As I’m sure you’re all aware, it’s August again – back to school!

This is our final year!

This is the year when we put it all together and finally make sense of what we’ve been taught these past few years (or so I’ve been told). Most of us will have senior classes in leadership and management, synthesis of nursing care and our final nursing clinicals. Some of us may even have a final synthesis rotation with a “real” nurse!

Whatever your senior year looks like, we all have the same goal in mind – GRADUATION!

I’m going to pass on the secret that my already graduated friends told me…our biggest battle is Senioritis. Shocking I know.

To get through this year, we have to continue to excel in our classes and absorb all we can while we’re here. Daydreaming unfortunately won’t get us to graduation (I know, I’m just as upset as you are). And then there’s that dreaded NCLEX to pass…but we’ll tackle that later!

So set some healthy goals for this school year – bump that GPA up a few points, compete for that highly selective Graduate Nurse Internship, put in your application to graduate school. Whatever it is that you’re dreaming about doing after you graduate, now is the time to quit dreaming and start doing! I know, I know, I sound like one of your professors – but corny as it sounds, it’s true. We have finally reached the point where we have to take the goals post it off the bathroom mirror and start crossing those goals off the list!

So again, congratulations on beginning your senior year! We’re almost done and then we’re out into the wonderful world of graduate nursing!