Fail Rate In Reno:

Nursing Students General Students

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I am a 54 year old woman that got accepted into a nursing program here in Reno, NV. This program lost 15 people in 8 weeks! All I heard was how many people failed every semester. You could re-apply one more time, so the classes would fill up with about 15 people from the previous semester that had failed out. The instruction was so poor, maybe because these instructors were all new. They seemed like a bunch of burned out nurses who were sick of their job, so they got their Masters so they could teach; however, they seemed to hate that too. I quit this program and will be attending a LVN school in Ca. I am to old to get into my 3rd semester and fail (as my friend and others did). The tests we were given were a mess. The correct answers were marked wrong! When I called a instructor and gave her page numbers and told her the problem, she screamed at me and told me never to call her or any instructor about a test question. I needed to make a appointment. I know I am older and education has changed, but after what I saw I can see why there is such a nursing shortage. This program did everything to get you out, not keep you in. You had to pass a math test 100% (MAPES Testing) or you were out; however, there was no instruction given in math except for a 10 minute poorly explained math problem. I am still in shock over what I saw. Is this the normal for all nursing schools???

when a test question is marked incorrect, and you have the page

number to prove your answer - then it is a good idea to let them know of the error.

all the best in your program

There were originally 72 in my class, 31 passed Foundaions, of those 31, 10 were repeats! Everything you say sounds all too familiar.

Terrace,

This sounds a lot like my program. My feeling is that there are a lot of nursing instructors out there who are burned out nurses that only became instructors to get away from the bedside.

Hey I was wondering if a high failure rate was "normal." Our school only accepts 50 students per year. After our first semester (Fundamentals) we lost 30 students. Our spring semester started yesterday and it was horrible seeing only 20 show up. We were horrified to say the least. (Mind you, I do understand that not everyone will not pass, but losing over 50% felt extreme)

My instructors are not the worst, I am sure, but they certainly are not all that great. It is very concerning to me that they care so little about being excellent teachers, while demanding that we be excellent students. The honor, integrity, and service that they preach, they rarely follow through with.

Like some of you have written, there has been some real issues with our tests. Some of the questions the teachers put on there are really off the wall...

I digress.

Please do tell me if this is typical to lose so many students every semester???

You need almost straight "A"s to get into the program here. In only a matter of weeks could that many people turn "dumb"? I feel like I have made a terrible mistake choosing nursing; however, with years of pre-req's and busting my butt I can't turn back. I think I'll go for the LPN and pray I can get a job with that. Good luck to you.

Gosh, I hate that for you. Being an LPN would be fine with me (I guess), but like you I have already invested the past 2.5 years (which is a lot of time and $$$) taking everything but my core NUR & Pharmacology classes.

Hang in there...hopefully it will all work out for us. It just stinks to have the added stress of worrying that you (we) may not pass, and then where would we be left??? I have found myself at times wondering what in the world possesed me to choose NUR. :specs:

Yeah, and what is up with so many straight A students suddenly failing tests and classes? Saw a lot of that going on this fall as well. We had several students who already had B.S. in Chemistry & Biology (from major univeristys) fail. I just don't get it, and furthermore, don't really know how I made it this time around.

Hoping the best for you. Have you started back with any classes yet?

Specializes in SRNA.

Terrace...are you talking about TMCC? I've heard the horror stories, but didn't believe them.

I just graduated from UNR's program. We started with 48, lost 1 who quit on her own, lost 1 who failed a course (a foreign student that I honestly think it was English that was the challenge), and that's it. You may want to look into what classes you'd have to take to satisfy UNR's core - it really isn't a whole lot more than TMCC. I had to take a few more core type courses. If your GPA is high enough you'll get in. I felt I got a good education and was supported by faculty to succeed. I just took NCLEX on Wednesday, got 75 questions, and I just found out this morning I'm a RN!! Feel free to e-mail or PM me for more information. I can get you in touch with a nursing advisor there, if you're interested.

Please do tell me if this is typical to lose so many students every semester???

Not typical. I really think it depends on the program. Some programs only accept the best students (straight A's, high TEAS scores) and most of those students can hang and bang with the program. I think it might come down to the quality (for lack of a better word) of the applicants. If a school is accepting students by lottery, or whatever, they're bound to get students that cannot pass the program.

Personally, I would steer clear of any school that had a fail rate like that. To me, it's not the students that are failing, but the school is failing the students. My school has a low fail rate and a very high NCLEX pass rate. I think it has to do with the qaulity of student they accept......and they also will do anything in their power to help a student in distress.

I would RUN, not walk, away from a school that had a 50% fail rate.

Hey I was wondering if a high failure rate was "normal." Our school only accepts 50 students per year. After our first semester (Fundamentals) we lost 30 students. Our spring semester started yesterday and it was horrible seeing only 20 show up. We were horrified to say the least. (Mind you, I do understand that not everyone will not pass, but losing over 50% felt extreme)

My instructors are not the worst, I am sure, but they certainly are not all that great. It is very concerning to me that they care so little about being excellent teachers, while demanding that we be excellent students. The honor, integrity, and service that they preach, they rarely follow through with.

Like some of you have written, there has been some real issues with our tests. Some of the questions the teachers put on there are really off the wall...

I digress.

Please do tell me if this is typical to lose so many students every semester???

I don't think your school is that unusual. I know of a school (ADN) that fails 50% of students the first semester, "weeds out" some more during the rest of the two years, and still ends up with a 82 to 88% NCLEX pass rate. How does that happen? It is also a completive entry program that uses math and science classes to determine who gets in, so most of the students are not dummies.

Obviously there needs to be a small fail rate because not everyone is cut out to be nurses, but I would hope that would be less that 10%.

Thanks OP for posting this question, it something I have been wondering about.

If you have approached the instructor and have the correct answers proven in the textbook, and she still wouldn't fix your grade. I would make an appointment to the next person in the chain of command there and keep going up until you get the dean of nursing if need be. It is wrong to not listen to a student and talk it out. Regardless of what university/school you are going to. If there is really an awful nursing instructor like this out there, we need to protect each other from having bad instructors in the future. speak up and fight for what you earned. Even if your going to go to another school, these grades will still show up on your transcripts.

I am a TMCC student. I would NOT recommend this program to anyone..if you are a student thinking about going to this school DON'T! Run as far south as possible ( I know people at WNC who "absolutely love" their program). I must share some facts to back up my opinion. First, the tests tend not to connect with the reading material, and your grade on the exam may not be your final grade on the exam due to poorly written questions. ( That don't connect with the reading material). Second, during clinical there is rarely support from the faculty. Most of the faculty are degrading and make a learning environment impossible when your anxiety level is through the roof because they make you feel like you can kicked out at any second or written up just because they feel like writing you up( for something thats not in the handbook) and even if you do all the prep work exactly..and DON'T even think about asking for help because they may write you up or kick you out for something you don't know. I have seen the nightmares and if this sounds like something you want to do for 2 years then...by all means..apply to TMCC. There are about 2 or 3 instructors there that are "Student friendly" but they are rare species...

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