Summer School......really?

Uh, yeah, for the third time in 20 years, I have to take Intro to Computers. For real?? It's not that I mind, it's that I don't think in this day and time it's necessary. What I would have liked to have taken would be that last pharmacology online. It would have saved me time in these last two semesters.

To be fair, the guy is pretty on task. He walks you though it step by step via Youtube and if you mess up, it's your own fault. Easy A. But an expensive one....$500.

Don't laugh, but I went to Half Price Books and bought the previous editions of the textbook for OB so I could get a head start. That class is only 5 weeks, so that means a test every week. Ewwwww....... plus clinicals, which require a stupid care plan. I've already started on those, just to be waiting in the wings for when I'm time crunched. What do you do to prepare for the next semester of nursing school?

Surviving A & P II

 So, finals are done and we all survived them. Anatomy and physiology just about killed me. Half the test was over endocrine and reproduction, and then the rest was cumulative. It's fairly sadistic to do that to students. But they do it. I felt like the class is what I would call a "weeding out" class as it started with 34 students and we ended up with 22. If you don't pass with at least a C, you have to repeat the course. So, a lot of people decided to end it before they choked on a bad grade. My crowd did pretty well, and my study partner, an LPN herself, kicked butt and took names. Afterward, we all felt like we had been prisoners in a war who were finally released. It appears I  got a C, which is fine with me.   I have a Russian friend I've been in school with for awhile who pulled straight A's. She had a 32 on the ACT, so she was rolling admission for the RN program. She's really a sweet lady, and has taught me so much about her culture. Hard to be envious of anybody that works that hard.

I'm taking the summer off to ride bikes with my kid and generally goof off. I have a few notebooks from my friend the LPN as she graduated from the program where I am headed. I also got some textbooks from a local trade in store in dosage, pharmacy, medsurge, and the actual NCLEX-PN book from Saunders. So far, I've noticed that the A & P is rehashed throughout the courses. Really, really, really glad I passed.

What did you do in class today, Honey?

Well, I peed in a cup. I had to do urinalysis on my own urine. They make fake blood for blood typing in lab, why can't they make fake pee? I feel like its some invasion of privacy, making me a Guinea pig for our exercises in lab.  Isn't this some HIPAA violation? I was in the control group that didn't have to eat chips and drink water.
As far as being my own guinea pig, I wonder if it's like that in nursing classes, too?

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

 

 So, this is day one of the Waiting Game. Honestly, it reeks. Here's what ended up happening with my "Rolling Admission" :
I did far too much assuming. And I don't have to tell you what assuming does.....
What did I assume? It boils down to a misunderstanding of the word "cumulative". When I attended [insert name of unaccredited christian college here] way back in the beginning of the '80's, I did not apply myself. Oh, I applied my self to my work-study job as a nurse's aide; as a floundering student disc jockey on the college station (was a broadcast major); and applied myself in the dating scene, but I didn't apply myself to studying. I was a 2.0. I almost got a 4 year degree with a 2.0...how sad is that?
Years pass, I go BACK to school in the 90's. This time as a Paralegal Major. My basics transfer, and in my 30's, I find that I CAN do well in school. I received my AAS with a 3.2.
Now, going back to try for my ADN, I've done even better than that, making the Dean's list this past Spring (for the first time in my life!) with a 3.56, and that's in my 40's. However......(you knew that was coming, didn't you?) when figuring my scores for the rolling admission, they figured them ALL. All 192 hours that I've taken in my life.  As I looked at what was my cumulative score, I ASSUMED that since they had all my classes, the score I saw was the score that was going into the selective admission process. How wrong I was! After they averaged EVERY class attempted, I came from a 3.56 to a 2.51. That is bare minimum for the rolling admission. It is all based on the GPAs from 2.5 to 4.0; the NLN minimum score is 70, I made a 75. And the prerequisites of A & P I, the dreaded Algebra, English I and II, Psychology and Developmental Psych, and the nurse's aide requirement. So......I did all that, and even started working on the other requirements for the ADN to knock them out of the way. Now, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get in the RN program.
I decided since I could apply to two selective admission programs, I would go ahead and apply to the LPN program. The LPN program is based on ranking points of grades received from prerequisites.
So, apparently their decision making timeline is the same as the RN program. April 1st, I will find out which, if either, program, will have me. I'll keep you posted.

And so it begins : Anatomy & Physiology II

Another semester with Michael Phelps through Anatomy & Physiology? Well, I wish he were part of the bargain. It might make it a lot more enjoyable. I've checked Blackboard to see if my new teacher has posted a syllabus and what, if any, reading she has assigned. I'll say this: she's thorough. The semester doesn't technically start until Sunday, and she has the entire semester's PowerPoint on the website. Also, all of the lab. I'm one of these people who has to get all my assignments on Outlook so I don't have those nightmares of not being prepared for class. I got a B in A & P I, but I feel I should have/could have gotten an A. This semester will undoubted prepare me for Micro, which I heard can make you lose your religion ...fast. Our first unit: Blood!

Any studying tips for A & P II are appreciated!