A Mommy Story

As many of you know, just less than a year ago I decided to go back to school. I have a Bachelors degree, and some work towards two Masters degrees that I never finished, but now I’m starting over again for an Associates degree in Nursing.

Nursing has absolutely nothing to do with my previous schoolwork. In fact, up until I had Cordy, I had never really thought about going into nursing. When I was younger I had considered med school, but decided against it due to the length of time I’d be in school, and the crazy costs involved. But after spending four days in the postpartum unit at the hospital, I came to have a real affection for nurses and all they do. It’s always the nurses who make your stay pleasant or hellish, depending on your nurse. I had, for the most part, wonderful nurses who helped me adjust to motherhood as much as they could in those four short days.

Going back to school for this required starting nearly from the beginning again. I had most of my general ed classes taken care of thanks to my first degree, but there were a lot of prerequisite classes that I was required to take before even applying to the nursing program.

After four quarters of part-time classes, this week I completed the last two prerequisite classes, and my application for admission to the program has been submitted. One class, Patient Care Skills, was very easy for me. We covered some of the less “fun” tasks of nurses and aides, like wound care, venipuncture, and inserting catheters, but I found it all fascinating.

The other class, Organic Chemistry, was a class that I look forward to never, ever seeing again. I graduated from high school and my first university with honors, and have always been good with science classes, too, but never in my life have I encountered a class like Organic Chemistry. To make it even more difficult, I was taking the class online, without the regular help of an instructor to explain it all to me. It is because of this class that I have now shattered my perfect 4.0 GPA – I could only squeak out a mid-range B for the class. Still, at least I passed, which I had to do in order to apply for the nursing program.

Now with those classes behind me, I sit and wait for my answer. The program at this college fills up amazingly fast, so many people are often turned away during each application period. But I have confidence I’ll make it in. For those who have met all requirements, decisions about admission are made based on GPA, and on Nurse Entrance Test scores. Seeing as I have nearly a 4.0, and my NET scores were in the 90% range (50% is the minimum needed for consideration), I probably will be offered admission.

In the meantime, I’ll prepare for my winter quarter classes as if I am continuing on with the program. If I’m admitted, clinical classes wouldn’t begin until the fall quarter, so I can use the time between now and then to finish up other non-clinical required classes.