Kicked out of Nursing program

[leereynold218]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can help with this:

My daughter, who is an excellent student, had some difficulties with one of her classes and was not able to maintain the minimum C grade (got a C-) in this one class. Although, she completed 130 credit hrs and has a 3.4 gpa, she was booted from the nursing program in her senior year!

Furthermore, after some reseach, she finds out that this one "problem" class is not even a requirement in other nursing programs! She's tried other schools in the area and there's either a long waiting list (up to 3 yrs.) or they only offer RN to BSN. Other schools will on accept a portion of her credit hrs in transfer. It just seems rediculous!

Does anyone have a suggesion? Anyone been down this road?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Blee O'Myacin, BSN, RN]

Surely her credits that she has accumulated thus far can count towards a degree in another area - perhaps an additional semester to meet requirements, if she is attending a University with an affiliated nursing school. If she is asked to leave the nursing program, it doesn't mean that the university is asking her to leave without graduating.

One class repeated one time for the minimum grade seems to be standard for nursing school programs. I knew of someone that couldn't graduate due to failing a class early on, retaking it and passing - then only to fail the final semester. (No second chance on the class - she didn't graduate).

Whether or not this is fair is not the point, seeing what can be salvaged and moving on is the only thing that can be done at this point.

I know that the OP is trying to help her daughter - but I also hope that her daughter is taking steps to help herself.

Good luck

Blee

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

Ok....perhaps my answer is not going to be too popular here. But, the whole maintain a C and that's it, with one retake is the same story that my school uses. AND students who reapply and retake class usually do better...or at least the same.....The ones who reapply and fail again usually made the SAME mistakes that led them to that in the first place. I understand the whole "wasted money" aspect, but perhaps your daughter needs to be on here and apply to another program, or take a look at her career choice.

Your daughter is an adult...and made an adult decision to retake a class, KNOWING that if she failed to maintain that minimum grade again....She was out. Unless the student handbook is unclear on that policy, I doubt a appeal will be successful. It's similar to schools who change policies to require "exit testing" to a new class, and the class in the middle gets stuck....and they change the handbook to apply to EVERYONE.

By all means, appeal, talk to staff, have your daughter discuss this with the dean, etc.....but if there is ANY history of 2nd retakes, I'd be pressing them on this issue.

And I echo the posters above by saying that maybe your daughter needs to get on here and tell us what went down. Good luck on all of the situation.

[leslie :-D]

i suppose she can always plead to take it a 3rd time, except this time, she'll get tutoring.

if she didn't get tutoring the 2nd time, let her admit her mistake in not doing so, and 'beg' for one more chance.

other than that, most of her courses should be transferrable, with the exception of a couple.

your daughter needs to be the one fighting for this, mom.

let us know how it goes?

best of everything.

leslie

[medsurgrnco, BSN, RN]

Before your daughter attempts to retake that class, tho, she needs to take a good hard look (mom's help might be good here) at why she failed the class twice and what could help her succeed on a third try.

[Agnus]

Mom you are being a mom (one myself)Twice now you have been told your daughter should be the one on here.

I am wondering if she really wants to be an nurse. It just may not be for her. She may have changed her mind. It seems like you have a lot invested in this and she can not tell you any other way that this is not what she wants.

Back off and let her come to this site. Tell her about it. She is an adult and as hard as it is to let our kids make their own mistakes it is important that we do.

It is not unusual for a student to change their mind about what and where they want to go with their life. A lot of times they are afraid to tell parents because we get so vested in their original dream that they feel that it is your dream.

I do not know this is the case with your daughter. Right now you do not know either. You will not know until you stop trying to fix this for her and let her take the initiative and fix it herself.

[leereynold218]

My daughter has been to this site in the past. She has also done an extraordinary amount of do diligence to resolve her situation including, talking to the Dean of Nursing, Dean of Students, advisors, spoke with advisors for every nursing school in the state. Submitted applications to several of the in state schools as well.

One of the schools she applied to is in the same university system, just another campus, and they told her they wouldn't be able to transfer ANY of her nursing classes! They would only transfer her core classes. That is their policy and has nothing to do with her.

They all tell her she has to go back to community college, get her associates and RN there, then go back to a four year institution and enter an RN to BSN program.

But, the crazy thing is that she's already taken practically all of the classes. Remember, she was a senior with 130 credit hours towards her BSN!

