Courtney Williams
Nacogdoches, TX
Excelsior College®, Associate of Science in Nursing

Courtney Williams went into healthcare after a long line of family members had done the same.  “My whole family—aunts, uncles cousins, dad, mom, everybody—is connected to the healthcare field in one way or another. Of course, as a teenager you want to do the opposite of whatever it is that your parents and the rest of in your family has done. I found myself in need of money with no real idea of when I’d be finished with traditional college or what I wanted to do while I was there. It changed regularly. So, after working in an emergency room as clerk for a year or so and seeing some things that should have made me puke but didn’t, I decided to go to LVN school because it was fast, and I’d hopefully be able to make enough money to pay my rent and my car note. And, it worked out fairly well. I found that I enjoyed it. One thing I’ve found about nursing is that there are so many different things that you can do as a nurse and so many different types of patients you can care for. I’m working as a psychiatric nurse right now. I’ve found that that’s really the place for me. The money’s horrible but my mind really speaks to psych patients,” she said.

Finding The College Network® was not a challenge for Courtney. “I had talked about The College Network with a friend before who decided to do her RN with The College Network and when it was time for me to get my RN, I looked on the internet and there it was,” she said.

Courtney handled studying on her own very well. “It’s fairly simple. You study when you have time. I generally have the time when I’m at work. I find that I have less distractions at work than at home. There’s not television. That’s where I’ve done most of my studying, on my downtime at work. Read, read, and read again and take the practice questions. It’s just studying," she said.

For future students, Courtney offers this advice: “Study. That’s really all there is to it. Study and do not be too nervous about the tests. Your first instinct is usually the right one. Don’t go back and change your answers.  That’s one thing that I know gets a lot of people, going back and changing answers. That’s pretty much it. Honestly, I think a lot of mine has just been luck. You do have to study and have an idea of what you need to know to get into the test. You can’t go in there blind. Don’t be nervous. That’s what gets a lot of people on tests. The fear of failure will get you 8 times out of 10.”

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