Choosing A School - NCLEX Pass Rates

elkpark · Feb 23, 2018

While I agree that NCLEX pass rates are important, pass rates, by themselves, don't really tell you much. Some schools use a variety of sneaky methods to keep their pass rates high in the absence of a high quality educational program, and most of those methods involve screwing over students. IMO, NCLEX pass rates are pretty meaningless without also looking at the school's attrition rate

Let's say there are two nursing programs, School A and School B. School A has a very generous acceptance policy, takes pretty much anyone who is willing to pay them tuition, and they have a low quality program. They admit 100 new students each year. They use one of the NCLEX readiness tests as an overall "final exam" for their program, and require that students pass the test in order to graduate. They pass all the students through all the courses, regardless of their actual academic or clinical performance (and keep pocketing the tuition money), and, at the end of the senior year, 100 students take the exit exam, and only 20 of them pass. The other 80 students are SOL, don't graduate, and aren't eligible for licensure, an 80% attrition rate (yes, there are nursing programs "out there" that have attrition rates that poor, or nearly that poor; mostly the proprietary (for-profit) schools). Of the 20 students who did pass, 19 of them pass the NCLEX on the first try, for a 95% pass rate.

School B is an old, established school with high standards. They have tough admission standards, and admit 50 students each year. The classes are demanding and rigorous, and some students struggle at times during the program. When that happens, the school provides tutoring and faculty are available to offer help and guidance, and the school is committed to helping every student they admit succeed. Over the course of the program, a few students have to withdraw because of personal/family emergencies, and one or two students do, despite the school's best efforts, fail to meet the school's high academic standards and fail out of the program. 45 students end up graduating and taking the NCLEX and, of those 45, 41 pass the NCLEX on the first try, a 91% pass rate.

School A has a 95% NCLEX pass rate and an 80% attrition rate. School B has a 91% NCLEX pass rate and a 10% attrition rate. Which school would you rather attend? I always encourage potential students to look at schools' attrition rates as well NCLEX pass rates.

BreeBSNRN · Feb 23, 2018

While I agree that NCLEX pass rates are important, pass rates, by themselves, don't really tell you much. Some schools use a variety of sneaky methods to keep their pass rates high in the absence of a high quality educational program, and most of those methods involve screwing over students. IMO, NCLEX pass rates are pretty meaningless without also looking at the school's attrition rate
Let's say there are two nursing programs, School A and School B. School A has a very generous acceptance policy, takes pretty much anyone who is willing to pay them tuition, and they have a low quality program. They admit 100 new students each year. They use one of the NCLEX readiness tests as an overall "final exam" for their program, and require that students pass the test in order to graduate. They pass all the students through all the courses, regardless of their actual academic or clinical performance (and keep pocketing the tuition money), and, at the end of the senior year, 100 students take the exit exam, and only 20 of them pass. The other 80 students are SOL, don't graduate, and aren't eligible for licensure, an 80% attrition rate (yes, there are nursing programs "out there" that have attrition rates that poor, or nearly that poor; mostly the proprietary (for-profit) schools). Of the 20 students who did pass, 19 of them pass the NCLEX on the first try, for a 95% pass rate.
School B is an old, established school with high standards. They have tough admission standards, and admit 50 students each year. The classes are demanding and rigorous, and some students struggle at times during the program. When that happens, the school provides tutoring and faculty are available to offer help and guidance, and the school is committed to helping every student they admit succeed. Over the course of the program, a few students have to withdraw because of personal/family emergencies, and one or two students do, despite the school's best efforts, fail to meet the school's high academic standards and fail out of the program. 45 students end up graduating and taking the NCLEX and, of those 45, 41 pass the NCLEX on the first try, a 91% pass rate.
School A has a 95% NCLEX pass rate and an 80% attrition rate. School B has a 91% NCLEX pass rate and a 10% attrition rate. Which school would you rather attend? I always encourage potential students to look at schools' attrition rates as well NCLEX pass rates.

This is EXACTLY what I did when choosing a school to apply to!