Day 1

Welcome to NEW york NURSE

I know, it's a lame name. Help me come up with something better please??

I considered making a blog when I first got accepted into nursing school, but was hesitant to make my thoughts about school public. I have heard that as students pave their way through school and are stressed with courses and clinicals, they can become less enthusiastic and start complaining about just how “rough” it is to be a nursing student. Blog posts can be so boring, and I was afraid I would drag on about the difficult parts of life as a nursing student, the things that are usually on your mind when you’re frustrated. But the past few weeks in New York have made me realize that this is a huge turning point in my life, where I am independent, living away from family, and beginning the start of a career I have been waiting to enter since I was a kid. I want to remember all of this, how I felt today when I walked into the nursing school on my first day as a student, and what it will feel like going into the hospital with a badge on for the first time. I can hardly remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, so I can only imagine how easily I will forget everything with a program that moves so fast.  So with that in mind, I am starting this blog to remind my future self what it was like to start from the very beginning. I have no intention of treating this like a diary; tracking every little thing I did every day. With the exception of this first post, my goal is to take three words at the end of each week to summarize what I learned as a nursing student, and a new resident in the state of New York.

When I look back on this blog, I want to remember what led me to this school and most of all, to this career. So I’ve pasted my personal statement to the University of Rochester that I wrote as an applicant last year. I’m hoping that any time I do get overwhelmed with the stressful life of an accelerated nursing student, or when I'm freezing and want to be home in sunny California, or when I get tired of night shifts as a new nurse, I will be able to look back and realize how far I’ve come to get here and how hard I worked to become a successful nurse--

February 20, 2012

Dear Rochester Admissions Committee,

I am a recent graduate of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. In high school, sports were my life. I wanted to play water polo in college, so when Pacific, a four year university with a Division I water polo team offered me a scholarship, I jumped at the opportunity. At the same time, I was putting another one of my dreams on hold. I have wanted to be a pediatric nurse since I was ten years old. Throughout my childhood, I was often in doctors’ offices and in the hospital for asthma. The small, nurturing acts of each nurse have made a huge impact on my life. These nurses were special. They didn’t just attend to my medical needs, but they took time to address the scary emotions that come with being in a hospital.  

My decision to attend Pacific and put my nursing career on hold was one of the best I have ever made. My friends ask me if I regret spending four years getting a degree I had no intention of using, and my answer is absolutely not. Those four years gave me time to grow and find out who I am. I know I would make a great teacher.  I have a natural rapport with children.  Working with kids in schools taught me how vulnerable they can be, and how our role as adults in their lives makes a huge impact on their future. But ultimately, it was my semester abroad that solidified my decision to go back to school for nursing. On Semester at Sea, we traveled to eleven different countries on a cruise ship. In Ghana, I had the opportunity to visit a rural village where a British man had started an organization that provides scholarships for education, and teaches local villages to build wells and toilets. I observed health care in the nearest medical clinic. I watched a mother bring in her baby whom they suspected already had malaria. I witnessed women come into the clinic, after having given birth on the side of the road because they couldn’t walk anymore.

Every experience throughout my semester abroad helped me recognize my passion for working in a medical environment. I know I can relate to the feeling of having little control when it comes to a medical illness, and it is vital as a nurse to understand the needs of your patient. Since I began my prerequisites for nursing, I have excelled in every class. I never understood how people could enjoy class until I started taking sciences. The competitive, fast paced courses keep me on my feet, prepared for what’s coming next. My academic success in my prerequisites has convinced me that I am in the right place. I believe that University of Rochester’s Accelerated BSN program is a perfect fit for me because I am a hard working student, an involved community member, and I am passionate about anything that pertains to nursing.

                                                   
                 

                                                      my lovely little house in Rochester