Fairest Admissions/Application Process?

[echo*echo]

Okay we all know about waiting lists. We are aware of how competitive the process is. Knowing this, what do you think is the fairest process? Put yourselves in their shoes, and what application process would you favor? What criteria would you weigh?

1) First come, first served. Finish your pre-reqs, meet the minimum GPA requirements, and wait. When your number comes up, it comes up.

2) Based on GPA of prerequisite classes only. Each semester you can apply, and those with the highest GPA on their pre-reqs get in, regardless if it's their first attempt or tenth attempt.

3) Based on overall GPA of all college work completed. Prerequisites must be completed, but admittance is based on GPA of all coursework, related or not. Same aplication process as #2.

4) Skills testing. Prerequisites must be completed, but instead of GPA all prospective students are given a basic skills assessment. Those who score highest are given first priority.

5) Individual interview process. Once prerequisites are met, each candidate goes through an interview process. Here intangibles can be factored in. Things like maturity, need, communication skills, leadership ability, etc.

6) Other. Please specify.

7) A combination of all, or some, of the above.

Personally I favor some combination of the above. First come, first served will discourage some prospective nurses from entering the field if the wait is too long. If you spent a year to 18 months completing pre-reqs, only to wait another 2-3 years to get in, your "Associates Degree" might take 6 or 7 years to complete.

Number #2 (GPA of pre-reqs) I also find restrictive. The cut-offs at most schools is in the 3.5 to 3.8 range which in my mind favors students who can devote all their time to school. Most older students must work full-time while completing pre-reqs. Plus how productive is it to retake a class you got a B in only because you need an A to up your GPA? Realistically if your GPA is in the 3.0 to 3.25 range you may never get in.

Personally I would use a combination of criteria 1, 2, 4 & 5. I would take 25% from each one. If you have 80 spots available, the first 20 go to those who met minimum admissions criteria but have waited the longest due to other factors. These are your 2-3 year wait list students. The next 20 students are based solely on GPA, meaning those first applicants with a 3.8 to 4.0 GPA get in immediately. The next 20 would be based on skills testing and aptitude. The last 20 would be based on an interview process factoring in all of the above. Things like leadership ability, communication skills, etc are not easily measured any other way.

Okay I am idealistic but I think if demand (students) continues to exceed supply (available seats) then a more flexible system should be in place. What do you think?

[kats]

I think I would go with the interview process because then the factors such as gpa, finished prereqs, how many attempts to apply, etc. could be discussed along with determining communication skills, maturity, etc. Other things such as previous experience and training could also be discovered.

[cna on her way]

My school goes on points. For every supporting class that you have taken you get X amount of points. For instance an A is worth 4, a B is worth 3, and a C is worth 2. You multiply the credit hours by the grade. So Anatomy is 4 credit hours. If you have a B you earn 12 points. The students with the highest points get in. I think that is very fair because you can pretty much seal your own fate. If you have most of the supporting classes done, and the grades are decent, you will get in. You have to have a 2.0 to even apply and meet minimum requirements. Prereqs are done beforehand to meet minimum requirements as well, however, I think that some people consider the general supporting classes as prereqs and thats not the case at this school. Prereqs are at least one unit of Biology, Algebra, Chemistry, and a certain score on the entrance exam for English, Reading, and functional math.

[Mithrah]

I think that the NET test, an interview, volunteering, or experience in the health field should have nothing with getting into a nursing school.

Minimum requirements should be a 3.0 GPA in all required prereqs.

I believe in first come first serve.

And I think that in order to pass nursing school the minimum should be an 80% in each class.

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

My school goes on points. For every supporting class that you have taken you get X amount of points. For instance an A is worth 4, a B is worth 3, and a C is worth 2. You multiply the credit hours by the grade. So Anatomy is 4 credit hours. If you have a B you earn 12 points. The students with the highest points get in. I think that is very fair because you can pretty much seal your own fate. If you have most of the supporting classes done, and the grades are decent, you will get in. You have to have a 2.0 to even apply and meet minimum requirements. Prereqs are done beforehand to meet minimum requirements as well, however, I think that some people consider the general supporting classes as prereqs and thats not the case at this school. Prereqs are at least one unit of Biology, Algebra, Chemistry, and a certain score on the entrance exam for English, Reading, and functional math.

