I remember getting my letter from the Villanova College of Nursing like it was yesterday.  I had worked so hard for this.  Nursing school was everything I thought it would be...but there were parts that threw me for a loop. 

1. You wake up EARLY. You thought high school tennis practice before school was bad?  Or walking from South Campus to Gary Hall as a freshman for an 8:30 AM class was brutal?  Try being on the floor of your assigned unit in downtown Philly by 6:30 AM.  AKA waking up around 4:30 AM to finish up your clinical papers, eat breakfast (so you don’t pass out while inserting a catheter), allow time to tear through your dresser to find your name tag (which you always seem to lose), the 45 minute drive into the city (thanks Philly traffic) and the 15 minutes you wander around the hospital, trying to find your clinical instructor. Yeah.  It’s early.  But the sunrises make for pretty Instagrams! 

2. Nurses are COMPETITIVE. I want a summer internship, too, but geez, some of these chicks (and murses) are so gosh darn competitive! Don’t bother asking to study with the smart kids… they won’t want to help you. Duh. You could steal their spot on the Dean’s List.  

3. The test questions SUCK.  Like seriously?  Who writes these?  There are at least two right answers or none of them are correct at all.  And then they’ll throw in some disease you’ve never heard of and you’re going to wonder how you’re supposed to know what the heck it means.  And they’re going to tell you it doesn’t matter in the question.  It’ll make no sense.  That’s why you have to look at every question and just… guess.  But you’ll guess right… most of the time.  

4. You do some NASTY stuff.  You mean I have to give that 74 year old man with MRCA a bed bath… like a real bed bath?  Like I actually have to wash… ya know? You’re joking.

5. Scrub pants are the bees’ knees.  Honestly, I don’t take mine off until the next day.  They’re like pajamas + yoga pants + slipper socks… but better.  And you look cool and professional walking around campus wearing them.

6. Okay but the shoes are dangerous.  I don’t know who invented Dansko’s or who told nurses to wear them, but they are as almost hard to walk in as stilettos.  Plus, the stubby round toe at the end is destined to make you trip.  If you don’t fall at least twice in them, you’re not human.  So don’t worry, it’s a rite of passage.  

7. If you fail, you fail.  There is no such thing as extra credit.  And if you don’t quite reach that magical 73%, you can expect a friendly letter from the Dean about your less than stellar academic performance.  Maybe they’ll curve everyone’s grade at the end?  Absolutely not.  Maybe they’ll give back points for those horribly worded NCLEX questions?  Wrong again.  But it’s okay, there’s always next time.  

8. Textbooks are EXPENSIVE.  Literally, you cannot complain how expensive your books are until you check out my bank account.  I refuse to add up all the money I have spent (wasted?) on my textbooks, but I know it’s well over $1,500.  The best part is… no renting.  Apparently, we are going to need those to study for the NCLEX.  Can’t wait.

9. You’re going to do work all the time.  I killed it freshman year.  I went out all the time and still rocked all my classes.  And then everything went downhill sophomore year and I failed everything in my path and never went out.  You have to find a balance.  I’m still finding mine and I’ve had way too much time here to figure it out.

10. You’re going to touch people’s lives in ways you could never imagine.  You have literally no idea how much you’re going to mean to every single patient you come across in nursing school.  You are going to be the one who holds their hand when they’re hurting.  You’re going to be the one to sit and listen to them when they just want to talk about their grandchildren.  You’re going to thank them for letting you practice with them.  You’re going to become a great nurse because of them.  You’re also going to leave every patient’s room having made someone smile and feel loved.        

You’re going into a career where you will change lives.  They didn’t tell you that, did they?