Lessons Learned - Choose Your School Wisely - Page 3

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  1. May 14, '12 by
    Waah waah waah.Oh, and if you decide to take the English class, pay particular attention to the possessive apostrophe for the camel's sake!
    mrskennedy, 2BRN123, and GrnTea like this.
  2. May 14, '12 by
    To say I am NEW to this is an understatement! This is my first message EVER to an online group such as this. I read all the posts about this issue and wanted to add my 2 cents worth.

    First Trailblazer, I am really sorry. I hate everything that has happened to you. To struggle with so many personal issues at one time in addition to NURSING SCHOOL?? TOO MUCH! I am serious Trailblazer; that is too much for any person to try and handle while attending a program as tough as nursing school. The requirements for school are simply too rigid when you are dissolving your marriage, having serious, PAINFUL surgery, as well as trying to find a place to live! Anyone would lose it trying to deal with that AND SCHOOL.

    Secondly, use this time to figure things out. Since you quit school, I am sure there is no way you could go back at this time anyway. You have probably missed too many clinical rotations and class requirements. I think you should take some time to simply sort through your life. I have RARELY ever shared this with anyone, much less typed in online, but I missed too many clinical days four weeks before my graduation. I was DEVASTATED! I begged and pleaded with the college, but the rules are the rules and I was kicked out of the nursing program. When it finally sank in, I would NOT be graduating with my class, I fell in a deep depression. But, after the drama was over, I realized I had no one to blame but me. I was working full-time as a LPN on weekends and in the evenings and attending nursing school during the day. The years of no sleep and exhaustion got to me..I simply broke. How I broke a month before graduation..I HAVE NO IDEA, but I did. After the misery faded, I decided to use the time to save money, work more, and was able to attend the next year (having only one semester until graduation) without working and graduated without any problems. The hardest part? Walking back in that college one year later, facing the same instructors and graduating without really knowing anyone (my friends graduated the year before, hard to make good friends in one semester). But..I DID IT and YOU CAN TOO! Use this time to your advantage. Research your English class and see what other nursing schools require. Unfortunately, in my area, my clinical courses did not transfer exactly which meant if I transferred to another school, one semester became anywhere from 2 to 4 semesters. I simply could not do that so I held my head high (tried to anyway) and went back to my school. The next year I graduated. I can assure you, never has an employer or anyone else commented on what YEAR I graduated: RN is RN, no matter what year its obtained.

    Always remember: You have the knowledge to do this! Do you know how many young students study as hard as they can, work at it day and night, but are simply unable to master the information? Its just TOO HARD! You are not one of them Trailblazer..THAT IS A BIG DEAL!! You know you have what it takes to do this, embrace that knowledge!

    Lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, make peace (eventually) with whats happened and let the experience change you. Yes, I am older now (40's) and that happened when I was in my 20's, but it did change me. Before, I had always been hard-nosed. If you were smart, you graduated; if you were "not smart"", you didn't. I realized after that happened to me things weren't so "black and white". In my case, exhaustion and over-confidence did me in. I learned I couldn't always talk myself out of every problem and that there were DIRE consequences to poor decisions. I also learned who my TRUE friends are and who was just "along for the ride".

    Take care of yourself and use your time wisely. I really hope all works out for you.
    Tragically Hip, RHIA, RN, AllynaBerry, and 3 others like this.
  3. May 14, '12 by
    I can't wrap my mind around being 4 weeks from finishing nursing classes and dropping out. Mind = BLOWN. Most schools even offer English during the shortened summer terms. You could possibly have even walked the stage with your fellow classmates. I know at my school if you're short by 1-2 classes, they let you participate in commencement if you are pre-registered in those classes for summer session.But seriously...... 4 more weeks. *smh* English is easy! Go get your seat back and finish the semester for cripes' sake. God knows you've got fight in you. Can you imagine 5 years from now looking back on this decision and knowing you blew it all on something that can easily be fixed? Yeah, it sucks. I'd be ******, too. But dude....suck it up and get done with school or else you just wasted a ridiculous amount of time and money for absolutely nothing.
    itsmejuli, noahsmama, ProfRN4, and 3 others like this.
  4. May 14, '12 by
    Not to mention, you could probably CLEP out of the English requirement like I'm doing. A $90 test and an hour of my time is the equivalent of a four-credit course at my school.
    PinkCupcake, Hygiene Queen, mikeicurn, and 2 others like this.
  5. May 14, '12 by
    ixchel said..go get your seat back... Will a school let you come back after you quit? I bet your right, they would as long as you hadn't "officially" dropped and, aren't most clinicals done at this time? Four weeks before graduation? Trailblazer, you need to think about this.

    If there is ANYWAY you can go back...DO IT! You will be so glad you did Trailblazer!
    Last edit by julielive on May 14, '12 : Reason: word omitted
  6. May 14, '12 by
    I just graduated from RSU and I will admit the program was a nightmare. Everything that you have posted has happened during our last semester. Not to me personally but to a few other students. Doing research on a college before you apply is a good idea but you also have to look at the statistics for their pass rates for the NCLEX as well. I went to RSU because they had a 97% pass rate for the NCLEX. When I graduated I wanted to know what I was doing. Yes our grading scale was not the same as the 10 point scale. That was to make sure that they were not turning out people who would not pass the NCLEX and would provide SAFE patient care. There were NO exceptions made for us. If we didn't cut it we didn't cut it. We lost a significant number of students through the 2 year program. Like you I had multiple different problems and life events such as being hospitalized 3 separate times during the 2 years. NOT ONE time did I request that an exception be made on my behalf. I completed my makeup work and continued on. I refused to give up. The students that were denied graduation because of "missing" courses fought to the bitter end until they were approved for graduation. You pick up the pieces and continue on if that is the career path that you choose.



