11/12/2024
My name is Megan and I graduated from the U of SC College of Nursing in December 2023. My mom used the U of SC parents page to help me a lot throughout the semesters whenever things were confusing, or I needed help, so this hopefully will help some of you.
A little background on me: I did not start my college education at the University of South Carolina, nor did I major in Nursing to begin with. I went to Florida Institute of Technology and was double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Biomedical science with hopes to go to Med school, but I realized that I hated it. After my first semester I began researching how to transfer to UofSC (which was my second choice) and decided that I wanted to major in nursing. Then during my first spring break at FIT COVID began and I went home and worked at a nursing home as a CNA aide to dip my toes in, and I realized I LOVED taking care of people. So I found an apartment in Columbia and I moved (before I even knew if I had been accepted as a transfer), but I had backup plans, taking pre-reqs at midlands or trident tech, etc. Once I was accepted and started classes you could definitely say I was caught off guard. I had never studied in highschool, and only studied very little at FIT and still got good grades, but this was a different ball game entirely.
Being that I was a transfer student I never had a pre-nursing orientation or any specific pre-nursing tours, but one thing I did experience throughout all of lower and upper division was the Rumor Wheel that surrounds the College of Nursing.
Examples:
You must have a 4.0 GPA to get into Upper Division.
FALSE my GPA was between a 3.3 and a 3.4
You must have an A in patho to get into Upper Division.
FALSE I finished with a C.
You can’t go out, attend football games, or have a life outside the program.
FALSE You need to keep your eyes on the prize, but I went to football games when I could, went out some weekends, and had plenty of time with friends. The key is moderation. And yes some nursing students find the time to do more than others, but that was what worked for me.
You have to get a job on a med surg floor when you are a new grad.
FALSE I know more people that have taken new grad jobs in ICUs than I do medsurg including myself.
I encourage all nursing students strongly to remember not to believe everything you hear. Instead seek advice from professors, advisors and the CON website (https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/nursing/academic_programs/bs_nursing/fall2014programinfo/academic_standards_bsn.php). I tutored for anatomy & physiology II with the Student Success center, and also picked up great habits from them (they are also a great resource for the academic side!). I was admitted to Upper Division and was given a Summer Start (which I wanted so that I would not finish a full year later than I should have being that I transferred), it was great. Although I was able to avoid setbacks like having to retake a course, or not being admitted on my first try I know of plenty of students who have and still graduated with a BSN from U of SC. I did however come very close to not passing several classes including patho and med surg 1, and I went to the professors as daunting as it was and tried to figure out what was going on. Mostly it was that I knew the material but was overthinking the exam questions and therefore bombing the exams, until I got help from professors on how to better read the questions and stopped saying “well that might be the right choice if …”. For me organization was key, I got a puppy as a freshman that lived with me for all of college, had some not so great roommate situations, and had some health problems, but I made it work. I also want to point out that I finished the BSN program with a 3.2, got more Cs and Bs than As. I was able to pass my NCLEX on my first try and am working as an RN in the Surgical Trauma Burn ICU at MUSC.
To keep this already long post slightly shorter, if your nursing student needs help with organization, advice, NCLEX prep or help with a class or clinical feel free to email me at [email protected], and I will do my best to help!
As a final note I want to add that you should not compare yourself or your grades to anyone else, and there is a patient out there that needs YOU to be their nurse.
Retention and Progression in the Nursing Major
