You Got Into Nursing School... Now What? (Don't Skip These Steps!!)

If you just got your acceptance letter from nursing school, that's amazing, my friend! But the problem is you may have no idea what to do before your first day of nursing school. So in this video, I'm giving you the step-by-step checklist so you can actually be ahead on day one. Let's dive in. So the first thing you've got to do, and this is so important, is to confirm your acceptance and really make sure that you don't lose your spot. Now, there are usually deadlines attached to your acceptance letter, things like your deposit, your immunization forms, your background check, all of those things. And if you miss one of those, it can cost you your spot in the program. So you got to read every single page of that acceptance packet and put every deadline in your calendar, okay? You do not want to miss it. Part of this is going to be a criminal background check and a drug screening typically. Now this is totally standard across nursing programs, so don't panic about this. Just know that it's coming, get it done early, and if anything gets flagged for some reason, reach out to your program right away so that you can get it all sorted out before it becomes a problem. Problem later, especially before you start clinicals. And then next up, your immunization records. So most programs require a really specific set of vaccines and titers. So these are things like the Hep B, MMR, varicella, and TB test, and often the flu or the COVID vaccines. But this varies by school, so you're going to want to check your requirements. And here's the warning that I really want you to hear, okay? Titers, which are the blood tests that prove that you're immune to something, those can take weeks to come back. And if your titer shows that you're not immune to something, you might need to do a whole new vaccination series, which is gonna take longer. So don't wait, okay, until the week before your orientation. So start this now. And if you've lost your old vaccination records, call your childhood doctor or your old school or your state's immunization registry to track them down. You've gotta have those records. When I got accepted into nursing school, I actually found out that my titers were negative for Hep B, so I had to do the entire entire series over again before I could start clinical. It was crazy. I was so stressed out that it wouldn't be done on time. So you want to get those done like now, today. And number 3 is your BLS certification. So that's basic life support. That's the CPR course for healthcare providers. You almost certainly need this one before you can start clinicals. So most nursing programs do want the American Heart Association version of this, the A— AHA specifically. So you're going to want to check with your program before you go and do it just to make sure that it's the right one. And some locations don't host these classes very often, so you want to make sure to check the schedule, get it done early so it's out of the way. And then number 4, get clear on your financial aid, okay? So refile for your FAFSA because a lot of nursing students forget that you have to do that every single year. You don't want to leave that free money on the table, all right? Look into nursing-specific scholarships and grants. Now there are are some great ones out there. There's a ton. And who doesn't love free money for school, right? Okay, so that's all the admin stuff that we want to handle. Now, here's the fun part: what to actually buy for nursing school. Because if you've been on any nursing student forum lately, you know that this is the number one question: what do I actually need for nursing school, right? And just as important, what is a total waste of money that you should absolutely not buy? We're going to talk about all of it. So first up, scrubs. And tip number 1: do not buy your scrubs until you know your school's colors, okay? Your school, they're gonna dictate what color scrubs that you can have for the top and for the bottom. So you have to know what the colors are before you buy them. Now, when it comes to brands, my honest opinion is to just look for affordability and durability, okay? Is it cheap and will it hold up, okay? Especially when you're just starting nursing school. And I really liked Dickies tops for scrubs because they're really affordable, they hold up really great. And I'd often pair a Dickies top with Koi bottoms because the Koi scrubs, they have the best pockets in the pants. And trust me, you're gonna want a lot of pockets. And then when I got pregnant in nursing school, I actually switched to Med Couture. Fancy. Sounds fancy. It's not. Just— it was just because it was stretchier and I would size up, so it actually fit pretty well. So Med Couture, Dickies, and Koi, those were all really affordable, and that is just what I used in nursing school. So just find something that's affordable and durable. The next Next we have shoes, and friend, I have a little bit of a different opinion on this than most people. For shoes, I am a huge fan of insoles, okay? And for me personally, I have found that insoles will often matter even more than the shoe itself, and it's also cheaper oftentimes. But they go hand in hand. You still want a good shoe with good support, but the insole is really, really what makes a huge difference. So here's my number 1 tip for buying shoes in nursing school: whatever shoe that you buy, you really want to make sure that that insert that's built into the the shoe can be taken out, that it's removable. Okay, so you, you can actually put your own insole in because then whatever insole works best for your feet, you can put into any shoe that you get and your feet are always supported. It's perfect. But you just have to make sure that those are removable when you buy them. So for me, I wore Alegria shoes in nursing school, but the downside of those is that you can't swap those insoles out. And now I wear New Balance, and yes, they're not winning any fashion awards or anything like that. I just love them, and I use PowerStep insoles, which my podiatrist actually recommended. They're so great, and I'm gonna link that in the description below to check it out on Amazon. Now I know HOKAs are super popular, and that might be a great option for you. I've personally never used them, but I know that a lot of nurses really Love it. And honestly, the brand matters less than that fit and the removable insole. So if you get this right, it's going to save your feet so much pain and fatigue when you have those really long 8 to 12 hour clinical days. And next up is your stethoscope. Now there's a big debate on whether you