NVCC TEAS Reqs (English as 3rd language)

[enginerd]

Has anyone here had any experience getting accepted to NVCC with less than a 78% on the English/Grammar portions of the TEAS test? It seems almost absurd to me that a community college, representing one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the country, would not have an alternative for non native English speakers.

The front desk person in the admissions department said basically anyone with less than a 78% is automatically rejected. My fiancee was not born in this country and only started to learn English basically at the high school level. She speaks and understands just fine, but she does not really know "big" words and doesnt understand grammar as well as someone that was educated K-12 in an English speaking country. Lets just say the TEAS attempt so far have been extremely hard for her. The math section she nearly aced but not the grammar or English portions.

Does anyone have advice here? Every other reputable institution of learning allows the TOEFL or IELTS or some kind of English placement test for non native speakers. I have two engineering degrees from the two top engineering schools in Virginia and if professors who barely speak English are allowed to teach engineering classes to undergraduate and graduate students, it seems totally unreasonable that the most affordable option for a nursing program in the state would be so selective.

Apparently when she spoke with the admissions department, another woman was there with her child to inquire about the program who had extremely broken English and was also from another country. How are people like this supposed to have an opportunity to get ahead? I have seen the test questions, if a person has not had numerous English classes or tutoring it would be very tough for them. I think this is something that native English speakers take for granted as something that should be "easy".

[3rdGenRN]

It is not "easy" for native speakers either. I worked my butt off for my score (86.7%, my lowest score on the TEAS) and I generally score at the top of any English Language assessments. I had a very formal, strict Catholic school education, parents who were linguists and very strict about my language use, was always in honors/AP English, and CLEPed out of the English class. They are pretty serious about commanding English at a native level that is well above general high school level. Communication is key in nursing, and having experienced a nurse who was a non-native speaker with a poor command of the language that caused a HUGE problem because she couldn't grasp colloquial speech, I really don't blame them. Take the remedial courses and work hard at improving, she'll be better served as a nurse and having a command of two languages will make her a desirable hire!