West Suburban College of Nursing - April 2009

Hi lvaliav
Just apply yourself, commit to not having any kind of social life, do not plan on working full time. From what I understand it is very difficult to work full time and go to school full time. Most schools advise students not to work full time, but everybody cannot afford to quit their jobs. My daugther quit her full time job luckly her husband and I paid their bills. My daugther did get a part time job a few months ago but she quit that job in order to finish her last 2 classes. I'm just happy she is done. I know a few people that are going through Wright College LPN program and I hear that program is just as labor intense, they cannot work full time they also have to give up so much but only for 1 year.
Good Luck. Hope you find the program that is right for you. Check out Aurora University and Lewis University ,I hear both are good programs.

Well, I guess you are getting one side of the story. WSCN is difficult and they have their problems (I heard that UIC is losing their whole nursing leadership team-what is going on there). There are a few faculty that I don't like either (Lisa PhD), but there are more than two good faculty. If you talk around, the big mass exodus from the school was about eight years ago. Since I've been there, they have only lost three that I know of (two they could afford to lose) but have hired six or seven. I like the ones I've met. If you knew the old Dean, and have spent any time with the new Dean and her assistant Dean, they are way better than the last Dean. Though your friend may not have got what she asked for, it seems that everybody is being treated more equally across the board.

I'm glad your wife is getting straight "A"s. I'm not. But WSCN has done a lot in the last two years that has helped me. They started a tutoring service which has helped me a lot (though I don't see many of my classmates taking advantage of it). There was a big cheating ring going on in my class last year. When the administration found out, they made our whole class retake one exam. I still passed. They also added ExamGuard to the computers which kept a lot of students from e-mailing the exams to their classmates (it still isn't working well). And I don't like the ATI either, but it has made me study harder and I get better grades. Not all faculty use it the same way, but I attended the review session by the company rep (the only senior student in the session that I could see) to learn how to better use the review module and practice exams. It helped. I too would recommend study groups, attend review sessions, and review the ATI.

How could any student come to WSCN (or any other nursing school) and not expect to study hard. Most of the nursing schools around the area required a 3.0 GPA to get in. WSCN required only a 2.75. When I was applying, UCI, Lewis, Rush, NIU all had at least 200 students on a wait list. It seems that some students should feel lucky to get into WSCN and would have a hard time making it up to the level of what is expected. The college must be doing some things right if they went from 60% pass rate to an 80"something"% pass rate since I've been there. Think about it and then go study some more - we have projects due in a week!

Exactly they made the whole class to retake it... Administration found out by one Anonymous phone call! Same people that failed the first exam passed the retake! School never pressed any charges against anyone because they were simply unable to identify people cheating! Not only exam guard is not working well but the whole system of taking exams on computers! The school forced the students to buy expensive laptops but then when we take the tests on them, the system crushes 50% of time. So after spending hard bucks on computers we are back to good, old pencil and paper or being squeezed in extremely small computer lab.

I will say nothing new, the school is disorganized and there is a lot of double standard. If your GPA is better then 2.85 look for another option.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

For confirming what I already suspected. I have been a westsider for over 20 years and have never heard good things about the nursing programs located at the hospital. It was always said that the nurses there did not learn anything and I never much cared for the hospital after having my oldest child there due to that very same reason (the care was horrible). Except for one nurse(Monique) who is still there whom at the time was a LPN but is now a RN and I do not believe that even she attended the hospitals nursing school.

But I thought that the program would be better because of the hospital now being associated with I believe Resurrection and I was thinking of applying.

Well I did and they gave me such a run around and so much BS that it was unbelievable. I came from a Ivy League school having already obtined a Bachelors with a GPA of 3.6 and they wanted me to take certain courses over like college algebra which did not make much sense I would call and call and could not get anywhere. Well I decided to not waste my time and moved on and I am so glad that I did!

That's very unfortunate, I work at a Resurrection hospital and come across many WSCN nursing students that do clinicals on our floor and I have been extremely impressed with specifically them. We also have Truman and Triton nursing students and after three years I've always thought the West Suburban students were the best as far as knowlege and helpfulness, they are always very independednt and confident so it's really strange that the school is having such problems. Then again I've never specifically talked to them about their school....I guess I'll see what some of them say about it.

