Bellarmine ABSN Applicants

[Fit4aking12]

Just seeking other individuals that have applied or plan to apply for the 2015 Accelerated Nursing cohort at Bellarmine. I recently completed my application through Nursingcas and I'm eager to hear from the admissions department. Anyone else in the same boat?

[JessieRN14]

Run far, FAR away as fast as you can from this program. 40% dropout rate and only a 2.75 GPA for acceptance. Bellarmine will let anyone who meets the bare minimum in and just fail them out ASAP. They won't even hire enough clinical instructors towards the end. I know someone who got in with less than a 2.75. As a graduate of this (sh*tty) program I can honestly say that what this school is doing (for $50,000) should be ILLEGAL.

[klee88]

Unfortunately for the those interested in the Bellarmine Accelerated program, I have to agree with the sentiments mentioned above. I graduated from Bellarmine several years ago, and from what I've heard, nothing's changed with this program. I think people focus too much on a school's NCLEX pass rates rather than looking at the bigger picture. The NCLEX pass rate should be above the national average of course, but more importantly people need to ask about the school's MATRICULATION rate. AKA: How many people that start your program in X (insert year), do you ACTUALLY GRADUATE *ON TIME*? Bellarmine's matriculation rate hovers around 55-60%. Which means 40-45% of the students who start end up dropping out. Too many people are paying a pretty penny in that program to settle for such dismal statistics. Many of my classmates ended up in the two year program because Bellarmine would rather fail/weed people out as much as possible in order to keep their NCLEX pass rates looking good.

In my opinion, it's pretty dishonest for a school to pretend that someone with a 2.75 GPA with absolutely no Chemistry background (it isn't required as a pre-req) will be successful in an accelerated nursing program. Occasionally a couple students will scrape by with that kind of initial GPA, but I would dare to say that most other reputable schools require well above a 3.0 to be taken seriously as a BSN candidate. Someone I know that works in the nursing department at UIC told me "we wouldn't even let our current group of students in if we didn't think they could do the work and see the program through to the end." According to U.S. News & World Report (Top 100 – Highest Acceptance Rates | Rankings | US News), Bellarmine has a 94.8% acceptance rate. Bellarmine is one of the EASIEST schools in the country to get into, yet one of the HARDEST schools to graduate from when it comes to acquiring a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Red flag? Yes, area hospitals recognize the Bellarmine name and I had no trouble getting a job in the specialty I wanted right out of college. But you've been forewarned - do your research! Bellarmine isn't for everyone.