Bellarmine ABSN May 2017

ottiek1027 · Jan 20, 2017

also, there are A LOT of people who have moved from the west coast to do this program ... so you aren't alone.

student20122 · Jan 21, 2017

Thank you so much for the info.

1. Is there a transfer schlorship that's worth $15,000 per year?

2. Is it so tough to the point I'd you're coming from a different major (not science) you'll fail?

You know it's a lot of commitment for me because I'll be moving there just for this reason. It will be a bumper if i can't make it though the program.

I will definitely work hard but as far as the classes are you in class/rotation more than 5 days a week.

What's the most toughest thing about the program besides it being super fast with 8 weeks classes?

ottiek1027 · Jan 21, 2017

I'm not sure about the scholarship because I'm from here. We have people graduating with absolutely no hospital experience and completely different majors (English, poli sci, film, etc) but experience definitely helps. Just expect to do nothing else for a year except on your breaks. It is very challenging, but it is do-able. The NCLEX pass rate is very high and last year they said 100% of the students staying in Louisville had a job before graduation. The hardest part is session 3/4 bc you start getting burnt out and the classes are challenging.

Classes are usually 3-4 days per week with 1-2 clinical days. This session (session 5) we have class Monday and Wednesday. 8 hour clinical Tuesday and 13 hour clinical Thursday but we have Friday off... so, that's nice.

student20122 · Jan 21, 2017

Thank you for your helpful tips

Are the exams really really hard?

Is it multiple choice?

Do they try to weed out students to keep their NCLEX score perfect?

Do you feel like the professor are there pushing people to give up?

I'm just like trying to figure out how 50% of the class fails that's so disturbing plus it's extremely expensive too to be wasting time and money if that's their goal

I appreciate your response. Thank you in advance.

ottiek1027 · Jan 22, 2017

The exams are hard and some classes are much harder than others. There are about 3 classes that are most commonly failed. The tests are about 90% multiple choice, plus math and a few teachers will have some short answers. I think the reason most of them fail is bc they don't expect it to be challenging but it's a 4 year nursing school in 1 year. It's hard. We take the same tests/HESI/NCLEX as everyone else. I don't think the professors are pushing you to give up but we are adults and if you are struggling it is your responsibility to seek help they won't come to you.

student20122 · Jan 23, 2017

Thank you much

So you have 2 days per week for yourself right? @least 2 day to study and catch up

ottiek1027 · Jan 23, 2017

Yes, you almost always have Saturday and Sunday off... occasionally you might take a standardized HESI exam on a Saturday (lasts an hour or less) and if you miss clinical the make up days are on Saturday's usually.

asjami02 · Feb 9, 2017

Hello! I'm looking into Bellarmine's program as well. I graduated with my BA and a GPA of 3.6. I'm taking the science pre-reqs now and hoping to apply for May 2018. Just curious for those of you who were accepted what were your grades like in the science courses? I'm so worried that I am going to struggle in the sciences and it will ruin my chances of getting in. And does it look bad if you retake a science course like A&P?

Any info would really help me know where I stand.

Thanks!

ottiek1027 · Feb 9, 2017

Honestly, they don't care. As long as you meet the minimum requirements they don't look. The weeding out is done in the program. That's why we have lost over 50% of our class. But, that being said... we have successful people with not the best grades and no experience but you will work your butt off.

ehan09 · Mar 6, 2017

As someone who is currently in the Bellarmine Accelerated BSN program set to graduate in May of this year, please please do your research before you decide to attend and drop this amount of money on your education. I rarely speak up about things like this, but this is such an expensive school and I really feel obligated to warn people.

The Bellarmine Accelerated program is very badly structured which puts so much avoidable intense stress on the students. It is poorly run and there are so many issues that shouldn't be happening. This is unacceptable for a program that has been going on for so many years, especially considering how high the tuition is. The Bellarmine Nursing program directors and even the dean know of all the issues because of the hundreds of complaints and grievances that have been filed by students, and they are aware of how poorly the program is run and will actually admit to it when you are one on one with them; yet all they do is turn their back on the easily fixable issues and the struggling students and they do nothing to help or change for the better. Me and many of my classmates wish we had listened to the warnings from previous students about how difficult it is and how astronomically high the failure rate is. Some of the teachers proudly admit to weeding students out and failing them. Nursing school is hard no matter what, but it does not need to be like this.

