I'm currently a nursing student at National University and I'd like to share my thoughts regarding the nursing program.
The environment in this program is currently at the negative end. There is a big disconnect between the students and the nursing staff and questions regarding the ethics of the recent changes that were implemented has been raised. We have had to resort to sending a letter signed by the majority of the nursing students to the president of the university because all other attempts with people running the program have been ignored.
Our dissatisfaction with the program is due to the following changes and affects all current and incoming nursing students:
-The passing grade of C was raised from 73% to 76% for each class.
-Aside from passing each class, a test from an outside company, ATI, must also be passed with a level II or greater. Basically, this means that you can pass your class with 100%, but if you fail the ATI test for that particular class, you fail the class. ATI does not teach in the classrooms or clinical sites. A third party company deciding whether or not students pass their courses does not seem ethical.
-Retaking a class over again will result in falling months behind graduation schedule in order to find room in a new cohort. NU nursing programs start every three months, so you will have to wait a few months in order to join the cohort behind you (if they have room).
-Retaking the class is not covered by financial aid, which means: $3500 out of pocket.
-Anytime your grade falls behind 80%, you are required to attend remediation on campus for 8 hours a week.
-If you pass the class and the ATI exam but receive less than 80%, you are required to attend remediation for your next class.
-Before you can sit for the NCLEX, you must pass a comprehensive ATI predictor test with a Level II or greater. You will not be able to sit for the NCLEX unless this is passed.
Why did the University implement all these changes? To increase the NCLEX pass rates of their students taking the test for the first time. The higher the score, the better their advertisements will look.
What's disheartening about this situation is that while the school has made it so much more difficult for students to continue on with the program, there is no investment on their part to help their students. Also, changes were made without considering how far current students are already in the program. This is not what we signed up for when we applied; these were not the requirements that that were explained to us that we needed to fulfill during our orientation.
Other cons are:
-The school does not provide its students with nu.edu email address. In fact, you will be instructed to use Gmail.
-One year ago we brought up the issue of how our online skills check is not functioning. It's still not functioning.
-Total program cost will be around $45,000. Very, very expensive when compared to other programs.
-No externship programs. In fact, your professors will tell you to see if a community college will let you join their externship program.
-Just for fun: You will pay $1500 for orientation and they will serve you sandwich and chips.
Anywho, I hope this helps during your application process.
