Research Blog #2

My research topic idea has generally stayed the same. However, I would like to focus primarily on the stress factors leading towards potential Nursing students. For example, it would be a lot less stressful for these students if they were to have an academic advisor. Majority of the students at Rutgers who try transferring into the School of Nursing end up being declined at the end. Meanwhile, thousands of dollars has been spent and these students now need to change their majors. There is a website online that discusses how stressful the lives of these Nursing students are. I feel this also applies for pre-Nursing students. Melissa Halikiopoulou writes, "
Νursing students may be at higher risk for suicide than other colleges and students.     The process of education in nursing is leading to increased productivity and effectiveness, but it can also be a very stressful experience. Stress and depression can result in low academic performance, low quality of life and suicidal thoughts." Nursing curriculums are very rigorous and students are under constant pressure that has negative side effects such as suicide. If there were not such a limited number of seats in this program, would there be this much stress on the students? One article discusses how not only do Nursing students stress over their grades, but they also need to stress over paying their tuition just like any other college student. All of this stress is not healthy is not healthy. I used the first link listed below because it provides severals charts on Nursing students and suicide rates. It also lists the stress related factored on these students. The second link also provides information similar to the first one. As far as any controversies, it can be debated that Nurses are typically in demand because it is hard to find students worthy of enrolling into the programs. Nursing students do need to be very smart and attentive.

Sources used: http://www.hsj.gr/volume5/issue2/522.pdf
                       http://www.nurseeducationtoday.com/article/S0260-6917(01)90698-7/abstract

Research Blog #1

I am considering writing about the stressful competition in which students face when applying to selectives programs. I feel this topic is extremely relative to students today since not only are we competing nationally, but also internationally. Rutgers University is especially known for having extremely competitive programs. I believe this is very unfair since many students end up having to change their majors because they are unable to get into the programs they need. For example, I am currently working towards getting into the school of Nursing and in order to get in I must have a gpa of at least a 3.5. I feel this is unfair given that the first two years are general classes including expositoring writing and either a history or anthropology course. Clearly Nursing students do not intend on majoring in english or history and therefore may do poorly in these classes. Also, there is a low number of students allowed to be admitted into the Nursing school because there is a shortage of professors teaching the required courses for that program. Therefore students who wish to major in Nursing and cannot get into the program here at Rutgers need to either change their major or transfer to another school and risk not having their credits transfer. I feel that researching more information on this topic will be beneficial since I am one of the many students who are currently dealing with this issue.