Okay, first a little backstory: I am currently in my second semester of my local community college's ADN program. My community college is one of two nursing programs in my local area, the other one being a BSN program through an extension of a university's nursing school in my state. I chose the ADN program because of a number of reasons: cost, I would be done quicker, I would be set to begin my online rn-bsn classes right after I graduate, the program is well established and respected in my area etc. I felt like I made the right decision to attend my ADN program, but now I am beginning to think differently, which has lead me to make this thread.
I was a 4.0 student, dean's list, scholarships, you name it. Everyone who is in my program now is a star student as our program is very competitive to get into. However, ever since I began this program my grades have done nothing but drop substantially. Everyone in my class, including me, is struggling to even pass our classes. C's are the standard in my program, only TWO people managed to complete our first semester with a B, everyone else obtained a C, some barely making the grade to continue. Our program started with 30 people, we now have 8 and are barely halfway through. All of our classes are also 6+ credit hours (first semester was 9 credit hours for one class), so the grades we get highly affect our GPA. Our program is extremely disorganized and very strict. Those in the 3rd and 4th semesters say the same story, nothing changes. I've heard about 10 people are currently failing 3rd semester and may have to repeat. You may think, as I was thinking, that the difficulty of my program must mean high NCLEX pass rates, well, I looked on the board of nursing records and saw that my program had only an 86% pass rate last year. I completely understand nursing school is supposed to be challenging, time consuming, and difficult all around, but I can't help but think my school is taking it to far at the cost of its students. The BSN program in my area is a totally different story, I've talked to many people in there program recently. They have nothing but good to say from there program. Apparently, there 4th semester class has lost three (3) people, the ENTIRE program. I was told by more than a few people, that getting A' and B's in there program is commonplace, and rarely does anyone struggle to "just pass". Here's the kicker, they also had a 100% NCLEX pass rate last year. Hearing this, and knowing first hand how my own program is, I fee like I have made a wrong decision by choosing to go to my program and am now seriously contemplating dropping my program despite being nearly half way through, to apply for the BSN program and hope to see improvement in my grades and education.
I hope you all acknowledge that in no way am I complaining. I work my tail off, as does everyone else in my program. I am not bashing program either, I am simply concerned, as I know education and especially grades are important. I'd love to hear what input you all have about my situation.
