Attrition/Retention rate at your School

springchick1, ADN, RN · May 18, 2013

Yes, it happens everywhere but you have to think about it. If students can't pass the class, they may have a hard time passing the NCLEX. Nursing school is hard and the school is preparing you to take and pass boards. If the schools pass rate is too low, the BON may start looking into things.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · May 18, 2013

In the program that I'm in has a high NCLEX pass rate (comparable or better than the local BSN program), and it enjoys a relatively low attrition rate. I think we lost 3 students out of 33 in 1st semester, typically none or one in 2nd Semester, then maybe one every semester after that. Most students get a second chance to get through the program and in the end, we probably see about a 10% washout/dropout rate after the re-entry students have gone through the program again, from the start of each class.

Bouncyball · May 18, 2013

My school has a 97% nclex pass rate, but only a. 50% retention rate. Only a few people drop out by choice, the majority flunk out.

ames86 · May 18, 2013

My school has a high fail rate, the class that just graduated started out with 40 and only 18 graduated. Once a class starts their 3rd semester they have LPNs who join the class so its hard to say exactly how many of the orginal students make it. My school has a 98% pass rate on the NCLEX. The instructors call it "weeding out" when a student can't pass. They let the people who pass to take the class they fail again but if they fail a second time they are out.

MathHatingNurse · May 18, 2013

98 percent NCLEX pass rate. In my current class, only one person dropped out because she had major life issues hit her all at once. She was getting As and Bs, so I can safely assume she would still be with my class had she not had life get in the way. Everyone else either failed out or is still here. We have lost about a dozen out of a little over 30 students over failing out.

ixchel · May 18, 2013

My school has a 97% pass rate, and in the traditional BSN program, I believe they only lose maybe 10-15% of their students. We are also kept on the 10 point grading scale, which will account for the lower loss of students. I think most of us are expecting Bs right about now. An A is like a gift from god.

Sadala, ADN, RN · May 19, 2013

Yes, it happens everywhere but you have to think about it. If students can't pass the class, they may have a hard time passing the NCLEX. Nursing school is hard and the school is preparing you to take and pass boards. If the schools pass rate is too low, the BON may start looking into things.

Apparently, it doesn't happen everywhere (two people so far have responded that they don't lose that many but still have high NCLEX pass rates). I wonder why. I wonder what those schools do differently.

i.e. is it something about the school's programming or is it that they manage their acceptances differently, or what?

My own thinking is that it would be optimal to have both high NCLEX pass rates AND high retention rates. If some schools are achieving this, it would be nice to know what they are doing right.

ixchel · May 19, 2013

Apparently, it doesn't happen everywhere (two people so far have responded that they don't lose that many but still have high NCLEX pass rates). I wonder why. I wonder what those schools do differently.
i.e. is it something about the school's programming or is it that they manage their acceptances differently, or what?
My own thinking is that it would be optimal to have both high NCLEX pass rates AND high retention rates. If some schools are achieving this, it would be nice to know what they are doing right.

A couple of the PhDs at my school are actually doing a study on this right now to determine what in pre-screening predicts success best. If you want to know the truth, I think my instructors teach to test.

Sadala, ADN, RN · May 19, 2013

A couple of the PhDs at my school are actually doing a study on this right now to determine what in pre-screening predicts success best. If you want to know the truth, I think my instructors teach to test.

I'm afraid that I suspect that my institution enrolls far more students than it would ever be able to put through the program due to available clinical space/clinical staff. And I'm afraid that this occurs due to the $$ generated from those additional students. I've been keeping track of the numbers, and it seems that less than 1/3 of the students who enroll actually graduate.

I would really love to be wrong about this, but I'm scared that I might not be. I'm not scared for myself. It's more that I'm questioning the integrity of the process and it concerns me.

I would also like to know if there are factors in pre-screening that predict success. I suspect that there are, and I suspect that the results of that research may be what you'd imagine they would be. I suppose though, that I would further like to know what about how a program functions predicts student success. And then there's the question of... what is success? How is that defined? Is it just the percentage of those who pass the NCLEX after they graduate? What about all of those other students? Having the majority fail out doesn't seem terribly successful to me in terms of what the outcome of an educational program should be...

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 19, 2013

I'm afraid that I suspect that my institution enrolls far more students than it would ever be able to put through the program due to available clinical space/clinical staff. And I'm afraid that this occurs due to the $$ generated from those additional students. I've been keeping track of the numbers, and it seems that less than 1/3 of the students who enroll actually graduate.
I would really love to be wrong about this, but I'm scared that I might not be. I'm not scared for myself. It's more that I'm questioning the integrity of the process and it concerns me.
I would also like to know if there are factors in pre-screening that predict success. I suspect that there are, and I suspect that the results of that research may be what you'd imagine they would be. I suppose though, that I would further like to know what about how a program functions predicts student success. And then there's the question of... what is success? How is that defined? Is it just the percentage of those who pass the NCLEX after they graduate? (YES!!!) What about all of those other students? Having the majority fail out doesn't seem terribly successful to me in terms of what the outcome of an educational program should be...

You are not wrong....it is all about the money $$$. Certain schools obviously admit a larger less select group of candidates with the intent of the program to "weed them out" after a period of time thus keeping the NCLEX pass rates of GRADUATED students remains intact.

It's not about retention levels when deciding accreditation...it's about content and graduation/NCLEX pass rates.

ixchel · May 19, 2013

I'm afraid that I suspect that my institution enrolls far more students than it would ever be able to put through the program due to available clinical space/clinical staff. And I'm afraid that this occurs due to the $$ generated from those additional students. I've been keeping track of the numbers, and it seems that less than 1/3 of the students who enroll actually graduate.
I would really love to be wrong about this, but I'm scared that I might not be. I'm not scared for myself. It's more that I'm questioning the integrity of the process and it concerns me.
I would also like to know if there are factors in pre-screening that predict success. I suspect that there are, and I suspect that the results of that research may be what you'd imagine they would be. I suppose though, that I would further like to know what about how a program functions predicts student success. And then there's the question of... what is success? How is that defined? Is it just the percentage of those who pass the NCLEX after they graduate? What about all of those other students? Having the majority fail out doesn't seem terribly successful to me in terms of what the outcome of an educational program should be...

You may be hitting the nail right on the nose with your thoughts. Is your program accredited? I thought I read on here some time ago that a program stands to lose its accreditation if it loses too many students over the course of its curriculum. I may be remembering incorrectly. It might seem unfair to hold a program responsible for the success of its students so strictly, but at the same time, it would weed out the programs doing exactly what you suspect - admitting far more with the intention of collecting a tuition check.

I'm actually not sure how they are operationally defining success. I can ask, if you are interested. I'm not sure what step they are at in their research process, but they've been very open in their discussion about it. I believe they may be accounting for success with retention and with NCLEX. This school has had the highest NCLEX pass rate several years in a row and they throw that fact around a lot. I think they want to make sure their pre-screening process further ensures that success. Their variables will be A2 scores, pre-req GPA, and overall GPA. There may be more variables than that, but I don't know what or how many. This is a BSN program at a university that typically has students who come here from all over. There aren't many locals in the traditional BSN, and most of the students are 20-21. (I'm the old lady in the group at 32 years old :) I do believe I am the oldest one in the traditional program, with only one other person in their 30s besides me. Makes for funny conversation sometimes when I get reminded how old I look to my fellow nursing students! 32 seemed so old when I was 20 lol)