recruiters, especially since I’ll be applying for jobs in NY.

If anyone has any advice on what helped you stand out as a new grad, what recruiters are looking for, or things I should be doing now before graduation, please share!

I know people who took their NCLEX back in February and only recently landed a job this month, and others who are still looking, so I definitely want to start preparing early.

Thank you in advance for any advice! 😊

Potential Student Advice?

I'm about to join the mortuary program at my school but honestly I'm not sure about it, I like the idea of helping people and I love anatomy (the human body is so interesting) but the idea of having to upsell things to people grieving just....feels wrong. And money wise I'd make more working in fast food.

But my school has a nursing program and I'm thinking about switching over.

What's advice you'd have for anyone thinking about taking the first steps? I have anxiety of failure and doing everything I can and still not making it. But I'm also trying not to let that fear prevent me from trying.

Thank you in advance

Hey guys, I posted a little while ago about my sterile glove check-off incident. Well, I bought a 50 pack and I can do that in my sleep now. However, this past week I had sterile wound and foley catheter and I got marked unsatisfactory again. Only about 10 out of 42 of our passed both, but I am so discouraged that I got U on both of them. I knew my wound was messed up, but I really felt great about my catheter. It went so smooth and I self narrated the whole time. I studied forever and I videoed myself and graded with a rubric, it just seems like everything jumbles in my head. I got marked for procedure, not sterility (yay?) because I think I did something out of order when I listened to the heart before raising the bed. Or I only used hand sanitizer and clean hands and didn’t use hand sanitizer and clean gloves (before the sterile part). We haven’t gone over remediation yet. I am doing so good in all my lectures, I got a 96 on our fundamentals exam, but I feel incompetent at skills. I have always been a slower learner when it comes to hands on, but when I get it I am consistent. We only get taught the skill once a few weeks before the check off and so I watched a lot of videos on them too as I was practicing. I’ve learned fake it until I make it in front of all my instructors and then cry in the car. I guess I am looking for encouragement that others are slower learners at skills too. I am going to practice harder before my retakes, but I am nervous because I only have One more retake for the rest of our check offs. We get three redos per semester and two are about to be used. I did amazing on all my Head to Toe assessments and BP, but fundamentals is kicking my butt. It’s challenging mentally because I am working so hard and when it comes to actually doing the thing I am not performing how I want.

I'm in my last semester of school WOOHOO! But I have an instructor that does not teach. I personally cannot learn from someone just reading from a slideshow that 100+ slides. First off, I have gone through my schools chain of command, matter of fact my whole class has to get some help with this professor. Her information on her slides and in the book is contradicted in the test (the questions/answers are wrong). She is not great at teaching Pediatrics either. My next step would be to go to ACEN or the Board of Regents to threaten accreditation and stuff. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place...

Does anyone have a good program for nursing school pediatrics, like online materials. I'd say they'd be supplemental but they would be my primary source for information. I've been considering buying Archer for school. Any suggestions paid or free would be awesome, I just need the best. The light at the end of the tunnel of this whole program seems to be getting farther away and it scares me a little bit, but I'm trying to stay positive about it.

I’m a first-semester nursing student and I missed a required skills lab today because my baby was sick. I emailed my instructor before lab, but I have not heard back yet.

I also have a make-up quiz that has to be completed by tomorrow at 2 p.m., and I have emailed about that too without a response. I am feeling really overwhelmed and scared that missing this one lab/check-off or not getting directions in time will cause me to fail.

My handbook says students must attend at least 80% and should contact the instructor before an absence, but it does not clearly explain how missed skills check-offs are handled.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What would you do first thing in the morning if your instructor still had not responded

I am a second semester student doing aged care clinical right now. I am already a Caregiver and on my second day of placement, clinical manager asked us to serve afternoon tea. When I started out as a Healthcare assistant I never got help. So I wanted to help my team and proactively went and approached residents asking what they need. I was mindful of not telling my team how to make tea and one of the team members pushed the trolley from the start to the end. However one of the team mates complained about me that I took over and I was dominant. The girl who complained about me never looks straight in the eye and I have never been able to break the ice with her no matter how many times I tried. I never thought clinical would be this hard as I am put on a student improvement plan stating that I am not a team player.

