Alternatives for students that fail out of traditional nursing schools

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There is another alternative for students that fail at traditional nursing schools that still have the desire to become a registered nurse. I've noticed that once students are unsuccessful in a traditional setting, they give up hope and end their pursuit.

However, many students ignore the fact that there are other paths to obtaining their degree such as attending schools such as Excelsior. I myself, chose to take this route although I've never failed at a traditional nursing school and passed my NCLEX exam the first time.

Taking this route requires a lot of discipline, but the quote is still relevant "anything worth having never comes easy". So before you give up and throw in the towel please consider other options.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I certainly don't want to be Debbie Downer here, but there is a reason that nursing education is not set up to accommodate "special snowflakes" who are unable to successfully complete a rigorous and exacting course of study. It's because everyone MUST achieve the same outcome in order to become licensed. There is no room for customization.

Granted, there are some very real learning disabilities out there... (I'm a parent to one such person) but some disabilities are just incompatible with safe nursing practice. For instance, how could folks who have trouble with reading comprehension (for whatever reason) manage to deal with all of the new written information that has to be absorbed on a continuous basis? Severe anxiety when dealing with stressful situations??? Lots of luck trying to find a nursing job without stress.

There are a lot of 'helping professions' out there with less exacting entrance criteria. I'm not saying give up on your dream... but you may have to detour to another area.

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While I do agree to a point, I'm also a firm believer that sometimes a person's "dreams don't mesh with reality."

People on these boards want advice on how to get into nursing programs with a GPA less than 2.5? Maybe they need to consider that there is a tremendous amount of knowledge needed to survive in an academic program such as nursing, and there is a reason that there are entry requirements. And professional nurses need to understand how to do research and how to apply best practice to their jobs and be critical thinkers. If a person cannot manage to pass A&P with more than a D, is this the best applicant to teach how to apply cardiac principles and cardiac drips?

Also, sometimes money cannot buy what your dreams want. There are ABSN programs that are costing >$100K. If your dream to be a nurse is making you seriously consider dropping that much money, even if some is covered by loans and grants, then maybe you need to realize that the average entry level salary for a BSN is Not $60/hr.

As I tell my 3 year old who wants a toy: "you want that? I want a million dollars. Neither of us are going to get what we want today."

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Too many people whine that the bar is too high, the teachers are too tough, the tests are too hard, the rules are too strict.... After all this is their dreeeeeaaaammmmmm so they should get what they want.

They don't offer alternatives to people who can't hack med school.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

They don't offer alternatives to people who can't hack med school.

This.

Either way, the ones who don't hack it will get caught...by the NCLEX. :blink:

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I guess my basic point was overlooked. I am a firm believer that our field should have the best and brightest so that nursing remains a safe and well respected profession,but given a second opportunity sometimes brings out a stronger sense of determination and committment .If you are unsuccessful in one arena,it doesn't mean that you can't refocus and be successful the next time around.Prime example,Micheal Jordan was cut from his high school's basketball team the first year that he tried out,not only did he make the team the following year,MJ went on to be the greatest player of all time. My point is that although you may lose the initial battle ,you can still win the war.

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I have a learning disability!! The school barely wanted to accommodate my extra time!!!! However they did!!! And I graduated from that 10 month accelerated nursing program with an 85 average overall !! Although I did struggle in anatomy but my final grade was 77% on that section! I was also told anatomy is the deciding factor.... 75 % was passing!!! Don't give up don't quit!!! Some of these fellow nurses r rude!! There's more than one way to skin a cat!!

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I guess my basic point was overlooked. I am a firm believer that our field should have the best and brightest so that nursing remains a safe and well respected profession,but given a second opportunity sometimes brings out a stronger sense of determination and committment .If you are unsuccessful in one arena,it doesn't mean that you can't refocus and be successful the next time around.Prime example,Micheal Jordan was cut from his high school's basketball team the first year that he tried out,not only did he make the team the following year,MJ went on to be the greatest player of all time. My point is that although you may lose the initial battle ,you can still win the war.

True, but people didn't die when Michael Jordan missed a free throw.

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I guess my basic point was overlooked. I am a firm believer that our field should have the best and brightest so that nursing remains a safe and well respected profession,but given a second opportunity sometimes brings out a stronger sense of determination and committment .If you are unsuccessful in one arena,it doesn't mean that you can't refocus and be successful the next time around.Prime example,Micheal Jordan was cut from his high school's basketball team the first year that he tried out,not only did he make the team the following year,MJ went on to be the greatest player of all time. My point is that although you may lose the initial battle ,you can still win the war.

Michael had a growth spurt. :)

If the people who flunk out of nursing school did that because they were immature or had other changeable behavioral reasons why they couldn't do the work required to prepare for a profession, when they grow up a bit they can, indeed, try again. AN is full of posts from people who did that-- went away, grew up, did other kinds of work, and discovered what they had to do to be adult successes in the field.

However, the people who (and I am trying to be charitable here, truly) just do not have the intellectual firepower to graduate from a professional college program no matter how hard they try are more like the high-school drafted pitcher who gets to the Rookie League and comes up against the competition from the Div I and II schools, not to mention the hungry kids from the Dominican and Venezuela and Mexico. No matter how hard he tries, he isn't going to be the next Bob Feller. He isn't even going to be the next Eric Gagne. You have to meet the competition; the competition doesn't have to drop down to meet you.

Sure they can go to the Excelsiors of this world. But they won't get licenses in a lot of states if they do, and they will never be able to get into real BSN programs. They might think that doesn't matter to them now, but it might very well later...when they grow up. Best to hedge your bets. Choose another path or come back later. But there really is no true shortcut to being a professional RN.

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Which is why we have a national compentency test called NCLEX, as i said before you keep missing the message, my comparision to micheal jordan was simply to imply that motivation is the key to success. It's funny that people tend to forget that no matter which route was taken NCLEX must be successfully passed before you are validated to be competent enough to practice as a nurse. After all is said and done, my blog was created to encourage not only students that have prior failures but also students who weren't fortunate enough to finish as a result of medical or family issues. Please read carefully before u respond in the future.

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And managers loom at where you go to school. I know of bosses that won't hire from for profit schools because the caliber of staff from these schools is not what it needs to be.

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.
There is another alternative for students that fail at traditional nursing schools that still have the desire to become a registered nurse.I've noticed that once most students are unsuccessful in a traditional setting,they give up hope and end their pursuit, however,many students ignore the fact that there are other paths to obtaining their degree such as attending schools such as excelsior.I myself,chose to take this route although i've never failed at a traditional nursing school and passed my nclex exam the first time.Taking this route requires a lot of discipline,but the qoute is still relavent "anyhing worth having never comes easy".So before you give up and throw in the towel please consider other options

I think you have made an excellent point with this post. Sometimes I think not passing a test is the "end of the world" for me because this is my second career and with a family the stresses to perform are much more than that of the regular college age student. With these distractors sometimes I do feel to just give up and just go back to me previous job where I know I could just pay the bills and relax. But like most nursing student I just want to do more than just have a job that pays the bills. I want to help others and this is the best path I see to get to both goals. I really hope that I will pass the NCLEX the first time I take it, and if I don't I know I should not just give up on my dreams.

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