I am only looking at this school because they are the ONLY school in Chicago area that is offering a part-time
night and weekend option and therefore my only hope of becoming a nurse unless I win the lottery or marry a wealthy man LOL. Then I would just go the 2 year community college route.

I need this night/weekend option because I must work full-time because of huge debt and living expenses
and being a parent. This is a 2nd degree for me and can't quit work for even a year long accelerated program.
My day job pays very well with good benefits and being a diabetic I can't quit working and lose my healthcare.

I"ll have to take my chances just to become an RN.

I will be honest with you, it is a school going through growing pains (organizational difficulties). The administration is trying to improve the program with the implimentation of ATI and it has worked. Last year the NCLEX pass rate was 85% and has improved to 92%. Some posts have indicated that the school is all self-study....learning in general is self-study...you go home and learn the material. Granted some of the teachers at the school need to improve their teaching style to get through to their students...but isnt all schools like that??

1) When did you apply and how soon did you hear back from them (phone call or letter) about being accepted or being denied acceptance? I applied several months prior to the deadline. I also had some difficulty rounding up all the paper work that I needed. Once all my stuff was turned in, it wasn't too long. I would give them a call.

2) What is the schedule for the classes?! Do they meet once a week for 3 hrs. (like the school I am currently at now) or do they meet more than once or twice a week?! We meet twice a week for about 2 hours. We have eight week classes that usually meet twice a week. But, only two classes at a time. The first semester we had three though. It is a lot of work but at least it is only two classes instead of four or five.

3) Do you start clinicals right away like in the first semester you start the program?! Where are some of the clinical sights?! we started with some type of experience the first semester during Foundations. But more so in the second eight weeks during CDH I. It was nice to finally get to work with patients, though it was different than sitting Patho and Pharm.

4) When did you start the program and how soon did you finish (graduate)?! Which program were you in?! I started this year and will finish next may. I"m in the Fast Track program, though I think they are going to a year-round program soon.
5) Did anyone ever go from a university nursing program to WSCN?! I don't know. If you've been there you probably should of asked. give them a call back. I know that not many, if any at all, schools transfer nursing courses.

Hope that helps.

Your loss! A 92%, up from 85%. They have a good tutoring program, seminars that I have attended this year on study skills and test taking skills, and I have heard that over 90% of graduating nursing students from any where take an NCLEX review course. So will I. You don't spend the money and the time in school not to put some final touches on your preparation. Do you think that WSCN is keeping Kaplin, Dr. Martin, ATI, and others in business all by themselves? West sub is one of the very few schools that will even look at a student with less than a 3.0 gpa and they are still at a 92%. So you can take your 2.85 and sit in line at other colleges and universities and maybe never get in. Yes there is trouble here. And they have been making changes. Straight "A" or not, this isn't General Education. I'm spending more time studying now than I have ever studied in my life. I can't count the number of nights we were out of here at 2:00 am and I can guarantee you that I'm in the faculty's office frequently. If you are struggling then get off the blog and go study! And if you are writing for someone, well....don't, just because it's stressfull dosen't mean it's bad. Just be supportive of your spouse or daughter or who ever. They will make it if they do the right stuff and spend enough time.

I graduated from WS and while it's clear some things have changed for the better, some have clearly stayed the same. I've posted things before, so I won't say too much here. The things about WS that chafed me to no end while there seem to be pretty much the things that chafed friends who went elsewhere. Based on my experience and what friends told me about other schools, it seems that there are few instructors who value nursing as a profession, particularly, bedside nursing. One of the worst things about nursing school is that there really isn't any catalyst to make them more responsive to student needs. There is a shortage of nursing schools, nursing is a good career, and they have what you need rather than the other way around. And of course, they make that clear to you by their words and actions for the entire time and that is very difficult for adults to take.

In the midst of nursing school, it is near impossible to not think that the heavy handedness is a moral outrage of the highest magnitude. Once you are done kissing all the rings and ego's of faculty and have received your degree, real life does resume and what nursing school did or didn't give you will quickly become irrelevant. At this point, I'm neither proud nor embarrassed that I went to WS. They were the school that was open when I wanted to start and I got my BSN. Once I started to work as a nurse, the annoyance faded pretty quick. Best wishes to anyone still engaged in the process (indoctrination?) of nursing school; it does get better.