She has mostly A's and B's in all her other classes with a 3.4 gpa. It's this stupid policy they have that says if you get less than a C (she had a C-) in more than one class (she took her problem class twice and got a C- both times) your out of the program!

She can re-apply to the program, but there's a 2-3 year wait list to get back in. That's why I'm looking for another school that will allow her to transfer her earned nursing credits and finish her BSN. I'm now looking out of state.

[Agnus]

Every college maintains a data base of every other school of higher learning in the country. You might do better looking there. Looking for a school that might fit your needs on this site is (I think) like throwing a dart in a dark room. But that is my opinion.

[BrokenRNheart]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

My daughter did re-take the class and still ended up with a C- in it. That's why she got kicked out. The policy is maintain a C avg. (her's was a 3.4) and nothing less than a C in any one class (that's the problem).

So, she spent four years of her life, oodles of money paid to the school, maintained a 3.4 gpa, and none of the classes are good for anything other than a nursing degree. She can't even change majors without practically starting over from scratch!

You stated nothing less than a C but she has a gpa of 3.4 If she was getting by (which doesn't seem the case with 3.4....but....?) That retake and a C- might have told the school that she was lacking something or maybe not taking it serious.

Was she just passing on average? If that's the case and she didn't pass the second time they probably have a reason. It stinks because of the money spent. But money spent doesn't guarantee you are making it. I never thought about that happening...OUCH!

Is it possible your daughter was struggling considerably or noticeably?

Do you think she was giving the message that she wasn't really taking it serious or some other message that they decided not to work with her?

Wow, our instructors were so good to us when I went to school.

I agree with a couple posts - one about not trying to go around the system but follow the system. Definitely! Go head on to the source and find what your choices are and talk to them. If your daughter is willing you could probably go with her. When my daughter shopped for schools, she always took me in because 2 heads are better than one and I have more experience. The schools were always very accomodating and understanding.

The other post about trying to transfer those credits sounds very wise.

Realistically, this could be a sign to pursue something else and considering the way things are going with nursing, just think if she got the degree and couldn't hack the field or something (like so many of us).

I'm assuming she is knocked down pretty hard about now. I hate to see young ones try to make adult choices and grow up just to get knocked down. That hurts.

:icon_hug: and prayers. :stone

[Becca608]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

My daughter did re-take the class and still ended up with a C- in it. That's why she got kicked out. The policy is maintain a C avg. (her's was a 3.4) and nothing less than a C in any one class (that's the problem).

So, she spent four years of her life, oodles of money paid to the school, maintained a 3.4 gpa, and none of the classes are good for anything other than a nursing degree. She can't even change majors without practically starting over from scratch!

At our school, anything below 75 is considered failing in the nursing program. A C- would be less than a 75. Other people are passing the class, so you're daughter may need to reassess how she is learning the material for this particular course.

[Dolce, RN]

Does anyone know if Excelsior College allows transfer in of credits? That might be an option for your daughter since it sounds like she has already completed most of her clinical time.

[justme1972]

Every school has different requirements.

I know that some schools have a very, very long long waiting list for an RN program.

She may want to consider an LPN program and then enter a bridge program.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

They all tell her she has to go back to community college, get her associates and RN there, then go back to a four year institution and enter an RN to BSN program.

But, the crazy thing is that she's already taken practically all of the classes. Remember, she was a senior with 130 credit hours towards her BSN!

She has mostly A's and B's in all her other classes with a 3.4 gpa. It's this stupid policy they have that says if you get less than a C (she had a C-) in more than one class (she took her problem class twice and got a C- both times) your out of the program!

She can re-apply to the program, but there's a 2-3 year wait list to get back in. That's why I'm looking for another school that will allow her to transfer her earned nursing credits and finish her BSN. I'm now looking out of state.

It sounds as if the community college/associates route might be the quickest, simplest, and least expensive route for her to take. She will take the same NCLEX exam and get the same RN license as if she were getting her BSN to start with, and can work as an RN while she completes the BSN.

I think it's unlikely that you'll find a school that will accept pretty much everything she has taken so far and that will give her a BSN without taking many more courses, and if you go out of state, you will almost certainly pay a lot more in $$$ than at an in-state community college.

It's hard to be a parent and to see things not go well for your child. I have a couple of those tee-shirts, myself. It's really hard, and you want to "fix" things. Some things, though, you can't "fix."