1. The look or comments received when notifying people of your major.
The age old question when you first meet someone in college is "What's your major?" When people ask you this question just expect them to not have understood a word you said because that is the look you're going to get. However noble, humbling, or exciting the Nursing major may be, people associate it with lots of work, no life, and ultimately you dropping out or changing majors. You may even get the comments "I'm sorry" or "Well, good luck with studying ... forever." Thanks.
2. The stereotype that all nurses are women.
When discussing your major among friends or other people, they tend to make jokes about only women being nurses or just assume that's the way it is. The Nursing profession is in high demand, and to be a male in the Nursing profession is in even higher demand. Transitioning from a time when realistically 99 percent of nurses were female to our modern-day society when male nurses are becoming more prominent isn't easy for everyone to comprehend. Those who can't comprehend obviously don't realize your potential job security.
3. The different grading scale.
In most Nursing schools, the class grading scales are slightly altered. By slightly, I also mean drastically. They have more than likely moved from the 10 point grading scale we all know and love to a less comfortable seven-point grading scale. This translates to most letter grades being nearly split in half. The grading scale is as follows: 93-100=A, 85-92=B, 77-84=C, 70-76=D, and 0-69=F. This along with only being able to retake a class and make a D or lower on a class a limited number of times is really stressful.
4. Worrying that any assignment/exam you complete will possibly ruin your grade and bring catastrophic events into your life.
Like I said, the seven-point grading scale is extremely stressful, one minute you're doing fine and the next you have an 83C. Sure, C's get degrees but too many can effect your GPA and get you removed from nursing school. This can lead to a chain of events that will alter the rest of your life and force you to settle for less than you wanted. For example, instead of buying groceries and living in a decent home, you would have to resort to being a caveman, living in the wilderness, and hunting for your food. And who's going to want to marry a caveman?
5. When people think you chose Nursing because Pre-Med was too hard.
Whether you did or did not choose Nursing as your second option does not matter. You chose it for your own reasons. Regardless, Nursing is your passion. If caring for patients and being part of the rapidly growing field of healthcare isn't your passion, then you're in the wrong major.
6. When people assume your career will only consist of changing bed pans and wiping butts.
Sure, nurses may get the crappy job like anyone else (pun intended), but that isn't the only thing we do. Starting an IV, filling out patient charts, and being a friend for a patient when needed are only a few tasks that are done. Being a nurse is more than a career or profession, its a lifestyle. The nonstop energy, motivation, and care that is required, gets us through those not so glamorous tasks and on to the "fun" stuff.
7. Clinicals ...
I don't think I have to say much here. Working practically as a full time Nursing student in a hospital, attending classes, finding time to study, going to a job that actually pays you, and eating because you haven't had time to all day are a couple among the many struggles faced in clinicals.
8. Being not only a member but the president of the No Sleep Organization.
Just from clinicals alone, you wonder why there is even a bed in your room. Sure, it looks nice because you made your sheets all nice three days ago and haven't slept in it since. Besides sleep is only for the weak, or how the severely stressed Nursing student spends his or her free time. When you do sleep on rare/special occasions, dreams are filled with the material you've crammed into your head. There is no escaping it.
9. The social life you once had is now gone.
All the time you spend in classes, at the hospital, at your job, studying, and contemplating on selling your kidney to pay your tuition has taken up all of your time. There is barely enough time to even sleep, let alone social interaction. You used to be an elegant social butterfly, but now you seem to have become a groundhog burrowed in the ground waiting to see your shadow.
10. The NCLEX ...
Your whole college career riding on one exam. Maybe being a hobo might not be so bad after all. Who knows? Maybe you might pass, but one thing is for sure. You never come out of the exam the same way you went in.
