Hawaii Pacific University-Don't Go

[islandgrl001]

I currently attend Hawaii Pacific University Nursing School. While I am getting to the end of the program I have been asked by many people what my experience at HPU has been like. Let me say that my experience at HPU has been extremely disappointing.

Like many others I was lured to HPU from the mainland after completing my nursing pre-requisites by an advisor that instructed me that after one semester of online classes I would have enough credits to enter the nursing program. Three semesters later and $18,000 poorer I was finally able to enter the program at HPU. That is when I truly began to see the dysfunction of the nursing school.

Registration every semester is such a horrible experience I cannot adequately describe it in words-but I'll try. First you register for your lecture classes. IF you can get into those consider yourself lucky. Then there is about a four week period before you can register for your clinical courses. In those four weeks anyone in the "spirit" club (not everyone can join, only those that went to high school in Hawaii) can register before you and take the few good clinical instructors that there are so that no one also can get into those classes. Then on the determined day (which is usually on midnight at midterms, so convenient!) about three hundred people all at the same time desperately try to fight for what clinical courses remain. And like clockwork the computer system crashes and everything is a mess. This happens EVERY SINGLE SEMESTER. Last semester they didn't even have enough clinical courses for people to register for and they made people wait and take the class over the Christmas break (what a great solution!-Not).

In the schools infinite wisdom it decided to change the sequence of nursing courses around in the program. Instead of offering the full course of classes over the summer like it always has my level had to sit out a semester and instead of being able to graduate in spring like we thought it will now at least be another semester or two before we can graduate. At $12,000 a semester in tuition it seems so convenient for them to just keep delaying our graduation. I also love the complete disorganization and mayhem that has resulted from these course changes. The professors tell us we're the "guinea pigs" like it's ok that we're being treated this way and like it's acceptible to run such a disorganized nursing program.

As a student at HPU you are treated like a second class citizen. The nursing administration has ceased talking with any of the students and any issues that you have with the school, well you might as well just talk to a brick wall. I cannot even begin to tell you about my level of frustration with how poorly HPU nursing school is run. I cannot even begin to fully describe how badly I have been treated at HPU.

As far as the quality of education-it's so-so. Some professors are really good, some are not. HPU does have a good reputation on the islands but I haven't been at all blown away by it. And good luck to you if you diod get one of the notoriously bad adjunct clinical instructors because then your life really is going to be miserable. All around it lacks professionalism. No matter how good a couple of the professors might be it will never make up for the headaches and heartaches the school puts you through because it is run so incredibly poorly. The nursing school grew too big too fast and we, the students, are having to pay the price for their ineptitude.

I wrote this to save anyone from the experience that I have had at this school. Any other school would be a better choice then HPU. So please I encourage anyone before making a choice of attending a nursing school to talk to current students attending that university. Save yourself from some very long years, huge debts, and misery!