Bevill State Nursing Program... food for thought

U.S.A. Alabama

Published

This is being posted for anybody that is considering the Bevill State Nursing program. I have heard lots of good things about the program from students that were there in the past. This is being posted as an up to date status on the program. In the past 2 weeks I have talked to two of the people in my class, 5th semester, that are having trouble doing their preceptorship. The first student was assigned to a nurse that has been off work on medical leave for a couple of months. I assumed the school would call the nurse to tell them who to expect as a precepting student this semester, not let the student try to locate the nurse and find out she is not available. The other student found out her precepting nurse had been "double booked". The school had assigned two students to her. The second student may be put in a postion where she will have to do her preceptorship during the summer, and graduate a semester after the rest of her class. Between the Sumiton and Jasper campuses, I am fairly certain these are not the only two with major problems, just all I know of personally.

Nursing school is stressful enough when the staff is doing their jobs. This is rediculous! I am just thankful I am not having problems with my precept.

Specializes in ICU.

Just graduated from Bevill last week. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can pass the NCLEX. Would hate to think all my hard work and frustration was for nothing. Already working under a temp license, so the pressure is really on now. Wish someone had alerted me to Bevill's pass rate before I started or I would have chosen another school. All they kept telling me was they were in the top 50 nursing programs in the country. I found out later they were ranked in the top 50 of the ADN programs only. If they had a pass rate of right at 80% when I started, and were in the top 50, just how crappy are the other ADN programs I wonder?

Specializes in N/A.

Thanks so much! They just want our hard earned financial aid money! Lol!

Specializes in ICU.

They are limited in how much financial aid money they can get from everyone because several years ago they lost their ability to offer Fed. Subsidized loans. They got in trouble and the Feds told them they had to give up the Loans or the Pell Grants.

The nursing program spends so much time patting themselves on the back they neglect the students. One thing I will caution you about is anything that happens, even tests that are graded incorrectly, are the students fault. The students will not be backed by the school against the staff. In third semester I had a test I got a lower grade on than I expected so I went to review it with the teacher, and there were three questions I got correct that were marked wrong. Even the teacher inadvertantly told me my answers were right, but she refused to change my test score. During first semester they would do test reviews after every test but there were so many questions graded wrong they stopped doing full class reviews. After that if you wanted to review your test you had to set up an appointment and drive all the way to Jasper to meet with the teacher. I was a Sumiton student and I don't live anywhere near Jasper. I did not have a good experience at Bevill and have directed 3 people I personally know to other schools.

Specializes in N/A.

WOW!!!! That's very informative! Thanks so much!!!

Specializes in ICU.
WOW!!!! That's very informative! Thanks so much!!!

You're welcome. I would suggest looking into a BSN program. It is still only 5 semesters of nursing school. The typical ADN takes 6 or more semesters to complete, with the pre-reqs. To finish pre-reqs for BSN it requires an additional ENG, LIT, Chem, Math, Philosophy, Nutrition and 2 History classes. Going full-time this will take approx. 7 semesters and you will have a higher degree. I really wish I had talked to someone outside of the school before I started nursing. That is the route I would have gone. Now I have to wait until nursing apps are accepted then apply and go to school for 3 more semesters to get my BSN, while working full-time.

I know what you mean lol!! Do you know anything about a bevill having a point system if so how does it work?

I didn't know anything about a point system until today when the testing coordinator mentioned it. She didn't go into detail about it, but I will be finding out next week....But, she did say that the score they want us to have on the teas test is "proficient" meaning 58 or higher.

Specializes in N/A.

@Cpl_dvldog I have really been thinking of attending the university here on my town! Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I live in Memphis TN! Ha.... so I'm gonna try at the University of Memphis but its so competitive!

Specializes in ICU.
I didn't know anything about a point system until today when the testing coordinator mentioned it. She didn't go into detail about it, but I will be finding out next week....But, she did say that the score they want us to have on the teas test is "proficient" meaning 58 or higher.

I'm not sure how the TEAS test factors in, but I doubt making a 58 will get you into the program since I have have talked to several people in the class behind mine that scored in the mid-90's.

For those that do not know how they determine your points the way it was done when I got in is you get points for your science classes and math. They looked at BIO 201,202,220 and math 100. They took the top three grades from your sciences and gave you 30 pts for each A, 20 for a B, and 10 for a C. You got 11 pts, I think, for an A or B in MTH 100 and got 5 pts for a C. Then they took your COMPASS reading score and added them all together. The max score was 200. I am not sure if the TEAS score is replacing the COMPASS score or not. If so, you will need to score in the 90's on the TEAS to be competative, and get a combination of A's and B's in science. They tell you that you must score at least a 58, just like they say you must have at least a 2.75 gpa. If you score a 58 or have a gpa of 2.75 you are qualified to get in but you will not. The nursing program is very competative with approx 100 seats on each campus and they get over 200 applications for each campus, so they only take 50% of those that apply.