need to go out and spend a fortune on a Littmann. Here's my take on this. I have always used an MDF stethoscope and I love it. It works perfectly. I really don't see the need to go spend and splurge on a Littmann or a super expensive stethoscope. I do not recommend dropping a gajillion dollars on a Littmann just because it's the cool thing to do, okay? Save your money, get a quality stethoscope that works, and an MDF I have found is just fine and it's half the price. And now we got your supplies and tech, okay? Now this is really where I'm going to encourage you to go a little old school because I am all about the physical stuff in nursing school. Typically there's a good reason, reason for this. The research is really, really clear the more you handwrite your notes, the faster you actually learn the material. Okay, typing out your notes on a laptop feels productive, but it isn't doing the same thing for your brain. Okay, so when you write it out by hand, even though you're going slower, you're forcing yourself to process the information and critically think about what you're learning. And that, my friend, is what is going to make it stick. So my recommendation is to get yourself some good notebooks, paper, highlighters, flashcards, the physical things, right? Handwrite your notes, okay? Don't rush out and buy expensive textbook bundles before class even starts, and you often even don't need all of them. You want to wait until you know what your professors actually use, and you can always get old editions too for way cheaper. So check out Thriftbooks or other book resellers because those textbooks will cycle through constantly as nursing students graduate. Then you can also look locally and ask upperclassmen in your program if they have any books that you can buy from them when they don't need them anymore. There's only 2 books that I really recommend that you have the updated editions for because things in these 2 books just change constantly, and you absolutely need to know the newest editions. These are your Care Plan book and your Drug Guide. But all of the other textbooks that you need for nursing school, you can get those used versions of, the older versions of them, for way less. Okay, so now this next one is huge, and this is really what matters for your grade. Okay, we're gonna talk about studying. So first thing here, you have to understand that nursing school exams are completely different from anything that you've taken before. Up until now, school has rewarded you for memorizing, right? You learn the facts, you repeat them on a test, and you get an A, right? But nursing school does not work that way. Your nursing school exams and the NCLEX are built to test on how well you can think like a nurse, okay? You'll get select all that apply questions where more than one answer is right and you have to know all of them. You're gonna see case scenario questions that you've never seen before that you'll have to then reason through. So studying harder without changing how you study, the method that you use, is not going to work here. You have to change how you study, my friend. Which brings me to number 2. This is active recall and critical thinking. These are huge and they go hand in hand. You actually You cannot start critical thinking until you can first actively recall the information. That's literally where the term comes from, active recall. So this is not passive studying. This is not rereading your notes and highlighting things. That is passive. It feels productive, but it's not building any retention. Active studying means that you are pulling the information out of your brain. So that looks like doing flashcards, writing things out from memory, talking concepts out loud to yourself. And my favorite is teaching it to someone else. When you can teach it to someone else, you know it. So those are the strategies to help you really learn on a deeper level so you can actually apply it on your exams. And when you study a disease or a disorder, do it in a way that connects everything together. So this is exactly what my 4 Core Method does. You go in order. You start with the pathophysiology first, and then you move on to the signs and symptoms and connect each one back to that patho. Then you go to the nursing assessments, and then to the nursing interventions, and you connect it all back to the patho. So everything is always connecting, everything connects, and that's when it all clicks for you. And to help you through all of the actual questions, I teach the DRC Critical Thinking Model which gives you a repeatable way to think through a question instead of just guessing about it. And listen, my friend, if you are sitting there and feeling like studying is going to be a super overwhelming thing for you, I've got you. I've made a free nursing school study checklist that lays out exactly what to study and in what order. Okay, so you're never just guessing. So go ahead and grab it, just comment "checklist" down below, and I will send it right over to you. It's gonna help you out so, so much. Now, next up is set up your weekly schedule and do it hour by hour. Now, I know that sounds like a lot, and this is going to feel completely counterintuitive, but hear me out on this. The busier you are, the more you need to plan your time, because if you don't, your time will just eke out everywhere. Trust me, it happens. You're gonna look back at the end of the day and go, where did that even go? You have basically wasted the whole day, and you cannot afford to do that in nursing school. So block schedule everything—your lectures, your labs, your clinicals, your study time, and yes, when you're gonna sleep, when you're gonna eat, and when you're gonna drive to each place. Like, all of it. Literally map out your day hour by hour to see what your day looks like, and I promise you will be shocked at how much time you actually have once you can see it all laid out like that. And number 4 for these study tips start your NCLEX-style practice questions in week 1 of nursing school. Okay, not at the end of the program. Don't wait. Start in week 1, because when you start practicing those questions early, you learn how the questions work and you can learn the content at the same time. It's a 2-for-1 deal here. This is especially true if you're in an ATI program, and most nursing schools use ATI. ATI is basically the curriculum that the school ATI uses to teach you nursing, and it comes with its own set of exams plus a ton of other resources like online practice questions, so you're going to definitely want to take advantage of all of that. Now I have a whole video on that right here to walk you through how to study