AMA on Mercy College of Ohio

MauiDash · Jul 11, 2022

I know this post was a few months ago, but are you still around to answer questions? ?

I'm interested in your general experience with the ADN program if you'd still be willing to share. I am planning on applying to the day ADN program and can't seem to find much info on it. If you know nothing about it, info about the evening program would be helpful as well.

evc911llc, ADN, CNA, RN, EMT-B · Jul 12, 2022

3 hours ago, MauiDash said:

I know this post was a few months ago, but are you still around to answer questions? ?

I'm interested in your general experience with the ADN program if you'd still be willing to share. I am planning on applying to the day ADN program and can't seem to find much info on it. If you know nothing about it, info about the evening program would be helpful as well.

I am here to help. Mercy is a good school with many supportive RNs. They are apart of the BON Secours health system and are ministerial. That said, it will lead into a job automatically at one of their hospitals. Grads are well known due to the rigor and academics. It was a challenge. Instructors can be diverse. The day program is still a good program there are some caveats:

much faster paced than nights but day is full time only.

due to the younger enrollees, they tend to have stricter enforcement of rules, albeit many of them are archaic and sensless but constructed from people bending the rules.

you cannot miss a clinical or large fees can occur and your out after a second missed.

You have three chances to pass check offs.

some NCLEX review is done last semester. But not much unlike BSN students. ATI is used primarily and they test on it. However they do not use ATI for core exams. I recommend Mark Klimek, and UWorld.

Much of the program is self taught and PowerPoints. So you need good time management.

you can switch easily from night to days however and vice versa.

there are no ER or ICU rotations sadly.

they do allow dual enrollment into some BSN classes to get a head start if you can handle it. It got me ahead. I am graduating this fall with my BSN.

MauiDash · Jul 12, 2022

2 hours ago, evc911llc said:

I am here to help. Mercy is a good school with many supportive RNs. They are apart of the BON Secours health system and are ministerial. That said, it will lead into a job automatically at one of their hospitals. Grads are well known due to the rigor and academics. It was a challenge. Instructors can be diverse. The day program is still a good program there are some caveats:

much faster paced than nights but day is full time only.

due to the younger enrollees, they tend to have stricter enforcement of rules, albeit many of them are archaic and sensless but constructed from people bending the rules.

you cannot miss a clinical or large fees can occur and your out after a second missed.

You have three chances to pass check offs.

some NCLEX review is done last semester. But not much unlike BSN students. ATI is used primarily and they test on it. However they do not use ATI for core exams. I recommend Mark Klimek, and UWorld.

Much of the program is self taught and PowerPoints. So you need good time management.

you can switch easily from night to days however and vice versa.

there are no ER or ICU rotations sadly.

they do allow dual enrollment into some BSN classes to get a head start if you can handle it. It got me ahead. I am graduating this fall with my BSN.

Helpful! Thank you! I'm not sure if self-teaching is common in most nursing programs, but I was hoping for the opposite. ICU and ER are my top choices at the moment, so it also hurts to hear this LOL. I will consider submitting an app and see if it's ultimately a lot cheaper than my current option.

Are you able to comment on the retention rate for the program? Saw an old thread about it and that was a bit concerning. What about NCLEX pass rates?

evc911llc, ADN, CNA, RN, EMT-B · Jul 12, 2022

There is an element of self teaching at any nursing program. Ours was more distressing given we were in the middle of COVID. Mercy at least has somewhat of a decent lab and clinical program given that placement is easy in their network. They also have simulators. Overall, it’s one the easier programs to get into, but it will deceive you. It is difficult. By comparison I am usually straight A, but I was pulling As and Bs solidly.

I am also preferential towards ER and ICU, however due to my affinity to go to medical school, I took a step down ICU position to take advantage of their 100% tuition direct pay. Ultimately the school is a bit cheaper surprisingly for being a private school. I can take a fully loaded semester of 12 credit hours for 6k. Again, it is nice if you pick up any job in their hospital network. Who doesn’t like free school? Yet, there are plenty of transfer and academic scholarships of which to take advantage of. I was president of Alpha Delta Nu for our program and we even had scholarships to be given.

Nevertheless we had people move to Toledo just to get into the program. You don’t have to do a ridiculous prerequisite offering (I.e. pharmacology, calculus, etc.) nor is there a waitlist…unlike years for a community college… that only serves to appear competitive despite subpar program.

Speaking of the retention, people will drop out as they realize that either it’s not for them, personal reasons, illness, work issues, etc. many will not make the cut as they do introduce tougher check offs and material. We started with around 70 in our evenings and weekends class, and over the 2 year period we graduated with half roughly.

NCLEX pass rates were dropping in previous years, so the faculty improved upon them. The big changes were ATI integration, free access to practice testing, and remediation. Also they run your through their own prep course last semester. These students have scored an impressive 88% NCLEX pass rate over the past decade. The prelicensure BSN program graduates another 75-100 students per year, with a strong 83% NCLEX pass rate over the same time period.

MauiDash · Jul 12, 2022

1 hour ago, evc911llc said:

There is an element of self teaching at any nursing program. Ours was more distressing given we were in the middle of COVID. Mercy at least has somewhat of a decent lab and clinical program given that placement is easy in their network. They also have simulators. Overall, it’s one the easier programs to get into, but it will deceive you. It is difficult. By comparison I am usually straight A, but I was pulling As and Bs solidly.

I am also preferential towards ER and ICU, however due to my affinity to go to medical school, I took a step down ICU position to take advantage of their 100% tuition direct pay. Ultimately the school is a bit cheaper surprisingly for being a private school. I can take a fully loaded semester of 12 credit hours for 6k. Again, it is nice if you pick up any job in their hospital network. Who doesn’t like free school? Yet, there are plenty of transfer and academic scholarships of which to take advantage of. I was president of Alpha Delta Nu for our program and we even had scholarships to be given.

Nevertheless we had people move to Toledo just to get into the program. You don’t have to do a ridiculous prerequisite offering (I.e. pharmacology, calculus, etc.) nor is there a waitlist…unlike years for a community college… that only serves to appear competitive despite subpar program.

Speaking of the retention, people will drop out as they realize that either it’s not for them, personal reasons, illness, work issues, etc. many will not make the cut as they do introduce tougher check offs and material. We started with around 70 in our evenings and weekends class, and over the 2 year period we graduated with half roughly.

NCLEX pass rates were dropping in previous years, so the faculty improved upon them. The big changes were ATI integration, free access to practice testing, and remediation. Also they run your through their own prep course last semester. These students have scored an impressive 88% NCLEX pass rate over the past decade. The prelicensure BSN program graduates another 75-100 students per year, with a strong 83% NCLEX pass rate over the same time period.

I noticed the scholarship offerings! Most of the programs I've looked at don't even offer scholarships. If I can get through the program with very minimal debt, I think it will be worth it despite the downsides you mentioned. I'll be applying to see what's offered. Thanks again for answering my questions!