That's exactly the way it is at our school. I think the system is about as fair as it comes. But, let me tell you the flip side of the situation. We have far, far too many applicants for slots available for both our ADN and LPN programs. (This year we rejected 7 out of 8 applicants for the RN class of 2005.) Last fall, the dean and cc president proposed a plan to expand our ADN program 50%. We have so many people out of work in our area. At the same time, most area hospitals and nursing homes are critically short on RN's/LPN's and are importing nurses from wherever. So, it would make sense to train our locals for these local nursing jobs, right? Unfortunately, the NC legislature pays cc faculty such disgracefully low salaries (47th in the nation), that we cannot attract the nursing faculty necessary to increase enrollment (or even take care of our present students without killing ourselves). So, the REAL problem, regardless of admission criteria used, is LACK OF NURSING FACULTY DUE TO EXTREMELY LOW SALARIES.

[LauraLou]

My school uses the #2 approach. Students are ranked by their GPA on the four pre-req's: A&P I, English, Algebra, Psychology.

If there are ties, then they count the number of supporting classes you have taken (Micro, Speech, etc).

Classes not included in the nursing program (ex. American History) are not included in the application process.

This method worked really well for me because I had a 4.0 on my four pre-req's.

But it isn't very fair to the students who gets all B's. They will never be accepted to the program. Last semester the lowest GPA they took was a 3.4. They are expecting it to rise to 3.5 or 3.6 next semester.

There are a lot of very good potential nurses who will never get a chance because there are so few spaces in the nursing program.

[Empress]

The CC I originally started at didn't have a waiting list and wasn't that hard to get into, which was unusal considering that most programs are. The only pre-reqs were chemistry and math, and with the math you could bypass if you placed high enough on their entrance tests to the CC. There was no NET, and a GPA of 2.5 was just a cut-off, higher GPA didn't gain any more consideration. Most classes, A+P and microb, were taken along wiht nursing classes. This was a couple a years ago, and might have changed by now. It was very good program and had a good reputation.

The CC that I hope to start next year to finish (life got in the way so I took some time off and moved out of state) has a more formal process. You have to finish a set amount of pre-reqs before applying, and attend an info session, then submit a full application just like you were applying to college. You're admitted based on your ranking which comes from a point system.

They do points with multiple factors. Like GPA for the required pre-reqs, they give you more points if you take more, so if you're GPA is 3.2 and you've taken 6 pre-reqs, you could be just as competitive to Suzy Q who has a 3.8 but only taken 3 pre-reqs. Then an entrance exam. Another thing is nice is that they give you points if you've already applied but were turned, so its not like you never have a chance if rejected the first time, and its more likely you can get in the next semester. As fas as I know, with this system they never use waiting lists because they just take as many people they have spots for based on rankings.

[det01]

I am not sure how the school I am in did the acceptance. All I know is I had to take the NET (which btw was the easiest test I have ever taken in my life) send in my grades from my prereqs and all other college classes I had taken, get 2 letters of recommendation, ACT scores and a letter of good standing from my previous nursing school (my dh is USAF and we had to move)

The last school I was at accepts people and then for who gets the good clinical times/instructors assigns numbers to each applicant and you go in that order.

As for what I think - I think GPA should play a role. I have a 3.8 in general classes and a 4.0 in NUR classes that you can take before clinicals i.e. Assessment, research, leadership, health care and money issues. I just don't think it would be fair if someone with a 2.5 got to go because they had a higher number drawn when their name was called. I worked hard for my good grades. I also think that an interview is a good idea, as well as letters of recomendation. I do not really see the value of the NET - it was too easy.