Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science - Reviews

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I'm really considering this program because I live nearby but as I was looking for reviews on the program I came across these two reviews on Yelp for the school. I find it weird that they are actually hidden from the public reviews, so you have to scroll down to show. Anyone in the program? I didn't realize the pass rate was under 50% for the board exam.

Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science - Colleges & Universities - Los Angeles, CA - Reviews - Photos - Yelp

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B W. Lawndale, CA

1.0 star rating 5/13/2015

Education here is WAY sub par. You won't get a quality education here. They make up things as they go along. The university as a whole is very weak & underperforming. Students here from all programs complain about the disorganization & chaotic backwards programs they are in. As far as nursing is concerned, this school is an absolute joke. It is SO corrupt. Don't even waste your time thinking about going to this university of B.S. This univ. only cares about student tuition $. It has had dysfunctional problems since it opened. If admin. wanted to fix things, they could have, but it's clear they don't care to.

Instructors come & go all the time. They quit & can't even stand working there a full year! Students are told they get told to "step down" (aka fired!) because they can't manage **** or teach. The black female faculty are ******** liars acting like they earned a salary for exerting minimal teaching efforts & trying to convince you they know what they are reading off the 3rd party PPTs.

Instructors change grades on you as they please with no rhyme or reason (btw: be sure to screenshot all your grades for records; you'll need it!). They are also THE rudest, insincere, obnoxious, dismissive, disingenuous, abrupt, & coldest people I have ever dealt with. They gossip about students' business to other students & faculty (one girl even cried because they questioned her prior degree & intelligence by interrogating her); eventually everyone "hears" what's going on in your personal business. Very unprofessional & disrespectful.

The student redress/grievance process is extremely frustrating and isolating; there are no counselors to support you if you have problems, the admin. simply give you the 'run around' & waste your time waiting for any change to occur. The admin. give you lip service & play games with your time, money, emotions, & grades. Again, AVOID Charles R. Drew University COMPLETELY!

This school has NO INTEGRITY! It has a lot of politics, deceptions, tricks, faculty lying, grade shaving, gay effeminate faculty, professor hostilities towards students, bad tests, lots of student cheating because teachers don't teach & just give you hard exams with no guidance or lecture (other older cohorts play dumb about what's going on w/ student cheating practices when it's the biggest open secret in the college!), money manipulation & misappropriation of student fees (e,g. $2,500 per semester per student on ''lab fees'' when the program never gets new supplies or equipment; students only get once at the beginning of the program); there's also student teacher's pet/favoritism, student manipulation across the board/spectrum, administration & curriculum disorganization, faculty power trips/bullying/intimidation, & student disunity. Faculty stimulate student disunity by treating some students as better than other groups simply because the color of their skin (e,g. white students get better teacher treatment & insight than everyone else (Poy) while the black students get treated like they are inferior or slower. Some ass-kissing black female students get preferential treatment because they got something to prove over everyone else and the teachers like to see that so they give them favor also.

Oddly enough, the "class pets"/newly picked "tutors" end up finishing tests in records times like 20-25 mins. when it should take the normal student like 45 mins. to just complete the test at 1 minute per problem. The teacher pet students finish 2 problems per minute and seem to miss only 1 out of 50 problems! Does that seem odd? I think so. These tests are usually 50 multiple choice exams. How are these people able to over perform all the time in every class if they weren't given some kind of edge from let's say, their professors maybe? Smell fishy?!?

Not to forget the most important aspect of CDU's Nursing and Medical programs is that their accreditation is ALWAYS on the brink of being taken away from the BRN, CCNE, or AMA. That alone should deter you! A 47% NCLEX passage rate last year doesn't help this program's reputation within the community either. My advice: you'd be an idiot to come here after what I told you.

Comment from Charles D. of Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science - Business Owner

5/29/2015 The Administration, Faculty, and Staff of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science take comments from students, staff, faculty and other stakeholders very seriously. We pride ourselves on delivering quality education and instruction, as well as providing responsive and student-centered service. As such, we have administrators and internal systems to address student concerns when students choose to use them.

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Melinda A. Los Angeles, CA

1.0 star rating 9/9/2015

Clinical placements are very limited. You will graduate with little to no real clinical experience because of the school's poor reputation and due to an inability of the institution to mantain clinical affiliation agreements. The school's PA program (which was voluntarily withdrawn by the school) was always on the brink of losing it's accreditition status, like most of the school's programs due to mismanagement of funds by administration, lack of investments in supportive services for students in attendance and corporate looting of cash reserves.

The school was even stripped by California of the ability to provide in-state grants (pell grants, SEOG grants) to COSH students due to poor graduation rates, stemming from a lack of adminisrative investments in student services which are directly impacting students. The PA program is opening under the same circumstances under which it closed. Interestingly, although the institution receives millions in government funding and grants, little to none of it makes it's way to directly impact student spport services in the majority of the students in the school's various colleges and programs. Medical students revolted here a couple of years ago because the school refused to pay for a prep courses. Don't waste your time or hard-earned money going to this place. The school has a mission on paper but does not live up to it at all when it comes to supporting any of the enrolled students.

LOL at the school's alleged ranking of being "#3" in the nation out of all schools. Go see for yourself at cdrewu.edu, the fake rating claim is posted on the institution's website. Unbelievably hilarious! Yes, "#3 from the BOTTOM" --- is far realistic and accurate. There is no Career Services Center on-campus. You are on your own!

