Nursing school now first come first serve?

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There are two schools in the city I live in that offer ADN programs, the community college, and the private college (which I am applying to). The community college is significantly cheaper therefore getting in requires many more hoops to jump through. At one point they only had pre-requisites in order to apply, but now the demand has gotten so high that they now require you to take several classes before being able to take the eight pre-requisites.

Well they just changed their policies. Now their program will be operating off of a 'first come, first serve' basis. Twice a year they accept applications and the first 40 applicants will be considered. Today was one of those application days. A friend of mine and several of her friends camped out all night in front of the nursing building waiting for the doors to open at 7:30 to turn in their applications.

I must say I'm a little appalled at this. Nursing school isn't like waiting in line for the newest DVD to come out. I feel sorry for the people who worked their butts off to get high gpa's only to find out it didn't mean anything?

I am really glad now that I went with the private college for my ADN program.

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I don't have a problem with this at all. My entry into a nursing program was unusual as well. I merely made a phone call to inquire and was accepted. Eventually, I filled out the application as a formality and submitted it by email. Had I been forced to sit around and wait "in hopes" for a seat then I'd have never gone to nursing school or back for another bachelor's degree in general.

Nursing school isn't like veterinary school. There are so many nursing seats out there that they can afford to accept some idiots to fill them. Vet school, on the other hand, has very few seats due mostly to limited funding. They have to accept only the best, brightest, and most likely to succeed. Their standards usually surpass medical schools.

Nursing school may as well be like most other things in life: timing and/or who you know.

I know this isn't the response the OP will agree with.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I wonder how long this particular school will remain open? A nursing school's ongoing accreditation depends upon NCLEX pass rates and 'eager' does not automatically equate to qualifications or ability. Sounds like a situation that is setting everyone up for failure. It seems that everyone feels entitled to be accepted into a 'fast track' NS & angry if they don't make the grades, pass NCLEX effortlessly and have a perfect job upon graduation. I wish I could blame it on attitudes of "those kids today" but it appears to be a phenomenon that crosses generational boundaries.

sorry for the rant... just feeling old and cranky today

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Does this mean the first 40 will be accepted or just considered and once they go through those 40 if only 15 fit the bill they look at another 40?

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That seems like a bad idea. I wouldn't be surprised if that school's NCLEX pass rates drop.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

I honestly laughed visualizing these students camping out all night as if trying to get SNL tickets because Lady Gaga was the musical guest.

I'm so glad I've passed that stage. Glad you had another school that accepted you.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

My program only has seats for about 20% of the applicants each year. Other programs near me are even harder to get into. I don't know where all these extra nursing school seats are, but they are not in my state. If it was first come first serve, there would be a 3-4 year waiting list, that would be ridiculous to make hard working students suffer. "Oh sorry you didn't get into nursing school because you didn't have the day off to wait in line" ???

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I don't have a problem with this at all. My entry into a nursing program was unusual as well. I merely made a phone call to inquire and was accepted. Eventually, I filled out the application as a formality and submitted it by email. Had I been forced to sit around and wait "in hopes" for a seat then I'd have never gone to nursing school or back for another bachelor's degree in general.

Nursing school isn't like veterinary school. There are so many nursing seats out there that they can afford to accept some idiots to fill them. Vet school, on the other hand, has very few seats due mostly to limited funding. They have to accept only the best, brightest, and most likely to succeed. Their standards usually surpass medical schools.

Nursing school may as well be like most other things in life: timing and/or who you know.

I know this isn't the response the OP will agree with.

I'm surprise you say there are 'plenty of seats'. There isn't a nursing school anywhere close to where I live without a waiting list. Seats are very limited as far as I have seen.

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Does this mean the first 40 will be accepted or just considered and once they go through those 40 if only 15 fit the bill they look at another 40?

From the way they explained it you must meet the minimum requirements to even turn in an application. Their minimum requirements are a 2.75, and completion or curretn enrollment of all the pre-requisites. So to me, that sounds like as long as the first 40 people in line have their application in order, than that is it. So if person 2, and 12 don't have a class completed, or their gpa isn't high enough, then they just pull the next person in line.

Crazy right?

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I'm surprise you say there are 'plenty of seats'. There isn't a nursing school anywhere close to where I live without a waiting list. Seats are very limited as far as I have seen.

And that's precisely what I meant. There's no shortage of people jumping up and down wanting to be nurses. Schools, as a whole, have no problem filling their seats. Full cohorts bring the university revenue which, despite what many want to believe, is a significant goal for higher education administrators.

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My school actually fills their seats basically this way. The explanation that was given is that because it is a community college, the State requires them to be equitable in admissions. In order to apply, you have to have all the pre-reqs completed as well as an entrance exam. If you meet all of the requirements, they take first come. I was on the computer waiting right at 9:00 on application day and those in my class all applied within the first 5 minutes after the application period opened.

There is a fairly high drop rate (although it's difficult to really gauge because of part time, LPNs and people repeating) in the first three terms, likely due at least in part to people who may not be fully prepared for the rigors of the program. However, our pass rates on the NCLEX are consistently high and the school is well respected in the community with excellent clinical sites and post-graduation placement.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/DOU/Ortho/Onc/Rehab/ER/.

Sorry but nursing school isn't just something like going to opening day of a movie or something.

I am just thinking that those "first come/first served" what if they are c- students? Do they have any basic chemistry or biology knowledge? When BP drops, do they know why many organs participate to raise it back up (liver, kidneys, hypothalamus, lungs etc) Do they know what the pancreas actually does? Do they know why penicillin is good against gram + versus gram - bacterial infections?

Have they ANY KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THEY ARE GETTING INTO??? (besides the all might $)

So basically the C student (lazy) who beat the A student (hardworker) because he/she was number 40 and the hardworker was number 41 so they didn't get in.

Pathetic...

As much as passing pre reqs with A's while working and applying to NS's is stressful, I am rather glad that it is competitive. To "weed out" all those that go into it either unprepared or ignorant.

I would rather have my nurse the person who worked their butt off and competed against many vs. the nurse that just so happened to get their application in before everyone else...

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