My class started with about 96 people, and Jasper had a few more, we graduated about 12-15 of those that started with us. After picking up some of the last class failures and losing some of ours each semester, and picking up some LPN-RN students 3rd semester, by the last semester they combined both Sumiton and Jasper campuses. The two campuses started with a total of about 200 students and there was less than 70 that graduated. Don't forget that includes many students that did not start out in the original 200.

Specializes in ICU.
@Cpl_dvldog I have really been thinking of attending the university here on my town! Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I live in Memphis TN! Ha.... so I'm gonna try at the University of Memphis but its so competitive!

It is very competative here also. Between paying out of state tuition and paying for a place to live it may not cost anymore to go to U of Memphis than to a Community College here.

WOW I have lots of issues with your post... I have periodically checked this forum over the past 5 semesters and while I haven't had the time to comment as apparently you have, now that we have graduated I have the time!

While I am not going to go back and pull and pick at each comment I disagree with. I will say this to everyone that has read this... Nursing School is NO JOKE and if you walk into it thinking it is, you will feel the same way as my classmate. I am not going to say that I had a peaceful WONDERFUL experience... I have had my ups and many, many downs... I have been through nursing school!! I have not agreed with every decision that has been made, but ya'know I did my time and I am done. I will sit for boards as soon as Bevill sends my transcripts to the BON. Trashing the school & the program only shows ignorance.

Please take all bad information along with the good.

Like I said Nursing school is NO JOKE they are going to all be hard where ever you decide to go!!

Specializes in ICU.

I agree nursing school is NO JOKE. Considering I already have a BA degree I can compare how this school is run compared to the other Jr. College I attended before moving on the U of A. Bevill was my 3rd college I have attended and the nursing program there was run like ours was the first class they ever had. Half the time the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. Many times the classes or clinicals seemed to be thrown together. I understand "things" happen, but "things" seemed to happen way too often.

Just because I graduated the program does not mean I'm going to blow smoke up someone's ass and tell them that Bevill is the best program in the State. People ask me a question, I do like I always do, I give them an honest answer. The entire time I was in the program I kept hearing that Wallace and Jeff St. were on the verge of having their nursing programs put on suspension, then I discovered that Bevill is the one that is on the verge. That info comes straight from the Al Board of Nursing website. With the dismal NCLEX pass rate Bevill has had lately, including the last class, I think we should keep our fingers crossed we actually pass it.

Specializes in Med-Surg.
I agree nursing school is NO JOKE. Considering I already have a BA degree I can compare how this school is run compared to the other Jr. College I attended before moving on the U of A. Bevill was my 3rd college I have attended and the nursing program there was run like ours was the first class they ever had. Half the time the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. Many times the classes or clinicals seemed to be thrown together. I understand "things" happen, but "things" seemed to happen way too often.

Just because I graduated the program does not mean I'm going to blow smoke up someone's ass and tell them that Bevill is the best program in the State. People ask me a question, I do like I always do, I give them an honest answer. The entire time I was in the program I kept hearing that Wallace and Jeff St. were on the verge of having their nursing programs put on suspension, then I discovered that Bevill is the one that is on the verge. That info comes straight from the Al Board of Nursing website. With the dismal NCLEX pass rate Bevill has had lately, including the last class, I think we should keep our fingers crossed we actually pass it.

I am starting my 3rd semester and I will admit everything you've said is 100% correct. I know someone who scored a mid C on a test last semester, when test review comes around she found out it didn't read the scantron correctly and her real grade was a low A!! That's a huge difference! Also another classmate's grade posted on Blackboard was 6 points lower than what the scantron said (he discovered on test review day), he was told the higher grade was correct and it would be changed but it never was. He had to go back at the end of the semester and remind them to fix it. Stuff like that can make the difference between passing and failing. You have to fend for yourself and make sure things are done correcty. I have also heard of a teacher who refused to change a student's grade after finding out some right answers were counted wrong. I only have two semesters left and I hope nothing happens with Bevill that would cause their nursing program to be discontinued but if I had it to do over again I would have applied for another college. It is very frustrating how unorganized they are and you can't believe anything they tell you. Nobody knows what is going on until last minute.

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