Take a minute and think back to a year ago as you were filling out endless amounts of applications to colleges. Take a minute to think why you chose to apply to each one you did. Take a minute and think what put you on the path to where you wanted to be in life. Take a minute and think about all the people who helped you and continue to help you as you begin to prepare to the next step of your life. Take a minute and think about why you wanted to become a nurse in the first place.

Like every college major, a variety of stories and different background fill each and everyone. I like to think that nursing majors hold true to something very special. You are the people who decided you were to be brave enough and determined enough to begin learning the lifelong skills that nursing will take you. So here I am writing to you just weeks before you are set to begin that journey.

Two years ago I decided to apply to the University of Detroit Mercy. About 13 years about I decided I wanted to work in medicine. A year ago I took my first steps on the University of Detroit Mercy campus and began my first year in nursing school there. I had a backpack full of supplies with me, my schedule, a map of the campus, and nerves running through my body. I entered my first class ever and gave myself a silent round of applause for completing day one of my nursing school endeavor. The most important thing I hope to pass along to you is that all those cups of coffee, ridiculously long lectures, crying sessions with your peers, and confusing lab models are going to one day matter. One day it'll be human to human interaction you're making, not plastic simulation to skin you're dealing with. Here are some pointers I hope you decide to utilize:

1. You're going to fail sometimes and it's nothing to lose faith about.

One thing that we aren't taught in our lives is that when we fail, we aren't the only person feeling the negativity of that failure. This can be either in everyday life or in our academic careers. Most students don't realize that when they fail, their professor feels it too. They think that maybe there wasn't enough support from their end or maybe if they would have spent just an extra day on a particular subject matter you would have passed with flying colors. Professors never want to see a student fail and repeat a class but because of the Nightingale Pledge, they are keeping their vow to maintain their patient's best interest. Just remember, you can't succeed at the bedside until you've mastered it in the classroom.

2. Utilize your professors!!!

I am very lucky to attend the college that I do for this reason. I go to school on a very small campus with at most 30 students in my lecture halls with me. At state universities, professors have up to hundreds of students in their presence and hundreds of assignments and exams to grade. While teaching assistants are greatly appreciated, they can not provide as much as the professor can. Make meetings with your professors and get feedback from them. They are there to help you. Go to office hours! If you understand the material, go. If you're having trouble with the material, go. If you want to review a test grade, go. GO! This is probably one of the most important things that I learned my first year in nursing school.

3. The syllabus is there for a reason.

On the first day of every class, a stapled packet of paper is either passed out or picked up. This stapled packet of paper is absolutely vital to determining how you'll do in that class that semester. This is another very important thing I learned my first year in nursing school. The professor puts everything on there that will be discussed along with assignment dates and exam dates. While the information may be moved around, it is your responsibility as a student to make sure you are up to date with the changing times and information that may be said about said syllabus. If you want to succeed, pay close attention to those pieces of paper.

4. Your planner will become your best friend.

I can't stress the importance of this! Some people may not be the type of person to write everything down and thats fine, do what works for you. I found that personally and with all of my nursing friends that planners are something to stick with and never veer from. At the beginning of the year when you're first receiving your syllabus, write down all of the dates that are listed and move them to your planner. It is also important that you take note of all the dates that are said during the semester, as well. I found myself scheduling in naps during the semesters because everything was literally so crazy and all over the place. Scheduling down your whole life is pretty much to "to do" thing while in nursing school - especially your first year when you're just figuring things out and probably taking the most classes! Don't let this scare you away, of course. I'm choosing The Saunder's Guide to Nursing School for the year because not only is there a ton of room offered to write things down, but nursing tips are also included!

5. Make good with your classmates.

Another very important thing I learned in Freshman Nursing Seminar was that everyone in the room with me was going through the same thing I was. Nursing school. Being the new kid on campus. Meeting a million different people. Stress. Relationships. Learning to be a college student. Grades. I found it incredibly hard to think anyone but me was going through this stuff until my Nursing Advisor told us that day to look around the room and treat everyone as a safe haven. These are the people that are going to stay up till all hours of the end discussing diseases and vitals and medicine with you. These are the people who are going to struggle waking up for 8 am classes with these. These are the people who are gonna go on coffee runs with you. These are the people who (if you're lucky) will never leave your side after your four years are up.

6. Push yourself to be your best.

On my first day of my microbiology class, I learned something very important. No, it wasn't that bacilli was round or that Clostridium had the ability to form spores, it was that when you think of the hardest working student in the room, you should think yourself.Nursing school pushes you to create a mentality that if you think positively about yourself, you'll do great and vice versa. You can't decide nursing isn't for you because you failed your first test. So what? Who cares? Not your future patient. It is so important to remember that even if you were an A student in high school, you're not a failure to drop to a B or C status. College is all about figuring out what works for yourself in general and not hating yourself because someone manages to get an A on literally everything. Trust me, you're going to have at least on person like that in every class you take and there are going to be times when you want to tie them to a chair until they give you their secrets. My anatomy and physiology professor told me something the first time I did poorly on his exam; he said, "it isn't true the A students make the best nurses and it isn't true that C students make bad nurses. Sometimes It is the complete opposite. It can take people as long as years to figure out how college works for yourself as an individual, very few people get it the first try. Remember not to beat yourself up over it and keep trying because that's all you can really expect from yourself. I have students who do good on everything without studying and students who study for what feels like forever and still go poorly. Find what works for you and stick to it." This guy has a Ph.D people! If he said it, why shouldn't you believe it?

Just remember to do your best and to be the greatest that you can be. You're studying to benefit the patient, not to ace an exam. A guy/girl will not always be there for you, but your degree always will be. Don't let getting hung up about someone be the reason you don't accomplish something you decided to start so long ago. Nursing school isn't going to be fun and like what you see on Grey's Anatomy but I promise you that it'll be worth it. The skills you learn are going to make you into the kind of nurse that you will become, not the grade you got in pathophysiology or pharmacology.

Stay strong and good luck!