for ATI and pass your ATI exams. Now here's something really important that's going to take some pressure off of you: those ATI exams are designed to really strongly mimic the NCLEX. So I always tell nursing students, do not freak out about your ATI exams, okay? Just treat them like practice because that's exactly what they are. Yes, you still need to pass them, but as long as you're doing fairly well on your ATI exams, you are setting yourself up for success on the NCLEX. Now that should give you a whole lot of confidence. And to make your exams even easier, I have my whole step-by-step system for how to study, as well as all the quick review videos, the cheat sheets, the study guides, practice questions, all of it inside the Nursing SOS membership community. This is going to help you learn things faster and actually make it click for you. So I'll put the link to that down below to check it out if you're interested. Now, I get a lot of questions about this in the comments: can I work during nursing school? This is a big one, so let's talk about it. So I have a lot of opinions on this one, and this one might ruffle some feathers, okay? But that's totally fine with me. We're gonna I talk about it anyway. So here's what your instructors are going to tell you: they're going to tell you to stop working, that you can't possibly do both, that nursing school has to be your entire life. And my friend, like, I just don't believe that, okay? Nor do I even think that that's really practical in a lot of family situations. When you start nursing school, yes, your priorities are going to shift. School is going to have to come first. But if you are diligent and if you are managing your time really well like we just talked about, you can absolutely work and go to nursing school at the same time. I did it, and you are capable of doing it too if that's what you need or want to do. The secret though is that hour-by-hour schedule that we just talked about. You put your nursing school studies and your classes first. You block out your studying, your clinicals, and all the classes, lectures you have to go to. Gotta block all that out first, and then you can fill in the gaps with your work hours. So when you actually see it on paper, you'll find that oftentimes the time is there. You just have to use it really wisely. Now, if you're going to work, you want to be smart about where you work. Jobs like a CNA or a patient care tech are amazing because not only do they tend to be more flexible, but they actually give you that hands-on experience with real-life patients, right, that's going to help you in your program. But also the downside is that you're probably going to be really tired because it's a very physically demanding job. So there's pros and cons to that one. Ultimately though, you'll want to stay away from jobs jobs with, uh, really unpredictable schedules or hours, or the kind that really just drain every ounce of your mental energy because you really need that brainpower for studying. And one more practical thing here: have a conversation with your employer before school starts, okay? Tell them what your semester is going to look like. You want to set clear expectations about what your schedule is and the flexibility that you'll need, and then get it sorted out up up front so that it doesn't cause problems for you later when school starts. Now, this next one doesn't get talked about a lot, which is a bummer because this is really what can bring so many nursing students down, myself included. This is number 5, is to set up your support system, set your expectations, and to get your mind right before day 1. Okay, because nursing school is hard, it's really hard, and you're not meant to white-knuckle it alone, my friend. So first step, You're going to want to tell your people what is coming, so have a real conversation with your family, your spouse, your friends, everyone before the term starts, okay? Let them know what nursing school busy actually looks like, because it's a lot. And here's the trap: if you let everyone assume that your life is not going to change, then resentment can quietly build on both sides. So you want to get ahead of that. Tell them that you're going to be in the thick of it, really, and ask for their support and their help. Now, second, find your new nursing friends. Okay, your classmates are going to be your lifeline here. They're the only people who truly, truly are going to get what you're going through because they're walking right along with you. So invest in those relationships early. Find a study group, be a little choosy. You want people who are actually there to work, right? Not just vent or complain. And if you're having a hard night, lean on those people. Okay, you are not alone. Going through nursing school. Find your people. And third, take care of yourself, especially your sleep, okay? Your stress levels, your rest— these things are going to directly affect how well your brain performs on those critical thinking exams, right, in nursing school. So figure out now what helps you decompress and actually protect it in your schedule. See how all these things are coming back to the hour-by-hour schedule? It's so important. And for our family, that looks like taking a full day off every single week to rest. So we take Saturdays completely off, and it has the biggest blessing through everything we've been through. So whatever it is for you, take some time out of your day or take some time out through your week and build it into your schedule on purpose. And watch for those early warning signs of burnout, okay? Things like total exhaustion or dread or losing all your motivation. You want to catch it early so that it doesn't take you out when you're in the middle of your term. So building in these rest periods are going to help with that. Now, I want to make sure that you don't forget any of these things before you start nursing school, so I actually made a free nursing school prep checklist for you. So just comment the word "prep" down below and I'll send the link right over to you so you can have all of this laid out in one place. Now, of course, a big thing to know is that it is possible to get a real head start on the academic side of things. So your next step is to go watch this video right here where I'm going to walk you through the main things that you're going to want to study before you start nursing school. Okay, so that is a must-watch. And if this video helps you, hit that like button, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell. And as always, my friend, go become the nurse that God created only you to be, and I will see you over there in that next video.