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It has been suggested that students enter nursing programs with strong images of the profession and specific expectations of their educational experiences. However, little is known about the impact of initial clinical experiences on students' perceptions of the profession. Research using a perception of nursing inventory demonstrated that sophomore students entered nursing valuing the profession and with positive perceptions of practice. They generally maintained these views through their first clinical experiences. The students had less positive perceptions about public opinions of nursing that were also unchanged after a semester of classroom and clinical experiences. Although scores on the nursing practice and nursing value scales of the inventory did not differ significantly from initial scores after one semester of clinical experience, the majority of students believed their perceptions changed after their first clinical experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]