Drop Out/Failure Rate in your class

allthingsbright · Nov 23, 2006

75% to pass for us, but they just changed it at my school for incoming freshman to 80%.

Our class started as freshman with 64.

Lost 10 the first semester due to various reasons.

Have 8 failing OB right now and 10 failing mental health. Don't know how many are failing medsurg. About 5 left mid semester.

They are dropping like flies around here.

br107 · Nov 24, 2006

well i'm currently waitlisted, but i'm friends with a few first year students at the ADN program i will attend. dunno if if my friend exaggerated, but supposedly by halfway through the first semester their class was down to 50% :eek:

MsBruiser · Nov 24, 2006

Hi,
I am new here and was wondering if the 33% loss that we have in my class (AAS) is normal. We are only in the second semester of clinicals (2 more to go) and I think we may have a few more that will fail out this semester.
I can understand that there will be some losses, i.e. one woman didn't come back because she in a middle of a divorce, someone got pregnant, a few decided to do a BSN instead, etc. But it seems like we are dropping like flies.
Are other students experiencing this too?
CrazyHands

I wish my program would lose a few of the "bad apples." Put it in perspective - a 33% drop/fail rate is actual more common than you think for many introductory-level college classes. Nursing is no different, in fact, it should be tougher as we are dealing with human lives at the end of the day. Just because you are a caring, dedicated person doesn't guarantee anyone the right to the RN - it has to be earned. I always joke to my teachers they should call nursing school "how not to kill a patient," as every day seems to contain yet another learning lesson on how we truly hold people's lives in our hands.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Nov 24, 2006

shaazzaamm34 sed: "...But why would you quit to transfer to a bsn program... After your ADN it's so easy to Get ur BSN in like 3 semesters... Online at that... Ugh... Stupid Ppl..."

You have no idea about the OP's circumstances, so why are you passing judgement. I know you're in your 2nd semester but you may want to go back and review the passing judgement portion of professionalism in Fundamentals.

cc71 · Nov 27, 2006

Thank you so much, some of you are very supportive. As for studying, believe me I put in everything I have!!! I study w/ the book, notes, and NCLEX review book. I study alone and w/ a group. I don't think I am slacking anywhere in the "study department". Over the last week though, I find my mind wondering and I keep thinking about my backup plan once I fail out. I need to stop thinking like that, because it's not over yet! I truly do appreciate the support though, THANK YOU!

chlori · Nov 27, 2006

Hi there, at my school, Sinclair, in Dayton, OH it seems on an average per class of 10 students, only 3 make it in the first year of classes.

Spill, RN · Nov 27, 2006

Hi, I'm scared, and I haven't even started yet! I start Spring 07, and at our school it's 78 and above to pass, and you can't make 2 grades of

missqueenqann · Nov 28, 2006

We took an exam today with another section of nursing students, and between their class and our class, it looked like a single class from way back in September...it was very disconcerting to look around.
We need a minimum of 80% to pass at our school, no rounding. Scary hard.

Do you live in Washington State. Sounds like my school.:uhoh21:

RNinJune2007, RN · Nov 28, 2006

My schools drop-out\failure rate is high. Keep in mind some take time off for unexpected things (such as pregnancy, need a BREAK, etc).

We started with 45 students. Lost about ten in the first semester. We started third semester with about 25 people. We started the CURRENT (first) semester with 21 students.

Last semester graduated with 9 (from 45) students, and the current is 33 (two mixed original classes), so it is variable, but overall the drop-out/failure rate is OVER 50%.

middleageNP · Nov 28, 2006

YIKES!!! I hear stories about failing students all the time and worry about my own capabilities. I start in Spring with an accelerated program and very concern. I'm currently a 4.0 but I took my pre-reqs at a Community college (a lot more accommodating to students) ; and I am certain I didn't deserve a couple of my A's so the 4.0 may not be reflective of my ability. FWIW, about 20% of the original students in the CC program graduate. So yes, they drop like flies in a bug spray.

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Nov 28, 2006

I just wanted to add some perspective. MOST people that start college, do not graduate. This isn't something special to Nursing at all, I can't think of a single degree program, that if you look at the start to finish, isn't going to have a large percentage of drop outs for a wide variety of reasons.

TennesseeSN · Dec 2, 2006

I'm pretty scared as well. I'm in the first semester of an RN program and I'm holding a 73 and I need a 75 to pass. The 73 is being averaged as 2/3's of my grade and the upcoming final is worth the other third. I'll need a 79 to pass with a 75 overall if I'm doing my math right. The final has 150 questions that are worth a total of 100 points so each question will be worth less than a whole point.

I'm a bit disconcerted because I don't know what else to do. I know the material, but the questions throw me. When reviewing with the instructors over mistakes, I often have crossed out 2 answers that I know aren't right and end up choosing the wrong one out of the 2 I'm narrowing it down to. I do this ALL the time. I read and reread the text, get with study groups, and practice NCLEX questions. It seems that I may be overthinking the questions a bit and I don't know how not to.

I've done very well in clinicals and with my lab skills and those instructors have given me glowing reviews. I'm doing very well in Pharmacology. None of that may matter though if I can't pull that grade up.

Is the goal of passing too lofty? A 79 is a higher grade than any grade I've made so far in Fundamentals. It's breaks my heart to think that I'm not cut out for this. It's all I ever wanted to do. I have mostly As in my prerequisites and I never considered the possibility of failing. I'm not trying to undermine the profession or the education it requires as I knew the coursework would be difficult. I just always thought I was capable of it until now.

Any advice would be appreciated.