Good luck with finding a job after graduation. You're degree won't be considered by many employers as worth the paper it is printed on and your resume will be secretly tossed in a waste bin. A bunch of students have graduated from this school with six figures worth of accumulated debt and have yet to be hired by employers due the poor reputation of the school in the community. Your degree from this school won't be taken seriously.

Go to a reputable place. Faculty attrition is also sky high in all of the various programs, in part due to the institutionalized shark-like politics of the school. Teachers who actually care about students are pushed out or terminated. You deserve so much better as an intelligent person and you'll find it elsewhere.

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I began at in the ELM-MSN program in 2017. Earler posts frightened me when I applied. Yes, the school was on probation based on low NCLEX scores. Many things have changed and the school responded by changing admission protocols, timing issues, instructors, instituting HESI preparatory exams throughout and NCLEX prep courses. Although at the time of this posting, the information most recent review at the BRN was not yet posted, the last two cohorts that took the NCLEX have far exceeded the standard of 75% pass rate the the BRN expects. I think The Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing at Charles Drew University is great. It is a new school, so sure they have had some problems, but the facilities are new, faculty is highly experienced and knowledgeable, clinical placements rival other nursing schools and opportunities for community engagement and research abound. Not to mention that the small school environment allows for numerous professors and administrators knowing you personally and checking in with your progress. In my opinion, Charles Drew is the best kept secret in health education in Los Angeles! If you agree with the mission of the university, you really should consider coming here.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at [email protected]

Also, an update: the university is off warning status as of 10/4/17.

The minutes will be posted here:

Past Meetings

Approved schools (to see change in status): RN Programs

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I was actually planning on going to the Discovery Day tomorrow, but this post freaked me out a bit. The fact that they were on warning up until a handful of months ago has given me cold feet. The thing is, I've worked really hard for every A I've earned and I'm scared of throwing all that hard work away for a school whose recent past has threatened its accreditation.

Why were its most recent NCLEX scores so low, and what has CDU done to address that? Are there any recent graduates of CDU who are not employees of the school that give give us a little more clarity on what went wrong or had gotten misconstrued? How are the employment prospects for CDU grads as of late? What were the nitty gritty details, and how has CDU alleviated them, or are there any suggestions on how to adjust the way we engage with the program to make the most out of it?

I mean, it's tempting to apply since this is fairly close to home and I've completed pretty much all the prerequisites for the entry level masters program -- but with its private school tuition, recent warning status, and terrible online reviews, I can't help but feel uneasy.

Are there any non-employees that have some more insight? On Yelp, the more recent reviews are 5-star and positive, but it's worth noting that they appear to be CDU employees, or are students with 5-star reviews like, "The soup is delicious!" or "Sure, this school has its flaws, but what school doesn't?" without elaborating what its specific flaws or specific strengths are, or how their employment prospects have been post-graduation. All I see are red and orange flags, and it's hard to discern if they are coming from disgruntled students who could not keep up with the coursework, or from legit students that have invested their souls, only to be let down by incompetence and lack of supportive resources.

Anyone with a green flag that isn't an employee and has specific details on what would make CDU work for future nurses with ambition, long-term goals, and drive? If they don't offer externships, what do they specifically offer that would give their future grads an edge in finding employment or applying to NP programs in the future?

Thank you!

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Hi thereI wanted to make clear that I am a student, not an employee. I am just a student who cares about the school. I highly suggest you go to the Discover CDU event, which is basically an open house to speak with current students and faculty. I also suggest you go to these kind of info sessions for all schools you apply to. Good luck on your journey to nursing school and contact me if you want to ask specific questions.

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does anyone know the accepting rates of this program or how difficult it is to get in?

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@kelleykristina

hi, I applied to the program last month, so I'll see if I get in or not sooner. Did you apply yet?

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What's the cost of their ELM MSN program? I can't find information about tuition on their website.

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Specializes in operating room, surgical services.
On 3/23/2018 at 5:16 PM, danielmaryanov said:

Hi thereI wanted to make clear that I am a student, not an employee. I am just a student who cares about the school. I highly suggest you go to the Discover CDU event, which is basically an open house to speak with current students and faculty. I also suggest you go to these kind of info sessions for all schools you apply to. Good luck on your journey to nursing school and contact me if you want to ask specific questions.

Hello, I would like to know which program were you enrolled in and how you like it?

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

I am now a hiring manager for PMHNPs.  A couple of years ago, our practice hired several new grad PMHNPs from Charles Drew.  Never again!  If I see this school listed on a resume, the resume is discarded.  The graduates we hired clearly received a substandard PMHNP education.  They do not know basic information like dose ranges for common psych meds, and they do not bother to look it up.  They also behave extremely unprofessionally, harassing patients by "benzo-shaming" them; when covering for other providers, including MDs, making unauthorized med changes and providing inaccurate information to patients, doing ridiculous things like demanding an EKG literally on Christmas Eve or else the patient can't get their refill, inaccurate charting, and so on.  When counseled on changing inappropriate behaviors, they do not change.  They are also disrespectful to MDs.

This is a real shame, as when I looked at the school website, I believe in their mission.  It is too bad they can't carry it out effectively.

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