The Beginning of the End
Tuesday was my nursing school orientation.
As if my previous posts haven’t demonstrated my feelings on starting upper division classes well enough, allow me to go into a bit more detail about it.
See, the thing is this. Everybody keeps asking me if I’m ~*~super excited~*~ to get started. They ask me if I’m jittery or nervous or overwhelmed. They’re expecting me to say yes to both, but the real answer is…no, not really. I’m about as excited about starting as I would be about going to the dentist.
I mean, it’s great to finally be immersed in the material that I’m most interested in. It’s great to learn about what’s actually relevant to my new career path (at long last). I’m not nervous because after two years working to get here, I know that I have the intellect to make it in this program. When I spoke to a few of the other students on Tuesday, it seems that their biggest worry is being part of the 25% wash-out that occurs in the first term. I just don’t share that same fear.
The issue for me is that I must ace every single class in order to have a shot at a graduate Physician Assistant program. My current cumulative GPA is a 2.87, which is not nearly close enough to meeting the minimums most programs require. If I don’t have a 3.2 by 2017, I’m practically dead in the water. Nursing school also has a tendency of turning A students into C students, and I just can’t let that happen to me.
So am I super excited about having to work harder than everybody else in a program that’s already balls-to-the-wall-ridiculously-difficult? Am I excited about the lack of sleep that I’m going to suffer from? Am I pumped that on top of everything that goes along with this degree, I’m going to need to do an additional unrequired thesis so I’m a more competitive applicant later? Am I stoked about the fact that I’m going to practically be a ghost to my friends and family for the next two and a half years?
But I feel the need to fake it every time somebody asks me. So I’ll keep sitting here plastering on plastic smiles and nodding my head enthusiastically, I guess. Gotta keep the audience riveted….
As if my previous posts haven’t demonstrated my feelings on starting upper division classes well enough, allow me to go into a bit more detail about it.
See, the thing is this. Everybody keeps asking me if I’m ~*~super excited~*~ to get started. They ask me if I’m jittery or nervous or overwhelmed. They’re expecting me to say yes to both, but the real answer is…no, not really. I’m about as excited about starting as I would be about going to the dentist.
I mean, it’s great to finally be immersed in the material that I’m most interested in. It’s great to learn about what’s actually relevant to my new career path (at long last). I’m not nervous because after two years working to get here, I know that I have the intellect to make it in this program. When I spoke to a few of the other students on Tuesday, it seems that their biggest worry is being part of the 25% wash-out that occurs in the first term. I just don’t share that same fear.
The issue for me is that I must ace every single class in order to have a shot at a graduate Physician Assistant program. My current cumulative GPA is a 2.87, which is not nearly close enough to meeting the minimums most programs require. If I don’t have a 3.2 by 2017, I’m practically dead in the water. Nursing school also has a tendency of turning A students into C students, and I just can’t let that happen to me.
So am I super excited about having to work harder than everybody else in a program that’s already balls-to-the-wall-ridiculously-difficult? Am I excited about the lack of sleep that I’m going to suffer from? Am I pumped that on top of everything that goes along with this degree, I’m going to need to do an additional unrequired thesis so I’m a more competitive applicant later? Am I stoked about the fact that I’m going to practically be a ghost to my friends and family for the next two and a half years?
But I feel the need to fake it every time somebody asks me. So I’ll keep sitting here plastering on plastic smiles and nodding my head enthusiastically, I guess. Gotta keep the audience riveted….