Kicked out of Nursing program

Nurses General Nursing

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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.

Specializes in LTC.

Your daughter really needs to be the one searching out and making decisions about her future.

Every nursing program present the same information, they just have other ways of doing it. Just because other schools don't require this specific class, it doesn't mean the content isn't built in to the program somewhere else. This is also why schools don't allow the transfering of nursing credits. They courses are all set up a little differently and there are things your daughter NEEDS to know in order to get her lisense.

She struggled, didn't apply herself enough, made a mistake, or whatever other reason she failed this class twice. She needs to own up to that. If she really wants to be a nurse she'll have to start at the beginning.

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Agreed...please tell us the full story...hmm

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I'm not sure I follow you. What do you mean by "start at the beginning?"

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I think obtainig a 3.4 gpa is applying herself.

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I think it's safe to say that most everyone who goes to college finds they have trouble in at least one class. My daughter was a straight A student in HS and having a 3.4 gpa in college is still pretty darn respectable.

Besides... a C- isn't failing. It's slightly below average. Hardly justification for kicking a student out school in their senior year with only months left to graduate. And that is the whole story! That's the hard rules they part these kids up against.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
I think it's safe to say that most everyone who goes to college finds they have trouble in at least one class. My daughter was a straight A student in HS and having a 3.4 gpa in college is still pretty darn respectable.

Besides... a C- isn't failing. It's slightly below average. Hardly justification for kicking a student out school in their senior year with only months left to graduate. And that is the whole story! That's the hard rules they part these kids up against.

It doesn't matter!! Her HS grades don't matter. It doesn't matter if she has had A's and a 4.0 in every single other college class she's taken. She did not make the grade she needed to make in this one class.

It's a hard rule. It's a hard lesson. She's going to have to learn it. You aren't going to be able to get her out of it. You can't fix this for her.

If she wants to be an RN, if she wants to get a BSN, then her route is going to be somewhat longer and more difficult than she, or you, wanted.

If she wants this, then she has to be the one to do it.

This is her life. It's time for you to back off and let go. I'm not telling you anything I've not had to tell myself. You are not doing her any favors by trying to take care of this problem for her. Watching your child go through problems is many times harder than going through them yourself, but you have to step back and let it happen. Give her your love and moral support, but let her work out her own route to her goals.

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Specializes in LTC.
I'm not sure I follow you. What do you mean by "start at the beginning?"

Starting at the beginning mean's she becomes a first semester nursing student all over again. The school she goes to has rules for a reason. I don't know those reasons, but they got them. As I said in my last post that while nursing schools teach the same thing, they teach them a lot differently. My first semester of nursing school in an ADN program is VERY different than a first semester in a BSN program or even another ADN program.

Unfortunately for nursing GPA doesn't really matter. C=degree and C-=no degree. This is something ALL US nursing students are held to. Nursing is unlike any other major out there.

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I think it's safe to say that most everyone who goes to college finds they have trouble in at least one class. My daughter was a straight A student in HS and having a 3.4 gpa in college is still pretty darn respectable.

Besides... a C- isn't failing. It's slightly below average. Hardly justification for kicking a student out school in their senior year with only months left to graduate. And that is the whole story! That's the hard rules they part these kids up against.

You're right -- a GPA of 3.4 is pretty darn respectable, and, if your daughter were an English major, or a Spanish major, or a business major, she'd be doing just fine. However, she is a nursing major, the nursing program has specific requirements (requirements that are very common within nursing programs around the country), spelled out clearly in advance, to be able to remain and progress in the nursing program, and your daughter failed to meet those requirements.

I strongly agree with the others who have posted, in one form or another, that this is your daughter's problem and she needs to fix it, not you. If she's bright and mature and capable enough to become a successful RN, then she's bright and mature and capable enough to take responsibility for her own actions and be held to the same standards and expectations as all the other nursing students.

And she hasn't been kicked out of the university; she's just not being allowed to progress in the nursing program. I'm sure the college/university is happy to have her register for classes next term and continue to work toward a degree of some kind -- just not a BSN. Again, it's very common for academic programs that prepare people to enter different types of healthcare occupations, not only nursing, to have higher, stricter academic requirements than the general requirements for the overall college/university. Those special, higher requirements are clearly spelled out in advance and all the students understand them, and, if you don't meet all the requirements, you're out of the program.

