For over 25 years, Georgia College’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing has been one of the university’s most esteemed and challenging educational programs. Its rigorous curriculum is designed to prepare students to enter the medical field with the maximum efficiency level. This program holds the reputation of being highly competitive and exceptionally challenging to complete once accepted.

To get a BSN, anyone entering the program must be willing to devote hours of their time and emotionally prepared for some of the unforgiving realities of working in the medical field. While applying for college, students can choose pre-nursing as a major, which allows them to study some introductory medical courses before joining the nursing cohort. Generally, it is not until the sophomore or junior year of college that nursing students enter the cohort where they will train one-on-one in a hospital, completing several clinicals and challenging tests.

Staying true to reputation, the GC nursing program does not shy away from giving its students firsthand experience of some of the emotionally tasking situations they will witness as nurses in the real world. The nursing program also comes with a substantial school workload and one-on-one training. To be adequately prepared, students must begin studying months in advance for many of the exams. GC nursing graduate Lily Kate Jordan recalled some of her most challenging moments while completing her degree at the university.

“In the nursing cohort, we have a test about every other week, along with clinicals and other assignments,” Jordan said. “The tests were anywhere from 3-10 chapters, so it was a wide variety

of information that we were required to know, and sometimes that meant starting to study three weeks before the test just to feel prepared.”

Jordan then explained some of her most impactful moments while working in a hospital since her graduation and how she felt that GC’s program prepared her for reality.

“It was an adjustment to understand how broad the bedside nursing profession is, from charting and medication to advocating for the patient and working with the doctors, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and every other healthcare provider,” Jordan said. “I really do think the GC nursing program prepared me for this career. There were times where I would be frustrated and wouldn’t understand why they were making us do things that seemed trivial to me at the time, but it had really paid off during my new grad orientation.”

While Jordan is looking back on her time at Georgia College, many students are currently living through this experience. GC Junior Kensey Van Campen was accepted into the nursing cohort this year and had since been working on concluding her clinical at the Atrium Navicent Hospital in Macon, Georgia. Van Campen shared some of her thoughts and most significant takeaways from her journey so far at Georgia College.

“I think that the biggest takeaway has been just changing the way that I process information,” Van Campen said. “In nursing school, not only do you learn information but how you apply that information in different clinical situations, depending on the state of your patient. Critical thinking has been extremely important, especially when it comes to test-taking.”

It takes extreme hard work and dedication by the nursing students at Georgia College to complete their degree. Going through the program also requires these students to face some highly jarring scenarios and to keep their emotions under control during high-pressure situations. Preparing students for the real world of nursing also takes commitment and dedication from the

professors, the university, and the instructing hospitals. The student’s testimonies truly back the effectiveness of GC’s nursing program, as many students agree that the rigors of the program have prepared them for the challenging realities of the medical profession. Despite how notoriously arduous the program is, students remain in support of its curriculum, showing that the process is worth enduring to obtain the result.