J Sargeant Reynolds Spring 2019

sford5006 · Aug 28, 2018

I'm in the same boat. High 80s kaplan. Excited to hear back about my application. Good luck everyone.

wtl2603 · Sep 2, 2018

Man, I'm pretty nervous now. Just read everyone's scores. My overall was only an 82. The science was much harder than I expected. However, I already have a Bachelor's Degree from VCU, so I'm hoping that will somehow work out in my favor in terms of showing I can commit. Anyone know if they factor in things like that?

Also, does anyone have any idea roughly how many people apply to the program each semester?

jmcneish45 · Sep 2, 2018

I was advised that they start filling in the spots based upon your Kaplan score. If they get down to the last several spots and the applicants have the same scores, they assess GPA etc.

I have a prior bachelor's in business administration but personally I feel like my business degree is not indicative of me being success in the nursing program (mainly because its non med-related). A CNA could have more hands on skills (in comparison to my degree) and that doesn't require a Bachelor's.

Honestly, it's hard to say what score is "acceptable". It literally depends on the scores of everyone. So far, everyone has competitive scores. We can only hope we get in. It sucks but it is what it is.

If you go on the reynolds website and look under the Nursing curriculum, you'll see the nursing info session PowerPoint. It stated they are accepting 60-70 students. Hopefully that number will go up. Reynolds is having some trouble hiring nursing instructors at the moment.

sford5006 · Sep 3, 2018

I would think an 82 would be good enough, but that's just the total guess.

map.oliv · Sep 4, 2018

I got an 81 overall score (second time taking the test). I am freaking out after reading everyone else's scores! =/

I hope it will be enough. I have no second option! =/

fUTURERN1485 · Sep 5, 2018

My overall score was an 80% I am freaking out also after reading everyone's score I have been an LPN for 4 years and have an associates degree from Reynolds in psychology. I'm hoping its enough as all of you have excellent scores. When do you think we will know something.

map.oliv · Sep 6, 2018

They told us 6 weeks after the application deadline. I assume we should be hearing back from them by the last week of September. I hope we all get in!

dogmumoftwo · Sep 6, 2018

Do any of you know people who were accepted for this fall semester and their scores? How drastically could the average of scores for acceptance change? May we all get this opportunity!

Technicasualty · Sep 6, 2018

I am currently in the Fall semester. It was posted in the Fall '18 thread that those in the alternates scored between 82 and 83. We were told in our information session that those who scored above 78 typically got in. However, I do remember Ms. King saying that Fall tends to be more competitive. They also said that those were the highest they've had for minimum scores. Mr. King is not lying when he says average scores have gone up.

Remember that you can only take the Kaplan twice. After the second attempt, you must wait two years until you can take it again. You can resubmit your application for Fall '19 in May of next year you can still take the Kaplan again. If not, then you can try to submit again, but you will still have to use your current Kaplan scores.

You can read the Fall '18 thread here: https://allnurses.com/online-nursing-schools/j-sargeant-reynolds-1164855.html

Do you know if they look at the individual scores/percentage for each section? Or do they only look at the overall score??

They take the highest score from each section and then tally that up for an overall score. Math, Science and Reading are all weighted at 30%, writing is worth 10%.

I already have a Bachelor's Degree from VCU, so I'm hoping that will somehow work out in my favor in terms of showing I can commit. Anyone know if they factor in things like that?

They do not. Admission is based upon the Kaplan score. If there is a tie to get in, then they will look at your GPA for pre-reqs.

Just a heads up to all of you who do get in: be prepared for some more math with your dosage test. The dosage test is for clinicals and you must score a 90% out of 20 questions. It is taken during the first week of class and you get three attempts. If you do not pass, you cannot take clinicals and you will be advised to leave the program. The questions will NOT be the same on your repeated attempts. If you did well on the math section in the Kaplan, you will do fine. It's pretty simple stuff, really. Things like "Capsules of Generic Drug are 250mg and the doctor prescribes 0.5g." You will need to do some conversions, though. Notably there are questions about dosage for a person who weighs X amount of pounds, but the dosage info is mg per kg. They will go over this in orientation and you will have plenty of time to study and get tutoring. Don't sweat it. It's pretty easy and there is plenty of opportunity for help if you need it.

Also, I hope your semester goes smoother than ours has. Our professor is brand new and didn't arrive until 2 days before class started. She was not given course guidebook until halfway through the first week. The bookstore messed up and did not have codes for our course materials until halfway through the first week. Same deal with scrubs. The dean and the (brand new) coordinator came in and yelled at a bunch of us asking why we didn't have our flu vaccines yet (we were told during orientation to wait until we got an email), then told us we needed to get them ASAP. Our clinical coordinator then told us to ignore all of that and any flu vaccines submitted to Castle Branch would be rejected. When the dean and coordinator were asked about our clinicals, they were dumbfounded and surprised that we didn't already know. One of the teachers that took the new professor under her wing told us that, if push came to shove, she would run our clinicals herself because she didn't want us to fail because administration had screwed up.

