Lake Washington Technicall College LPN-RN program?

ericalynn, BSN, RN · Aug 26, 2007

I just graduated from LWTC's RN program in June. It was mostly a good program, there have only been a few graduating classes so it is kind of a new program with a few kinks to work out. I would recommend it.

j450n, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 15, 2008

Just thought I'd revive this thread, as I'm thinking about applying to this program for fall 2009.

Can anyone offer some new insight/fresh perspective? Many thanks!

jmking · Oct 15, 2008

I am currently in the program...funny I forgot about the post. I graduated this December. I like the program but I also graduated with my PN from there. I would go to an informational meeting, I'm not sure if they are still doing LPN-RN program anymore.

j450n, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 15, 2008

Thank you!

I was thinking about applying for the RN program anyway. I appreciate it. How are the instructors and clinical sites?

kat7ap · Oct 17, 2008

If you can get a job at Overlake Hospital, they have a partnership with LWTC, so many LPNs from Overlake continue their education there. It's only 3 quarters once you are accepted and many LPNs were able to keep up most of their hours while in the program. Tuition reimbursement is 100% after 1 year service.

j450n, BSN, MSN, RN · Nov 14, 2008

Does anyone know why Lake Washington Technical isn't accredited yet? I know it's an optional thing and it already has an agreement with UW Bothell for the BSN...but is it just because it's a newer program?

Thanks :)

rnstud86 · Dec 9, 2008

LWTC is a great school for doing pre-reqs... the science instructors are fabulous and the student body is diverse, motivated, and has a high sense of cooperation.

There appear to be some major problems in the administration of the RN program, however. The most recent application cycle has been a nightmare. The original acceptance letters were two weeks late, and about half of the final acceptance letters were never mailed. One student received a final acceptance letter, terminated her application process for other schools, and was then told unapologetically that the acceptance letter had been "a mistake".

The irony here is that students who performed as badly as the school administration could never have made adequate grades to be accepted into the program!

Existing RN students have confirmed that they are frequently impacted by administrative SNAFUS.

I'm hopeful that the administrative problems will soon be addressed, especially considering the fact that there may be litigation against the school by the nursing students and applicants. But for now, be aware that there are problems.

j450n, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 9, 2008

Hi RNstud,

Welcome to the forums! Thanks for the information. Are you currently in the program right now? If you are, aside from problems with the administration how is the actual nursing instruction itself? I guess I would like to know if people feel adequately prepared after matriculating from LWTC.

Thanks!

rnstud86 · Dec 9, 2008

Thanks for the welcome. I'm being a little evasive right now about my identity because I'm a member of the incoming class for Winter Quarter. I'm very ****** off and I'm trying to stay level headed. I really don't want to damage the reputation of the school, nor do I want to remain silent if speaking out could help remedy the problems.

I cannot speak firsthand about the quality of the instruction and clincial, only indirectly by saying that several of my previous classmates are scattered through the classes just ahead of me, and their reports have been positive enough for me to want to stay at the school.

j450n, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 9, 2008

Understandable. Thanks for your prompt response. I hope that girl fought for her spot, or at least was offered admission into the following quarter. Congrats on your acceptance. Can I ask you about the HOBET? How difficult did you find it to be? How much did you study for it? I'm mostly worried about the math portion.

Thanks again.

rnstud86 · Dec 10, 2008

I don't know if my friend is going to fight -- she's leaning against it. And no, she was not offerred entrance into the following class. The worst part was not that the administrators screwed up, but that they are so completely unapologetic and unsympathetic.

I didn't really study for the HOBET. I did review the little study book I'd purchased a year beforehand, and went through the prep info on the website.

I got a 99 percentile, although I was disappointed with my "percent correct" score... I felt I could have done better. I missed one on the math, which was probably a careless mistake. I was planning on taking it twice, the first one for practice, but since the school only considers the percentile score, I would not have benefitted.

The math part is basically fractions and decimals... I don't think there was any algebra, statistics, etc... But the fraction problems involve calculations of several digits, and some high Lowest Common Denominators... basically it is largely about doing multi-digit arithmetic on paper, and getting decimal points in the right place.

The reading part is pretty bogus... it involves some extremely subjective judgments -- "what was the most important concept in the preceding passage", etc.

I know that some other students who were down around 90% were accepted, but I think they had 3.9 GPAs. Supposedly the HOBET and the GPAs were the only thing considered this last go-round... all of the recommendations and essay and stuff were ignored, this time. I think LWTC is one of the few schools that make final decisions without personal interviews.

There is a rumor that the HOBET is going to be dumped soon. Everybody agrees that it seems pretty bogus... Smart people who are accustomed to getting 95-100% on serious science tests often find themselves at 75% or so (raw score, not percentile.)

The thing about the HOBET is that, whatever it is measuring, it seems to have some ability to predict success in healthcare occupations... A little like the old MMPI psychometric tool... the questions are bogus, but there is such a huge database that psychologists have learned to draw useful conclusions from it.