how many classmates dropped in your first semester?

jenrninmi, MSN, RN · Aug 17, 2004

I'm guessing she means she's in the first semester of her senior year.

Oops! Duh! I don't know what I was thinking... :rolleyes:

Jen2 · Aug 17, 2004

We started our program with 55. After our first semester, we had 3 drop with in 1 month of the program starting and 8 people fail. After our second semester we had 3 people fail. So beginning our third semester this fall we have 47 because we are getting 6 students that failed last year joining us. The majority of people that failed just didn't have the heart, others found it to be too stressful on their family life etc. You cannot just wake up one day and say "I think I'll go to nursing school." You have to really want it and give it 110% every day. It will consume you and be your life for the next 2-4 years. If those around you understand this and are supportive then you will be fine. I'm single and have no children, but my family understands that once school starts this fall they may not see me until Christmas break and that's the truth. Best of luck to you.

nahjah · Aug 17, 2004

In my ADN program, we started with 56. 16 were LPN track students (this is the first time my school had done this and will be the last time) and the other 40 ADN students. After the first semester, we lost 3 ADN students- one to family illness, one for failing the lab final, and one for failing the lecture final. When second semester came around,the LPN students were not with us- they did their own thing with their own instructor so we were down to 37. Now, when third semester starts next week, we will have 33, one being a lady (my aunt actually) who is an LPN and is doing the bridge program, so we will graduate together!:)

FarmgrrlRN · Aug 18, 2004

First semester, we started with 100 and had ~80 at the end. Spring we had about 70 students. As the semesters go on, ppl fail, drop out for personal reasons, decide its not for them. Then you also have students from the previous year that rejoin the class so the numbers have been steady since spring semester started.

cori.d · Aug 18, 2004

I went to a small and pretty selective nursing school. I started out with 60 and graduated 2 years later with 12. So...yes, it's weed-out time! Good luck

Snoopd · Sep 3, 2004

We lost about 10% of the class by the end of the first semester, and about a total of 30% by the end of the first year of nursing courses. So ,we went from 120 students down to 80. People dropped like flies after Med Surg II. That was our big "weed out" class. Supposedly, Med Surg 3 and 4 are a little less intense. One instructor told us that they gave us a very difficult Med Surg II final so that they could trim the class to 80 for the second year. It worked! Luckily I survived. :rotfl: That test seemed to pick away at the periphery of broader subjects. It felt very strange for a final. Some of the people who failed will try to recycle - you are allowed to do this once. If you fail again you are completely dropped from the nursing program. Other people are so disgusted by the whole process and arrogant instructors, not to mention the enormous tuition, $445 a credit, that they will not return. There was even talk of hiring an attorney and filing a class action suit against the school because students felt they were tested on things that were not listed on the syllabis and never lectured on. A pretty pathetic mess. Has anyone else experienced these situations in their program? :stone

just kind of wondering what others have experienced-did a lot of people drop out, or fail the first semster and not come back in your freshman class? people keep telling me 1st year is weed-out time, sooooooo-what do you think? :)

abundantjoy07, RN · Sep 3, 2004

the first year of my bsn program was so ridiculously easy (and a waste of time, the first semester of it) that we only lost three. two to pregnancy, and one moved. second/junior year is a different story. i will be a first semester senior next week (finally) and of the 104 that we started with, 66 are left. some are a semester behind because they had to retake or are retaking a class this semester. at my school, you can only retake one class. best of luck to all, its been a long road and will be well worth it when we have our bsn's or asn/adn.

the first year is just time consuming...it's not necessarily hard. i agree with you entirely. i'll just have to wait and see what the senior year is like... :rolleyes:

not now, RN · Sep 3, 2004

I go to a tiny LVN program in a small town. We start with 15 and those 15 stay together the entire length of the program. Out of the original 15 we lost 2, one was in the Army Reserves and called to duty, the other dropped before we even started clinical at the LTC facility.

It's a miracle more didn't drop. Our clinical instructor was notoriously hard. We joke now about how we would be standing in the hall, hear her vioce and scatter like roaches when the lights are turned on. I think every female in my class cried at least once while being yelled at for something, including myself. Huge careplans, lists of meds for concept mapping that we all struggled to complete in time, numerous people being thrown off med cart, patient assignments were given that morning and changed every day, we were in fear of this woman and when the end of the year rolled around...."I'm passing all of you regardless of the work you did or didn't do." Great.

Ruylupez · Sep 3, 2004

My ADN class started first semester with 46 people then picked up another 6 part way through. Those 6 were CNAs who were exempted from our first 4 weeks of class.

12 people did not continue with us to second semester. We picked up 3 who were repeating classes in second semester and then lost 13 during that semester.

We just started third semester and we picked up another 6 who are repeating the classes for this semester.

Many of the ones we lost at the end of second semester were the same ones who we picked up at the beginning of that semester and we have lost ALL of the CNAs who skipped that first 4 weeks classes.

With one year to go 30 of the 46 people who started first semester with me are still here. Of the ones we lost I only know of 3 who left for reasons other than their grades.

wasanursingstudent · Nov 10, 2009

I left after 5 weeks into lpn clinicals. Not due to grades, or that it was too hard, but I left because it was consuming to much of my time away from my family and I was not aware it would do that. All of our kids are grown, mostly moved away, but we have grandchildren who we are very active with and I wasnt prepared to give that up, so I dropped everything. I think about it every day, first thing when I get up, last thing before I go to sleep.I was so sleep deprived that I began to believe it wasnt in my heart anymore, but I know it is. I plan to go back and now that I know more of what to expect, I'm sure I will make it. As far as the nursing instructors, yeah, we had a CI that I would describe a snot nose brat who prolly wasnt getin the recognition at home for who "she thinks" she is, so she had to be a pain to her students for the recognition. It is what it is and if I had known before what it was going to be like,I would have been better prepared,and why is it that nurses wont discuss any of this with anyone, my sister in law is an RN and she wouldnt tell me anything about what it was going to be like.. Is this something that nursing students are taught not to discuss with anyone?

hallcrest · Nov 10, 2009

our class started out with around 200 and now we have about 150 I believe. Tests with 'critical thinking' questions caused most of the failures. Definitely a weed out time.

1234student · Nov 10, 2009

I'm in a 2 year RN program at a community college. We started out in August with 50. We still have 4 weeks until semester and we are down to 36.