New student here at Hondros

M&M24 · Nov 20, 2008

Thanks! Congrats to you too! I enrolled for the RN progam but I am going to take it one step at a time.

animal1993 · Nov 28, 2008

I'm so excited to have found this thread! I've been trying to find some fellow classmates! I start Hondros (the West Chester campus) in Jan. for the LPN program. I have absolutely no idea what I'm in for, and would love to hear some input from those of you who have already begun your classes. :nuke:

Aspiring_RN · Nov 30, 2008

Hi 6028sharon

Did you take your NCLEX for RN yet???? Which location did go for your RN??

M&M24 · Dec 1, 2008

I was wondering if there is anyone going to Hondros that applied for a financial aid /government loan for the winter classes? Did you receive your award package yet?

Thanks for any response.

:nuke:

animal1993 · Dec 2, 2008

I applied for government loans for the winter term. I had my appointment with financial aid and she went over everything I was approved for, and what I needed to pay out of pocket, but I haven't actually received any of my awards yet. (There's nothing on my student portal anyway.) I think it'll probably be closer to the first day of school (and after we get our "official acceptance letter") before we actually see any of the money.

M&M24 · Dec 2, 2008

Thanks for the info.! Has anyone bought their laptop yet? There were great deals this weekend but I didn't want to jump into anything until I had a final letter from the school.

animal1993 · Dec 2, 2008

I've got my husband checking on some for me. (I am totally clueless about which laptop I need.) I was told during my financial aid appointment that the only real requirement for our laptops is that they be able to get wi-fi. Other than that I was told that it could literally be a piece of junk. Hope that helps!

Timustang04 · Dec 6, 2008

Hey everyone OP here,

(I know this is a long post but I really hope that everyone reads it.)

I've been really busy for the past few months and had completely forgotten about this thread and I can't believe it's still going on.

Sorry to any of the unanswered questions but I am back and hope that I can help everyone now.

I will give an update that will probably be more of a rant/vent then anything but here goes...

Let me preface this by saying that I had a strong B going into this final, but we needed to get an 80% or higher on the final in order to pass the class no matter what our grade was...

At the end of my third quarter, the weekend before exams, we had that huge wind storm that knocked out power pretty much everywhere for a few days. I was supposed to have my IV Therapy final on Monday but it got pushed back to that Friday. They updated the website later that night saying that our exams will stay the same NO MATTER WHAT, EVEN IF THERE IS NO POWER. So I go in early on Tuesday morning to study for my Nutrition final and guess what??? The final has to be pushed back to Friday as well because the teacher hadn't printed off the exam yet and there was still no power...

So now I have two huge exams to study for for Friday. And I get a 79% on my IV final and have to retake the class. I tried to go through their grievance process but they said that since I hadn't asked to see any of my other tests in the class that there was no way they would give me one more point and pass the class.

Oh and all of their classes are pre-requisites for the next quarter so no moving along and just not taking the second part of IV. So I've been stuck taking one class for the last 9 weeks. Oh and for the first 3 weeks we didn't have a teacher, we just had people from administration reading old powerpoints to us. :yeah:

This isn't the only thing I'm mad about either. Last quarter some of our clinical sites dropped out so we didn't have clinicals for the first 3 weeks or so, and our PEDS clinicals were at DAY CARES where we were only supposed to observe. It seems that some of the clinical sites are starting to realize that Hondros isn't all it's cracked up to be and doesn't want us coming back to them. Also, for my next quarter they don't have a site or a instructor for my group yet either...

So after all of this I'm pretty upset with the school and I am looking at completing my LPN and taking my RN at either Christ or Good Sam.

Thanks for reading!

Tim

P.S. The IV teacher said not to worry about passing the final because she had been teaching that class for about 4 quarters and only had 1 person fail during that whole time. I was 1 of 8 people that failed the final in my class.:)

animal1993 · Dec 6, 2008

You are totally freaking me out! I am due to start at the West Chester campus for the LPN program in Jan. Is it really that bad? I don't even know what I should expect from the program, and I haven't been in school for a long time. Do you really think going somewhere else for your RN is the best route, and if so, do you know how hard it would be to change schools? (Sorry about the final, by the way.) Thanks for the info!

Timustang04 · Dec 6, 2008

After being at Hondros for 3 quarters I can honestly say that the only good thing about the school is that there is no waiting list.

I have only had 2 good teachers (not great, not mediocre, but good) and one of them was hired 3 days before the first day of class and the other was hired almost a week and a half AFTER the first day of class.

Most of the teachers are decent, as in the fact that they do their job. Anyone with half a brain can take the power point slides from the quarter/instructor before you and read them to a group of students. And that's all the teachers do is just read power points, you can gain the same knowledge staying at home and just reading them yourself.

In the past 2 quarters they have struggled to get clinical sites for their students. Like I said before, last quarter we had no site for the first 3 weeks and then we were forced to have our peds clinicals at day cares where all we could do was sit in a chair and watch. And next quarter almost 15 students don't have sites and nearly half of the sites don't have instructors for them.

If I was to do it all over again I would definitely look into a different school. Good Sam and Christ are both cheaper (by nearly $15,000 each) and both of their programs are shorter as well.

If you are looking for a school to get in right away; but you don't care about the cost, how long it's going to take you to finish, or the quality of the education, then Hondros is the school for you.

And as far as me switching to another school and having credits transfer over I highly doubt many will. I've heard other students saying that they tried to apply to Galen School of Nursing only to be turned down just by the fact that they said they were going to Hondros. I'm not too worried about my credits not transferring over because I would gladly retake all of my classes for that fact that I don't think that I had very good training the first time around at Hondros.

I don't mean to scare anyone but I am very upset with myself (for jumping into Hondros so fast) and at the school. Hondros is a total let down.

Tim

M&M24 · Dec 6, 2008

Thanks for your honesty Tim & sorry about your exam. I remember those hurricane force winds that came through our area. It was horrible. I was afraid of hearing something like this about the school. Clinicals are so important to the training process and I'm disappointed to hear all of the problems the school is encountering with that aspect. I too chose the school for the same reason that you did - no waiting list. But ultimately, getting a good education is the most important reason in chosing a school since you will be dealing with life and death situations. There are new nursing programs cropping up everywhere (I guess alot of schools are trying to get a piece of the pie as far as the shortage of nurses and lack of educational facilities vs. prospective nursing students) and it is a difficult decision for those of us that want to become a nurse. Do you know if past graduates of the RN program are finding it difficult to find a job (especially in a hospital)? Thanks again for your post.

Timustang04 · Dec 9, 2008

I don't know about any of the students that have graduated. I don't think that there has been a class to graduate from the RN program as far as I know... but I'm probably wrong on this. You could probably call them up and ask them about their graduates though.