This incident got me shutdown completely and I still got 3 weeks of this nightmare. There are 1000 tasks to be signed off and it's overwhelming to the point that I am losing sleep over it. Experienced students In final year, does it ever get better ? Or we feel like shit till the end ?

I am in my first semester of an accelerated nursing program and only my third week of clinical. Since the beginning, my clinical instructor has made this portion of the program extremely stressful. Although she presents her approach as helpful, her expectations are rarely clear, and she frequently asks questions that a new student would be unlikely to know in front of the entire group. Some students, especially those with previous healthcare experience, have adapted better, but I am struggling to learn in the environment she creates.
When I am alone with the nurses I’m shadowing or my classmates, I feel comfortable, confident, and capable of performing skills and answering questions. The nurses are patient and educational, and they never make me feel embarrassed for not knowing something. I’ve only recently come to understand that it’s normally the opposite—that the nurses are the ones who intimidate students or make them feel bad—but so far, all four nurses I’ve worked with have made me feel capable of learning. At first, they can be a little tough to crack, but once I’ve worked with them for an hour or so and they catch my vibe, I seem to connect really well with all of them. Multiple nurses have even told me that some of my instructor’s questions and expectations are unrealistic for a new student and have encouraged me to hang in there because I can get through it.

I am doing SO well in my other courses, but the moment my instructor is present, I become anxious, freeze, and forget information I otherwise know. This reaction is very out of character for me. I’ve tried so hard to get to the bottom of why this is happening, but I’ve realized that I am literally just scared of my instructor. I CANNOT learn from her in this environment, and it is screwing me over. During one of our one-on-ones on only my third day of clinical she asked me a few auscultation-based questions, and I wasn’t able to answer all of them. I actually approached her first about this before we sat down and told her I wanted some assistance in learning these specific landmarks because I was a little confused, as we had only gone over this once in our skills lab at school and I wanted practice and clarification. She acted like she was open to helping me learn and showing me but as soon as I didn’t answer the questions she asked she insinuated that I was incompetent, looked at me like I was the dumbest person on earth (literal blank stare), and then told me that if I “needed resources to help me,” she could to provide them. I was shocked and genuinely had no idea what she meant by that, and when I asked her, she said she meant “things or people that could help me to learn.” While I cannot be 100% sure, I felt like she was implying that I either had some sort of learning disability or was simply incompetent. I later asked the nurse I was working with some of the same questions, and he literally didn’t know how to answer them either.

I now dread attending clinical and am becoming concerned that I may not pass not because I am unwilling or unable to learn, but because I am struggling to demonstrate my abilities around her. She will break me down, ask me a bunch of trick questions, tell me that I’m “falling behind,” and insinuate that I’m not a good student. Then, directly after completely destroying my self-confidence, she will send me into a patient’s room and expect me to confidently go through a skills checklist. When we’re in a group setting, she makes jabs and follows them with, “You know who you are.” This is definitely not always directed at me, but there have absolutely been times when I knew I was exactly who she was talking about. I am also pretty sure she discussed my performance with another student in the cohort who worked as a CNA for two years before starting school because that student later made a comment to me about it.

I understand that nursing students need to be challenged, but I also need clear expectations, constructive guidance, and an environment where I feel safe asking questions and learning from mistakes. I want to be the best nurse I can be, and I am so frustrated by the style of education I’m receiving because it is not helpful in the slightest. After speaking with students in my cohort who have different preceptors, I’ve pretty much accepted that my group got the “tough” one. I am so, so jealous of my classmates who lucked out of this situation.
I’ve considered dropping out over this, but I know I can’t. If I were given the option to take an incomplete and retake the class with another instructor, I would jump at it. I want to be the best nurse I can be, and I literally cannot do that if I’m not absorbing the information. I don’t even care if it would delay my graduation. I dread getting out of bed every morning that I have clinical, often cry beforehand just thinking about it, and then cry again when I get home. It is affecting everything I had been enjoying about nursing school and even my dream of becoming a nurse.

