Attrition rates and NCLEX Pass rates

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I have applied to multiple schools (waitlist, lottery and direct application-admission) and have my fingers crossed for fall, but at worst, should be in somewhere by spring 09. Because the programs are so impacted, and everyone is clamoring to in and because I want to get in soon, so badly, I have forgotten all my consumer skills. Normally, I would be researching such an important decision and considering who deserved me, not just blindly begging to get in somewhere, anywhere! How can students make informed choices if we all take the "beggars can't be choosers" mentality?

So I decided, I wanted to know THEIR track records. They know everything about me and all the flaming hoops I have jumped. Seems only fair. Yet, when I have tried to get answers about their various attrition rates and NCLEX pass rates, I have not gotten any real information. Either my calls aren't returned or I get a big hemmm and haw. No straight answers. Shouldn't students get to see the schools' report cards? How successful the students are is a reflection of how successful the program is, and potentially, my success may depend on the strength of the program.

Has anyone had any luck getting this information? Is there a website that lists such things? Do they have to disclose such info?

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Specializes in LTC, Cardiac Step-Down.

I believe all Boards of Nursing report the accredited schools' track records. I noticed you're in California, so here's the link for you:

http://www.rn.ca.gov/schools/passrates.shtml

Good for you for checking!!

Pepper

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Thanks SO much, Pepper, that is just the information I was looking for.

I suspect that the new California Community College TEAS test requirement may help improve both the attrition rates and the NCLEX pass rates by weeding out some of the students who might be less likley to be sucessful. Yet, these past results help give me an idea of where schools have stood. Thanks so much! Awesome resource!

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For what its worth, 99% of your success will come from you. That final 1% is the: school, profs, preparation and who knows, maybe luck.

Make the most out of the time you spend at whatever institution you decide to matriculate at.

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I agree. Super-high pass rates make me nervous, as I've heard too much about schools not letting students test if they don't think they'll pass, which seems to me to just be artificially inflating the pass rate. It doesn't tell me anything about the quality of instruction.

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Specializes in LTC/Peds/ICU/PACU/CDI.
i believe all boards of nursing report the accredited schools' track records. i noticed you're in california, so here's the link for you:

http://www.rn.ca.gov/schools/passrates.shtml

good for you for checking!!

pepper

:yeah: wow...how did ya come-up with this link :bowingpur? and is there such a link for pa & nj school pass rates?

thx ~ cheers :cheers:,

moe

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I agree. Super-high pass rates make me nervous, as I've heard too much about schools not letting students test if they don't think they'll pass, which seems to me to just be artificially inflating the pass rate. It doesn't tell me anything about the quality of instruction.

Can they DO that? Because if you pass the program and complete all the requirements (i.e., courses), you're eligible to take the NCLEX - which is all the state board asks the school: did this person graduate from your program/will they receive a degree-diploma with your school's name on it?

This could be one of the many "old wives' tales" that circulate about nursing school; to my knowledge this is impossible for a school to do.

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Specializes in LTC, Cardiac Step-Down.

Just Google your state and board of nursing and you should find the state's website. Somewhere on there will be a link to NCLEX pass rates. It may be in a published newsletter which will be linked PDF, or elsewhere. It might take some digging.

Pennsylvania (PDF):

http://www.dos.state.pa.us/bpoa/cwp/view.asp?a=1104&Q=445392&PM=1

New Jersey (First link):

http://search.state.nj.us/query.html?qt=nclex&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

Pepper

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:yeah: wow...how did ya come-up with this link :bowingpur? and is there such a link for pa & nj school pass rates?

thx ~ cheers :cheers:,

moe

just do a web search for the state's board of nursing, find the site, and then search the site. or call the board directly and find out where it is on the website. every state has these figures reported, and they are considered public record.

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Specializes in LTC, Cardiac Step-Down.
Can they DO that? Because if you pass the program and complete all the requirements (i.e., courses), you're eligible to take the NCLEX - which is all the state board asks the school: did this person graduate from your program/will they receive a degree-diploma with your school's name on it?

This could be one of the many "old wives' tales" that circulate about nursing school; to my knowledge this is impossible for a school to do.

I have not been to nursing school, but I have been reading these boards for awhile, and judging from that, some schools are not quite as ethical as we would hope for them to be. These forums are littered with people who have been dismissed from their programs for stupid, undocumented reasons who suspected that they were kicked due to administration not feeling that they would be able to pass the NCLEX first time.

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Does anyone have a working link for NJ passing rates from 2008 (or '09 if available)? That link above clicks through to a faulty link (possibly b/c this thread is old). I have been searing online, but can't find anything more recent than 2006..

thanks!

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Can they DO that? Because if you pass the program and complete all the requirements (i.e., courses), you're eligible to take the NCLEX - which is all the state board asks the school: did this person graduate from your program/will they receive a degree-diploma with your school's name on it?

This could be one of the many "old wives' tales" that circulate about nursing school; to my knowledge this is impossible for a school to do.

They can prevent you from graduating by having required courses in the last semester that require you to demonstrate a high probability of passing the NCLEX. If you don't meet the standards of that last course, you fail the course and can't graduate.

The unethical part comes not in that they have high standards in their final semester -- that's actually a good thing. It's that they can allow students to pass the early courses even though they perform at low levels. The students are passed along from course to course, paying their money, but not learning what they need to learn to pass the last semester. Then suddenly, as the end of the program gets near, the standards are raised and those poor performers are flunked out of the program. Schools say things like, "We tried to help them improve. We wanted to give them time to learn the material. We wanted to give them a second chance to improve their performance, etc." However, in the end, the student flunks out after having paid a lot of money to take 3/4 of the program. The student would be better off had they been told after the first or second course that their level of performance was below the desired level and that they would be unlikely to graduate unless they took some time off from nursing school to get some remedial education. Instead, they are kept in the system and pay their money ... but not allowed to graduate in the end.

It's a hard practice to change because society is uncomfortable with the idea of enforcing high standards in the beginning of an academic program. Society likes to see people given 2 or 3 chances before they are flunked out of a program. But it's in the giving of those 2 or 3 chances that the students accumulate massive amounts of student loan debt. Some of them end up succeeding. But those that do not succeed in the end can find themselves deeply in debt with no diploma.

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