You are not doing her any favor, in the long run, by trying to protect and rescue her from the consequences of her own choices and actions -- even by simply making the argument that she's being treated unfairly and shouldn't be held to the same standards everyone else is and that she knew she would have to meet.

I remain curious about what your daughter has to say for herself in this situation ...

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Hmmm, there must be more to it than just failing one class. I haven't heard of a college or a nursing program that doesn't allow at least one opportunity to retake a class due to failing.

My college boots you if you fail a nursing class. You have to reapply for entry and take the the class that you failed over again whenever a spot becomes available and the tptb agree to allow you entrance again. You only can fail once. If you fail another class you can never be admitted to this college's nursing program again. Seems harsh, but there it is.

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Specializes in ICU, nutrition.

I transferred from one BSN program to another after making a D in my nursing assessment class. I was not allowed to progress in my first program and I was going to have to re-take it the following year (only offered once a year) and then I could progress if I passed it with a C or better the second time around. I ended up taking a couple of years off and moving out of state before I returned to school. At my new nursing school, if they accepted my transferred credits, they counted my D as my first strike. If I didn't pass everything with a C or better, I would get no second chance even though I was new to that program. I still ended up having to re-take classes I'd already had and graduated with about 170 credit hours for a BSN, almost 50 more than I needed. An extra 3 semesters of my life! But I did it because I wanted to be a nurse.

One of my friends took all her pre-reqs and didn't get in to the nursing program where I live now two semesters in a row, so she went to a LPN program and then bridged to RN. She did what she had to do to become a nurse because she wants to be a nurse (I think she graduates next December).

They have rules for a reason. It sucks, I know, but you have to deal with it. Just don't be surprised if some programs either won't accept the transferred hours or won't give her a second chance at their school if she doesn't make at least a C or better. She may have to decide how important it is to her to be a nurse if she has to start all over.

She also needs to figure out why she didn't do better the second time around in that class. There were a few people I went to school with who had to repeat classes and they always did better. I made an A in assessment on the second try.

And I had a 4.0 in high school and was valedictorian of my class. But I lost my full ride scholarship my first year of college because I failed a class. High school grades have nothing to do with college success.

Good luck.

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Let me also add it that sometimes the rules DON'T make sense and AREN'T fair but that's what you've got to deal with for the time being. I've heard of many a student failed for things that other instructors or other schools wouldn't have failed the student for. Sometimes you can fight it. And sometimes you can't.

As others have noted, this is your daughter's obstacle to deal with. She will have to determine based on her own experience so far as to whether or not she wants to continue pursuing a BSN. I don't think it's fair that after doing so well for so long that she might have to start over in a different academic program. It would seem she should get more credit for her having gotten as far as she has.

HOWEVER, you and she needn't look at it as a total waste.

Regardless of whether or not the instructor fairly graded her in that last class, regardless of whether or not that last class is crucial to her future nursing practice or not, and regardless of her degree status, your daughter OWNS the knowledge and experience that she's gained to date.

Perhaps she can be creative in using that knowledge to decide what next... continue to pursue a BSN, a different degree, work awhile, etc... If she can find a way to move forward from this frustrating experience, then she can look back and say "well, if it hadn't been for that unfortunate situation, I wouldn't have gotten to this good place that I am today."... that is as opposed to imagining that had everything gone as planned, life would be great with no other problems... yeah, right!!!

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I don't presume that the OP's daughter is not trying to solve this problem herself. The OP has said that she's talked to a number of administrators. I don't presume that as her mother the OP is doing anything more than offering supportive advice and encouragement.

I also agree that a 3.4 GPA is applying yourself. Everyone struggles with one subject or another at some point. I think it's a bit presumptuous to suggest that perhaps she doesn't really want to be a nurse because she failed one course.

If I were the OP's daughter, I'd pursue the appeals process. At the same time, I'd meet with a guidance counselor to review all my options, whether finishing my BSN somewhere else or finding another degree program to which some of my science credits might apply. And I know I'd benefit from having a mom who tells me that failing one class is not a reflection of who I am as a student and that she's rooting for me no matter what.

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