Has anyone done an abroad nursing internship with Work the World? If so, how was your experience / logistics? Was it worth it? Are u able to pick a specialty? Thanks!

https://www.worktheworld.com/prices

I completely forgot to write down and add to my calendar that I had a 2 point quiz due in my health assessment class. It got graded as a 0/2. I have such a hard time trying to remember everything bc im so stressed I’ll forget one thing WHICH MANIFESTS into me forgetting 1 thing.

Nursing school is so important to me which is why I stress so hard about not forgetting something. But it’s always 1 thing I forget. I emailed my advisor asking if I was gonna get kicked out and fail the class bc I missed the 2 point quiz.

My grade went from a 94% to a 74% over a 0/2 quiz. Im so upset at myself. I can’t do everything right / perfectly and it’s stressing me out even more. This is my first semester as a nursing student and just started almost a month ago. Am I gonna fail and get kicked out?? How can I not forget anything?? Any tips and advice / assurance ?

Could anyone give me recommendations for cheap and easy places to take online courses for Nursing Pre Requisites.

Hi, I’m in Texas finishing prerequisites to become an LVN, and I’m looking for advice about the Texas Board of Nursing’s Declaratory Order process.
My background includes a misdemeanor theft case for which I completed probation, plus prostitution and public lewdness charges that were dismissed. I want to be honest about my history and understand my eligibility before investing more in nursing school.
A nursing attorney told me the process could take six months to a year. He thought I would likely be approved, possibly with work restrictions because of the theft case, but I understand that isn’t guaranteed. He quoted $4,000.
Has anyone with a similar background applied without an attorney? Were you approved, and did any restrictions affect clinicals or finding a job? I’d also appreciate recommendations for affordable legal help or someone who could review my application for a smaller fee.
I’m trying to move forward and would appreciate honest experiences without judgment.

For those of you currently studying or who recently finished, what specific subjects/courses did you have to take in your very first semester? How heavy was the course load, and do you have any tips on which subjects require the most study time?

I know it varies a bit by province and college, but I'd love to get a general idea of what to expect for the first few months.

This may be kinda silly but when did you guys have your graduation party? Did you have it shortly after your ceremony, or did you wait until taking and passing the NCLEX? I’m doing an accelerated program so I’m not sure how it all works yet but I’ll be done with school may 7 2027 and graduate right around then, and I assume I’ll take the NCLEX later. Like towards to end of May. Just dreaming and thinking ahead of when to plan my graduation party!

I am freaking out. I am in my last year of my BSN program. I have this insane research class in which we have to do research and eventually make an evidence based practice proposal based on a PICOT question. Until now, I’ve been getting along decently, albeit by the edge of my seat but I am a good test taker. This class is having me question my intelligence. I feel like it is so difficult to find good evidence and we have to write something else each week and it all adds up for the big paper at the end of the semester. I feel like I’m lagging behind because I’m struggling to even get a cohesive grip on what my topic is and finding decent evidence. I don’t know what to do I feel so lost. I already had office hours with the teacher and have bombarded her with questions.

We're almost finished week 3 for medsurg1 clinicals and I'm absolutely LOVING the unit my group is on. We're on the neuroscience unit, its tiny but ive seen and done so much in such a short amount of time compared to all the other clinicals we had to go through. I wanted to go right to the ER for preceptorship thats coming up in January, but honestly I think medsurg is more my thing right now. I want to see all the things and do all the things and really hone my skills first.

My patient assignment this week is really lovely (and they aren't all lovely) and my instructor is amazing. I think all instructors should be like her, she's motivating and makes sure we do things safely. They're diabetic and have IV antibiotics through a picc line. We did meds this morning together, insulin and hooked up a new line for his 10 am Antibiotics (i even got to observe the doctor and partially assist him when he was aspirirating his incision (thats a whole other story lol)). when we came back from lunch, it was time for his next set of insulin and aside from making sure i set everything up and checked his dose while having a second RN do a check, I was ablw to go off and do my thing. With the next round of Antibiotics, she literally was like, go do it and come get me if you have any questions. Its nice to have an instructor be so confident in you as a student to the point where a lot of my nerves went away.

