Dissapointed in Wolford College

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I am a current WC student in full time clinicals.

I am very dissapointed in the way the program is run.

From a didactic point of view, they accept more than necessary and than the class is trimmed (30% drop rate). That's unfair to the students that shouldn't be here - they spend time and money pursuing something that is out of reach for them.

In clinicals, they have too many students in the OR's. More than 60% of rooms have two students all the time. (you are not getting the clinical exposure needed).

This crowding was my main concern before accepting their offer. I should have gone to any other school that accepted me (other schools accept 12 students/yr, and have 20 or more OR's) where student numbers are less than the available OR's.

The last 3 classes accepted have been between 36 and 43 students per class. ... and they accept 2 classes each year !

To top it off, as of today, half of their CRNA's have graduated in the past 18 months, and they cannot be the best instructors b/c they're not experienced enough.

In conclusion, I am very dissapointed with the program.

Good luck and don't forget: during the interview process, "smile and look cuddly, boys!".

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Why are so many dropping? Are you implying that they intentionally make the classes way harder than necessary for the first semester to make people drop out? What is the work load like? I am asking these questions because this is one of the schools I want to apply to when I reach that step.

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In reply to Wolford Student's previous statements, I too am a Wolford College Student. It angers me that this student is bad mouthing the school he/she attends, instead of trying to change a situation in which he/she feels needs improvement. As far as accepting students into the program and having some not be able to complete, Wolford College gives students an oppotunity to try and obtain their goals, where many other schools will not accept a nurse who may have had a rough patch 10 years ago. In this situation Wolford gives that nurse a try and at that point it is up to the student to make it. The BS classes he/she speaks of include Research, Professional Aspects of Nurse ANesthesia, Policy and Politics of Nurse Anesthesia, all which are mandatory via the AANA and (even though this person may not realize it now) are extremely important for our future in anesthesia. Some of the strengths of Wolford College include a full scope of practice at this point I have over 400 intubations, 15 central line placements, 50 arterial line placements, 40 Epidurals, 40 SPinals, and 30 peripheral blocks (interscalene, femoral, lumbar plexus, popilteal, and sciatic). There are times when a "younger student" is in a room with a Senior student. This allows the senior student the opportunity to look at the big picture and take on a more ownership position of the case and allows the younger student to ask questions and obtain advice from the Senior. This porgram does not have residents to compete with and there are many sites in which the studnet is 2:1 with an MDA. The CRNAs do not take call and so as a student you experience call and the interesting cases that go along with call. People who read this forum please keep in mind that Anesthesia School is no walk in the park and is extrememly stressful (no matter where you go). I personally feel I had a great education.

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I would have to agree with WolfordStudentAlso :yeahthat:

I can't believe a fellow student would come online and bash our school without attempting to talk to the school first. I personally am very happy with my decision to attend Wolford and am also getting a great eduction.

In reply to Wolford Student's previous statements, I too am a Wolford College Student. It angers me that this student is bad mouthing the school he/she attends, instead of trying to change a situation in which he/she feels needs improvement. As far as accepting students into the program and having some not be able to complete, Wolford College gives students an oppotunity to try and obtain their goals, where many other schools will not accept a nurse who may have had a rough patch 10 years ago. In this situation Wolford gives that nurse a try and at that point it is up to the student to make it. The BS classes he/she speaks of include Research, Professional Aspects of Nurse ANesthesia, Policy and Politics of Nurse Anesthesia, all which are mandatory via the AANA and (even though this person may not realize it now) are extremely important for our future in anesthesia. Some of the strengths of Wolford College include a full scope of practice at this point I have over 400 intubations, 15 central line placements, 50 arterial line placements, 40 Epidurals, 40 SPinals, and 30 peripheral blocks (interscalene, femoral, lumbar plexus, popilteal, and sciatic). There are times when a "younger student" is in a room with a Senior student. This allows the senior student the opportunity to look at the big picture and take on a more ownership position of the case and allows the younger student to ask questions and obtain advice from the Senior. This porgram does not have residents to compete with and there are many sites in which the studnet is 2:1 with an MDA. The CRNAs do not take call and so as a student you experience call and the interesting cases that go along with call. People who read this forum please keep in mind that Anesthesia School is no walk in the park and is extrememly stressful (no matter where you go). I personally feel I had a great education.
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I am also a current Wolford College student and personally couldn't be more happy with my decision to attend this school. So far, I find the school to be very challenging and stressful but what CRNA school isn't. I have over 40 students in my class, none of which do not deserve to be here. I do not feel that Wolford College acccepts just any applicant. We are all good at what we do or we wouldn't be here. I am very disappointed that another student would talk so bad about our school. I do hope that this person works out their issues but would hate for their opinion to cast such a negative outlook on such a great school.

