Yes I am a current student and No I would not recommend the program.
You should know that the clinicals are not graded and 50% of your grade is on the final day of each course. 2 tests each - one on the computer. If you get lower than a 76 you will fail the course. If you fail a course you will need to wait 3 months before taking just that class over again, thus you are 6 months behind orig. grad date.
Be prepared that if you have 4 courses that your finals will be scheduled mon-thurs 2 tests a day for your final week. These exams may be one at 8 am and the other as late as 5pm each day. You could have an A going into the final and still fail the course. A comprehensive course covering over 1000 slides, 50 chapters..comes down to 50 random questions on your final day. Nothing else matters...your care plans, etc are not graded. You will receive multiple math exams that if you don't pass on 2 attempts you fail the course.
I have over a 3.5 gpa currently and I wish someone told me how bad the program was and is. If the class has a high average on the midterm, then the Professors make the final that much harder in an attempt to bring the class average down. Once you are in this program, just remember you can not transfer anywhere, you are stuck. Drexel knows this, so it is to the schools financial benefit if you need to repeat a course. And if you need do not pass the final HESI be prepared to pay Drexel 4 thousand more to fix what they failed to teach you.
By the way, to those who are going into Nursing, more because of "a calling" than of money (unless money is the only thing calling you), please look into programs that have a comprehensive admissions process (like JHU-SON).
I actually really liked the fact that Drexel's application was so spartan. I ended up not applying to UPenn because they wanted all sorts of detailed information about my parents' education (degrees, schools, etc) which just struck me as ultra fussy. I'm 28, married, financially independent, have a Bachelor's Degree... My parents shouldn't (from an admissions standpoint) matter. Plus, I'll admit, I'm lazy when it comes to applications. Getting in to Drexel means I don't have to worry about essays, interviews, recommendations, etc for other schools.
I recently graduated from Drexel but I was in the BSN-coop program. The BSN-coop program was amazing, in my honest opinion. I can't blame you for your angry sentiment against Drexel because from my viewpoint, the ACE program looked like hell. I mean... think about it, it takes years for people to become amazing, keen, astute nurses. Think about all the knowledge and information you have to cram in your head for less than a year and then expect to be fully functional after that. Without the co-op program, most ACE students have no experience on the floor except for clinicals and maybe if they have a side-job as an extern (but with the ACE program, I don't really see that spare time happening).
So, please don't completely backlash against Drexel. Yes, Drexel has a very specific program that makes it difficult to transfer to other schools (but it has happened, I had classmates who transferred) and yes the passing grades are extremely high. However, I have to stand my ground as a Drexel graduate. The co-op program was absolutely beneficial to me. I received a job offer the very day I found out I passed my NCLEX exam from my co-op employer. Against the tsunami of spring/summer graduates, I feel like I stood out in the crowd because of the experience I gained working as a full time extern. The high grade expectancy was hell when I was trying to get through it but in hindsight, it worked to my advantage. I did AWESOME on my NCLEX exam after all those HESIs!
I don't know if this post is read still, but I've applied to Drexel well before reading the large amount of negative feedback on here. I'll continue with the application process (mainly because it is so inexpensive- sending my transcripts), but I'm thinking less and less that it sounds appealing to me. I'm leaning toward Columbia- not for the name, and certainly not for the price (uff! $13,000 more than Drexel, plus the cost of living difference in NYC), but because I have a very good friend that did it. Aside from the price and the general frustrations regarding disorganization, she speaks highly of the professors and found that they treated you like in grad school- they WANT you to do well and they really encourage students. She said there were a few in her class that dropped out, but only a few in the first semester.
hiddencatRN, BSN, RN
3,408 Posts
I actually really liked the fact that Drexel's application was so spartan. I ended up not applying to UPenn because they wanted all sorts of detailed information about my parents' education (degrees, schools, etc) which just struck me as ultra fussy. I'm 28, married, financially independent, have a Bachelor's Degree... My parents shouldn't (from an admissions standpoint) matter. Plus, I'll admit, I'm lazy when it comes to applications. Getting in to Drexel means I don't have to worry about essays, interviews, recommendations, etc for other schools.