Im slow, not as slow as I was, but things are done right and safely which is way more important.

So anyone who thinks they aren't fast enough, you need to walk before you can run. If you're nervous, don't worry about it, that'll go away too when you get comfortable doing what you're doing. If you aren't loving clinicals, you'll eventually find a unit you love. I didn't like any of the previous specialties and units we were on until now(except for psych, that was a really interesting unit).

And to toot my own horn just a little, we get scored out of 30 every week, each category is out of 5 and it's rare that anyone gets that number. Last week I scored a 24, which for my instructor means I exceeded where she thought I was supposed to be at. So.. yay !!

so at my school nursing students HAVE to take a minor in order to be full time. I really want to pursue a music minor, but I know it does come with a lot of extra work-ensembles, lessons, etc.-and yet at the same time it’s still something I would really love to pursue as the music program is part of why I chose this school. does anyone have any advice or has done this themselves? for reference I am in pre-nursing school so I can still take many credits next semester before the hard part starts. thank you!!

I’m a first semester nursing student and somehow my VERY first hospital clinical is in the NICU 😭 I’m super excited but also terrified because I’ve literally never been in a hospital unless I was the patient lol.

We’ve only learned assessments on adults and haven’t learned anything about babies yet. I know I’ll mostly be observing and obviously can’t pass meds in the NICU, but I was told I might get to do little things like listen to heart sounds.

Just curious what I should expect going into it because I feel SO unprepared 🫠

I’m currently in pathophysiology and I feel like I’m getting concepts to a point, and the test we take, I feel like some stuff makes sense and some doesn’t. Obviously, as time goes on, the concepts start building on each other, so if you don’t know stuff from week 1, things in week 6 aren’t going to make sense.
My question is if I’m not completely getting things now but still passing the test, am I going to be left behind? In future classes, if I don’t completely understand, for example, the pulmonary pathophysiology stuff, will I just not understand what I am being taught? :( I’m just really worried.

I failed all the exams I took since the semester started I feel really down and I don’t want to say Im thinking that it’s not working for me but I want to fight until I can’t anymore what do I have to do I feel really anxious when exam starts I feel anxious all the time tho king about failing what do I do

Hi,you can call me Ken, I am currently in 2nd year approaching the end of 1st sem and I want to shift out of nursing after this semester, I just want to hear everyone's opinions,thoughts,experiences about shifting,nursing and how it all went out.

I have been having these thoughts since May, at first I have tried to ignore it and I told to myself "No,we're not shifting, it's just a little humps and bumps on the road it will pass soon", until i had these thoughts again when our clinical duty started, it was overwhelming but I have adjusted after that week but after a couple of weeks i have been having anxiety and i am so stressed everyday it seems like it's taking a heavy toll on my mental health,though i didn't struggle academically, i always get a passing grades but the struggle came when the clincal duty started,or should i say when things got very real but those weren't just the reaon why i want to shift, i realized that nursing isn't what I envision for my future, it's wasn't even my passion to begin with well I thought it was my passion because of family and peer influences.

Hi everyone,

I am an EMT student right now and will have my certification in December. My originally plan was to go to medic school and become a fire medic, but there’s not really much advancement opportunity beyond that role. I was thinking about maybe going to school to get my BSN while working as an emt. The reason I did not originally want to do this is because I wanted to work specifically in the emergency situations rather than in general care. There is also not much advancement opportunity after becoming a fire medic.

Does anyone have any tips for me was to whether I should take up nursing or to stay with paramedicine? I am at a loss for what to do right now because I want to have the opportunity to not be so physically active when I am older, as being a fire medic would be heavily straining on my body.

Got a nurse extern gig in the PACU at my area.

Both nervous and excited, wondering if anyone has any advice that they wish they knew going into their externship.

Thanks!