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yes, it is disappointing to hve a student discredit his/her school in public. However, this forum is also supposed to help people make informed decisions about their carrer in anesthesia. Now, did the student say anything that was untrue? Clearly, qualifying some classes as "BS" is ignorant, especially if those classes are required by the AANA. How about the other facts, the number of admitted students, the drop out rate, the number of sutudents in the OR, the number of classes admitted per year,The newly graduated CRNAs instructors etc... The question is, does this put a school in the "bad group" category? Is this unique to Wolford College? we should discuss this without necessarily taking sides. I find interesting the fact that the student chose to vent his disappointment here. maybe the school instructors are not truly open to frank discussion with their students. A lot of time, some instruction claim to have their door open to disagreement but as soon as a student complain, he or she is tagged as a "bad apple". I'm sure this is not unfamilar so many of you in this forum.

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I'm a Wolford student as well, figured I'd put in my 2 cents. First off, anesthesia school is hard and therefore frustrating. This little rant is just evidence of this fact. Has a number of students recently washed out, yes, but I personally have 2 friends who have recently met their academic demise in LSU's program. This goes back to what I said before--anesthesia school is hard--people are going to wash out wherever you go. After attending a Valley Review course, I felt as though I have been well prepared for boards by Wolford's didactics. Are their some courses that are more aggravating than others, yup, but as wolfordstudentalso stated, these are required classes-no way around it, no matter where you go. All programs have issues, but when you're frustrated, the grass always looks greener on the other side, and trust me, I know frustration.

My advice: Realize that anything that is worth having in life isn't going to be easy, keep your eye on the prize. Be there for your fellow students, good support from friends helped keep me from becoming one of the academically departed. And don't bring attention to yourself by whining, too much complaining, or randomly venting frustration on the internet and stuff like that, bad mojo.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Seems there are a lot of new posters here from Wolford and some conflicting opinions.

How far along in the program are you?

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I have some similar concerns with the school. They accepted students that did not make the GRE requirements, experience requirements and so on... These same students have been pushed through with multiple opportunities to succeed. I hope they are never my anesthetist. It lacks intregrity. But ultimately it is about the mighty dollar. I would stick with a program that is backed by a University. They may have a functioning lab instead of just charging for one. They may have due process, without the fear of retribution. There are students in this program putting in 10-12 hour days in clinical and still trying to study for ongoing courses and prepare for graduation. These concerns were met with...If you want to get through, fly under the radar..How can being used as staff and free labor be used against the student in some veiled threat...It is sad and frustrating. Many of us are not new to the education process and have faced far greater challenges than anesthetist school. It does not have to be so demoralizing

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Specializes in or,icu,er.

As a senior student at WC I feel I have had excellent clinical experience. I have well over 1000 cases and feel confident when in clinicals. Some students in other schools struggle to meet the total case requirements (550). I have had a great heart rotation, OB rotation, and done Ped's in three different locations with very seasoned CRNA's -20+yrs. I also have done tons of endos, radiology cases, eyes, and more ortho (spinal/epidural) than I can remember.....I could go on,and on and on!!! The point is you have been given an awesome opportunity,..... the chance to become a CRNA. You could be the best student at the worst school or the worst student at the best school -it really boils down to what you make out of the OPPORTUNITY you have been given.

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Very interesting...I live in Tampa, and while I won't be applying for a few more years, Wolford was (is) definitely on my list. All of you who go there - do you mind telling us why you chose them over other options if you had them? I'm sure every program will be very difficult and life-consuming, and I'm limited in my geography (husband has to live in Tampa area) so Wolford is definitely on the short list. Any more infomation would be very welcome.

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As a senior student at WC I feel I have had excellent clinical experience. I have well over 1000 cases and feel confident when in clinicals. Some students in other schools struggle to meet the total case requirements (550). I have had a great heart rotation, OB rotation, and done Ped's in three different locations with very seasoned CRNA's -20+yrs. I also have done tons of endos, radiology cases, eyes, and more ortho (spinal/epidural) than I can remember.....I could go on,and on and on!!! The point is you have been given an awesome opportunity,..... the chance to become a CRNA. You could be the best student at the worst school or the worst student at the best school -it really boils down to what you make out of the OPPORTUNITY you have been given.

The school has good points, but it also has bad points. Let's drop political corectness at the door and be open about issues.

I haven't yet seen anybody saying that I'm lying. And yes, I'm frustrated and venting.

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