Things have finally been sorted out after the second week, thankfully, but it also means that some of use are WAY behind (my section being one of them) and are seriously struggling and still confused about how the program is supposed to work, while others are doing just fine. To be frank, I'm very annoyed and angry about the way the dean and nursing coordinator have been handling the situation. It never should have occurred in the first place and I don't know who the genius was that thought it would be perfectly fine to have a completely brand-new hire teach the entire curriculum without any sort of support or guidance from other teachers or staff. I don't blame the teacher; t's not her fault that they threw her to the wolves. Thankfully, the clinical coordinator has been awesome and is super helpful. So, if you have problems, DO NOT GO TO THE DEAN OR THE COURSE COORDINATOR! Seek out Ms King, the clinical coordinator, or one of the teachers. Clearly, the Dean and coordinator don't know how to run their own program.

Oh, and a few other things: ALL nursing classes will be at the downtown campus. If you need to speak to an adviser or talk financial aid, then I would highly recommend using the Parham Road campus. I waited 2 hours to speak to a financial aid adviser at the DTC and left because I couldn't wait around any longer. At PRC, I was seen within 20 minutes.

I'll check back and see if I can help answer any other questions you all have or you can PM me. I'm super busy having to play catch up, but I'm more than willing to try and help you all navigate your ways through this ordeal. It can be very confusing and intimidating.

Congratulations to all that get in and best of luck in your studies! Remember that you earned this chance through your hard work and perseverance, and it is that same hard work and perseverance that will guide you through the nursing program, too.

sford5006 · Sep 7, 2018

Thanks for the heads up. I'm sure there are a lot of people on here like me who are carefully reading every word of your post.

Technicasualty · Sep 7, 2018

Thank you, sford5006. I honestly wish we had someone help us at the beginning. We did have a few that chimed in, but it was very fleeting and brief. I will gladly help as much as I can. We NEED more nurses. Nurses are the front line in the health care field and doctors rely on us to help them diagnose and treat patients.

Unfortunately, administration dropped the ball on our class. I hope it doesn't happen to you all.

Some other tips I will give is this:

Make a Facebook group for your class so you ALL can communicate with each other. This will be vital. Some of you will get information that others will not. You are all in this together. Help each other out and you all will succeed together.

You will be divided into sections. Set up group texts, emails or whatever else to communicate within your own section. I am not 100% sure on this, but I think your section is the same throughout your entire academic career at Reynolds. The exception being students that are removed and later added due to failing or having to withdraw.

GET TUTORING. You might think that you'll be fine because you did well before, but nursing classes are FAR beyond what you've experienced. Maybe it's just because our group has had a rough time, but signing up for and attending tutoring is a good idea if you want to achieve a high level of success.

If you score below an 80 on a test, you will be MANDATED to attend tutoring until the next test. If you do not pass with an 80 on that test, mandatory tutoring will continue.

AFAIK, tests will consist of 40 questions and ALL questions will be NCLEX-style. NCLEX-style means that questions will be phrased that a patient in a specific ward, tier or suffering a specific condition will be experience a certain complication. It's basically word problems and they are designed to trip you up on specifics.

STUDY, STUDY, STUDY and then STUDY SOME MORE! I know many people have jobs, but if you can afford to take out student loans to reduced your work load to part time or not work at all, you will be MUCH better off.

Some students will have prior or ongoing medical experience. Some of this is useful. Some of it is not. There are many people that work in facilities that have been taught improper procedures. Study your course material. Ask your teachers for information. As I said before: attend tutoring.

This piggybacks onto what I said about working: You need to spend at least 6 to 8 hours PER DAY, EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK to studying. Some might get by on less time, some might need more time, but you should study every day for at least several hours. If you can do this with a full-time job, then godspeed. If not, then seek out student loans from Reynolds and possibly private loans. Nursing is not to be treated lightly. People's lives are, literally, hanging in the balance depending on how well you can treat them and how well you can follow proper procedure.

READ YOUR HANDBOOKS. A lot of basic info is in there and much of this info is essential when it comes to clinicals. Ideally, you won't have to run and grab the phone to shout, "CODE RED!" But you should be prepared for it.

Be assertive. If you do not understand something, then speak up. If class is dragging on, then ask your question in tutoring sessions. Again, and I cannot stress this enough: TUTORING WILL HELP YOU SUCCEED!

I'm sure I can add some more stuff as I learn more about the program, but these are things that I have picked up within the first few weeks. Some might apply to you. Some might not. But they are a good general rule of thumb. If you thought getting into the program was hard... to borrow from Bachman-Turner Overdive,

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dmr20044 · Sep 13, 2018

Does anyone know how many people applied this cycle?