I have personally been in clinical with nurses went through the program and several of them have told us that they wish they could warn the incoming students. I feel the same way as them and I haven't even finished yet. It is a pretty well known fact that all the Bellarmine Accelerated program cares about is your money, which is why they will admit anyone who meets the bare minimum requirements (in 2016 they actually admitted some people in my class who didn't even meet the minimum requirements). Once they have your money, they mostly stop caring and you will get little to no support from the faculty once you begin. At that point, you are on your own and begin to feel like you are sinking and feeling like you have been set up to fail very early on, and that feeling gets worse and continues for at least 7-8 months. Almost all of us wish we looked at other options and did a different program. You always think it will be different for you... we all did. I have friends who I started out in this program with in May 2016 who had great a great GPA in their undergrad and pre requisite classes and they were dedicated and worked their butts off, and they ended up failing because they became so exhausted or they got stuck with one of the tough teachers and they ended up failing by a tenth of a point. And if you fail one class (even if it is over one question or a scan-tron error), you have to wait almost an entire calendar year until that class is offered again to start back up again and your life is completely on hold for that time. I have made it this far and will probably be fine, but the amount of stress with seeing so many people around me be treated so badly by the faculty and fail out when it's obvious they will make amazing nurses and they've worked their butts off has not been a great experience. It's really upsetting to witness. Your quality of life takes a hit with any accelerated nursing program, but we know people in other accel programs and they are tough, but the programs are more reasonable, they have a life, and they are overall more happy and have a better quality of life.

Also what I just mentioned above how if you have bad luck and end up with one of the tough teachers is one of the many other flaws at Bellarmine. You can take the exact same class as someone else in the cohort, but if they have a different teacher, the material and exam difficultly can be drastically different and it may or may not be in your favor. For example, there were over 10 people who failed Med Surg II with a professor in the fall.... these people all worked their hardest, but still ended up failing. But the other students taking the exact same class with a different teacher had much easier exams, a lot of them received an A as their final grade and absolutely no one failed.... and they only had to put in maybe 1/3 of the work the class with the harder teacher did.

As far as Bellarmine's reputation, they have a pretty decent one, but it really is not as amazing as they say. There are a lot of other accelerated nursing schools programs in this area that offer a comparable education. Many of us have heard a rumor that Bellarmine's nursing program is currently under review by the Kentucky Board of Nursing and might potentially go on probation in the future because their failure rate is so high and they have received an overwhelming amount of complaints. We are not sure how true this rumor is, but many practicing physicians and RNs in the Louisville area have heard this rumor too. I have been on several new graduate job interviews, and during a few interviews I have even received negative comments from the individual conducting the interview about how they are hesitant to hire Bellarmine Accelerated grads because the program is structured in a way that people are learning so quickly in an abnormal way, and they are not consistently putting out good nurses because of this.

If you want any further information, feel free to privately message me. I'll share all that I know and am also happy to give information on other schools in the area offering accelerated BSN degrees around the same price point that are more supportive and their students do not drop like flies like they do at Bellarmine.

PeachyBSN · Mar 6, 2017

With reference to your interviews, did they say that they hired Bellarmine graduates? Have you been offered a job even though you are going to be a Bellarmine ABSN graduate?

The cost of tuition is worrisome to the job salary and student loans that will have to be repaid once graduated. Did you find any places that are willing to pay tuition for work exchange?

I have always heard positive things about the Bellarmine grads so it is helpful to know what you have heard. I know every programs has its flaws but the cost/duration is the same as Spalding and the U of Ls program is two years, U K is 2 1/2.

ehan09 · Mar 8, 2017

PeachyBSN, they absolutely hire Bellarmine graduates, but keep in mind anyone in the Louisville area will hire basically any graduate from any program. When you talk to Bellarmine on the phone and during their orientation/information sessions, they make it seem like their graduates are the most desirable to hire, and some places might agree or favor Bellarmine more because they themselves went there, but you'll find that with absolutely any school. I know student nurses and new graduate nurses who have recently had no problem securing jobs and they are going to JCC, ITT tech, Spalding, UL, Galen and every other nursing school around here too. One of my classmates at Bellarmine was just hired a few weeks ago in the ICU along with 2 other students graduating from UL and Galen. So the Bellarmine name really does not mean much when it comes to securing a job. In this area completing nursing school = job. Even people who are graduating with their ADNs are having no problem getting jobs here even in the more highly sought after units like ICU, ED, Peds and so on.

As far as tuition, there is a program I know of called Norton Scholar which will pay part of your tuition as long as you maintain a certain GPA throughout school, and you owe them a certain amount of time after graduation. Most hospitals here are doing student loan payback after you sign on with them, but you will also owe them time in exchange for this. These programs are constantly changing and fluctuating though. I do know that all the programs in the area that help with tuition will pay a maximum of around $25k, and that is less than half of Bellarmine's tuition. A lot of people in my program had to do FAFSA, and a lot of them were not eligible for enough student loans to cover the entire tuition cost so they needed to take out private loans (which is unfortunate because the interest on them is so high). I feel bad because I know of several Bellarmine students who failed out and took out private loans, so they are in a very tough spot.