    Quote from Trail Blazer
    Do a lot of research before choosing which school you would like to attend. If possible, interview the head of nursing. Review the textbooks they are using and ask where the questions for their test are obtained. Ask if they rewrite the questions they use or if the questions are verbatim since NCLEX style question are thoroughly researched.

    Talk to students already in the program and get a perspective on the teaching styles of the instructors, the flow of a semester, etc. I realize we're all in a hurry to get accepted into a program and most of us will take what we get. By doing your research ahead of time you'll be confident that you're not wasting your money, time spent away from family and friends and sanity.

    I say all this because I just dropped out of nursing school 4 weeks before graduation. The straw that broke the camels back? Four weeks before graduation I was told I couldn't graduate because I hadn't completed a basic English class. The fact is I did complete the class on my first go around in college.

    The class fell through the cracks during admissions and when I provided proof of completion, with transcripts, the credit was not accepted. I followed the chain of command all the way to the president of the school and was given the same response at each level. I attempted to offer evidence based research papers as work already complete (made a 97 or greater on all papers) and they were not acknowledged. I felt as though I had no advocate and was defeated that the powers that be wouldn't help in some fashion.

    I had to fight to stay in a program that I was paying for out of my pocket.

    Anyway, I began the program and after two weeks was separated from my husband. I had to find somewhere for me and my daughter to live. We moved in with a girlfriend from school, was there two months then moved into an apartment.

    For the next six months I fought through a bitter divorce.

    Life changing event #1: I maintained my grades and was still able to work. The second blow came after a major rotator cuff surgery last May. I missed two days of school because I hurt so bad I couldn't dress myself. The third day I was late for clinical, again a challenge with dressing with one arm. I followed school protocol and called my instructor to let her know I would be late.

    I called multiple times without an answer from her. When I arrived to the site she stated she hadn't received any calls from me, belittled me in front of my classmates, then sent me home. This pushed me over the hours allotted to miss for the semester and I was kicked out of the program. I was written up and kicked out of the program. Later in the day I was reinstated. The following day the instructor apologized and stated she acted inappropriately. Unfortunately that wouldn't undo the damage already done to my record.

    Life changing event #2: The math competency test. The first one I failed and the second go around I made an 89. You have to make a 90 to pass. The head of nursing would make no exceptions and stated I would be kicked out of the program. I went to the director of nursing with evidence that we were not consistently tested on the math and with each test the rules changed. The instructors did not follow the math rules outlined in our math book. I ended up having to go to the dean and was able to retest. The curriculum was changed as a result of this and now math is reinforced in exams and reviewed prior to testing. I was allowed to retest and was successful.

    The straw that broke the camels back for me was the unwillingness to accept a class I had completed at another college, for credit to graduate. Nursing students shouldn't have to fight this hard to stay in a program. It's hard enough without all the pitfalls.

    Also, find out what grading scale your college of choice is on. The one I attended used a 7 point grading scale. The colleges around them, offering the same program, uses a 10 point grading scale.
  7. May 14, '12 by
    Please don't ever come work with me. All excuses are poor excuses. Buck up and stop blaming everyone and anything for all your problems.
    noahsmama and AllynaBerry like this.
  8. May 15, '12 by
    Quote from julielive
    ixchel said..go get your seat back... Will a school let you come back after you quit? !
    I have no idea, but at this point, I wouldn't be above begging and bribery with baked goods to get back in. 4 weeks! It's crazy! I'd seriously beg, beg, beg, and blame it on an overly emotional lack of judgment. I think the OP of this thread had a significant amount of drama, and it makes me question a lot about their competence in general, but that doesn't change the fact that I just KNOW they're going to be filled with an inescapable amount of regret if they don't do anything they possibly can to get back in.
  9. May 15, '12 by
    I want to add that when we first were assigned advisors (before classes even started) the advisors emphisized the need to go over our transcripts every semester to make sure we were on tract with no 'surprise' classes jumping up before graduation. Apparently this isn't a rare thing, classes fall through the cracks and it is important to know about them EARLY so you can squeeze them in during a break. Blaming the school does no good. It really is your responsibillity to make sure you have everything you need.
    ProfRN4 and brillohead like this.
  10. May 15, '12 by
    Quote from moonchild86
    I want to add that when we first were assigned advisors (before classes even started) the advisors emphisized the need to go over our transcripts every semester to make sure we were on tract with no 'surprise' classes jumping up before graduation. Apparently this isn't a rare thing, classes fall through the cracks and it is important to know about them EARLY so you can squeeze them in during a break. Blaming the school does no good. It really is your responsibillity to make sure you have everything you need.
    At orientation last night, we were all handed out forms from our advisers where they has written any class that we still had outstanding that was required for graduation, as well as the date it needed to be completed by. So we literally have ZERO excuses.
    But the reality is, that doesn't reduce our responsibility. If our adviser made a mistake and forgot something, no one is going to say, eh, just forget it and graduate without it! Things fall through the cracks, and it sucks, but in the end we as students are the ones with a career at stake. We need to make SURE nothing falls through!