carolanivey

Amen to that! :)

Quick update: I have some extraordinarily good news... My daughter wrote a letter of appeal and, upon hand-delivering it to the dean, she was re-instated into the program! The dean told her that there was no need to go before the review board, just the fact she had gone to the effort of writing a letter and handing it to her in person was enough. She's been given another chance! We're still in shock. But a good shock, and hopefully on my daughter's part, a lesson well learned. Thanks again, everyone, for holding my hand all through this. You are all goddesses and another reason I'm so proud my daughter wants to be in your profession. Hugs, Carolan

Hi Batman, She was deregistered after scoring just below an 80 in a pharmacology class. (I heartily agree it is NOT acceptable not to do well in pharm! :) ) She got herself too far in the hole with her first test and rather than drop the class immediately and take another run at it later, she stayed in and thought she could dig herself out. She did do well on subsequent quizes and tests but it wasn't enough. I trusted her when she said she'd be okay - I should have insisted she drop. Too much was at stake. She had already repeated another course earlier (successfully) and they do not let you repeat any course a second time. Second strike and you're gone.

Hi folks, For those of you who asked to be updated... My daughter is extremely stressed out as the implications of getting kicked out sink in and she realizes just how far it has set her back. She's contstantly sick to her stomach and throwing up. I'm afraid for her to go back to her apartment now that the holidays are over, as she only eats when we put something in front of her. I don't know what to do. I know I can't solve this for her but on the other hand, do I just sit back and let her sink? She is not covered by our health insurance, since she isn't a fulltime student any more, so going to the doctor to be evaluated for depression isn't an option. Her plan is to get her LPN and go from there. She is meeting today with the dean of another nursing program here in town but I'm not holding out a lot of hope of her getting in anywhere next fall. I urged her to join the forum her but I don't know if she has. If she does, I will probably bow out as I don't want her to think I'm cyberstalking her. :) Thanks again for your support. This will pass, I'm sure.

Jules, she just turned 22. I'll definitely encourage her to join here! You've all been so great. I was pretty mad when I first posted and you guys didn't take it personally. I'm glad you didn't. :) Things are much calmer this evening as we've all had a chance to take a deep breath and read over the advice we're getting from many encouraging folks. I'll check back in and let you all know how it's going, and hopefully she will join as well. Hugs and wishing you all a lovely holiday!

[[ it makes more sense to go with a different program where you can get in, get trained and start working.]] Makes a ton of sense. But which program? I mean, it's easy to say "switch to xray tech or hospital admin" but we know nothing about the availability of jobs once the training is done. As another poster said, hospitals are laying off. If a change of direction is what's needed, we need enough information to make the right choice. And I also heartily agree with the previous poster about taking a back seat (and you'd never catch me blaming a professor, not with several relatives in the teaching profession!!). Honestly my gut reaction is, we gave her the money and the opportunity, and she blew it. It's on her now - if she wants it bad enough, she'll do it on her own. My husband, though, is taking this extremely hard, harder than I am if that's possible to imagine. :) I guess it's because his parents cut him loose at 18 and he had to work and scrape his way through college. He worked hard to save enough money so his kids wouldn't have to do that. Right now he's in "it's the end of the world" mode and there's no talking him down.

[[As the student's parent, take a back seat here. A parent speaking for or interceding for a nursing student will NOT help matters. Finally, if this truly is the OP's daughter's dream, she will find a way to make it happen. But that's the daughter's challenge, not the OP's. She's an adult now. She's in training to be a professional. Best of luck to her!!]] You are absolutely right! Honestly my gut reaction is, she's over 21, an adult, and we cannot solve all her problems for her. We gave her the tools and the opportunity, and for whatever reason she blew it. I agree it doesn't help to blame the professors or the system. At any rate, it's on her now. If she needs a place to live while she's in school, that's fine. But the tuition wallet is closed. My husband, though, is taking this extremely hard, even hard than I am if that's possible! Maybe it is because his parents cut him loose at 18 and he had to work and scrape his way through school. He's always worked extra hard to make sure his kids didn't have to do this. Now the money is pretty much gone and there's little to show for it except, as another poster point out, she has her general education credits done.

[[if I encountered this scenario I'd start looking at other allied health programs. Nursing is appealing because of the broad scope of practice, but if it's a matter of being sidelined for years while you wait for training , it makes more sense to go with a different program where you can get in, get trained and start working. There are many techs who earn just as much as RN's and either way you'd be working in health care.]] Thanks, we were just talking about this! We're at a loss, though...we're pretty clueless about kind of programs are out there, which ones are most likely to lead to a decent job, and not the least of which which ones are best suited for her. :) I think at this point she could use not only a good school counselor but a good career counselor who can give her some direction (aptitude tests, etc). Right now we're not in a good place to make those kinds of decisions without guidance from the right people. It's not easy to give up on a dream without some kind of tools to develop a new one.

[[if the answer is "no", then it is not the school's fault or due to some "crazy" policy.]] What I'm saying is, it's not right that a student pass his or her nursing classes and clinicals, and then because of falling a single point or half a point short in their final class before graduation, a non-nursing class, they have to repeat the ENTIRE program, even the courses and clinicals they already passed. Now, if they have to repeat that single class a second time to get that extra point, I understand that. But repeat the entire program? No, I'm sorry, I don't believe that is a fair or reasonable policy. I'm not looking to start an argument, truly. I agree standards have to be set and maintained. Please bear with me as I work through holding back my own panic and disappointment in order to focus on keeping my daughter together long enough to either get her through this or figure out a different direction for her life. Nursing has been her dream since she was 14 and volunteered in a hospital. There is no second choice, no fallback. The goal has been nursing from the first day she thought about a career for herself. I like to think she chose nursing because my illnesses, which exposed her to a lot of great medical professionals from a young age. At least something good might come from my infirmaties. All I want for her is to get her degree and be able to support herself in her career so she doesn't have do depend on someone else to survive like I always have. What I have to keep reminding myself is that she is able bodied and even if she has to dig ditches to put food on the table, she can do it. Okay, I guess I'd better shut up now. :) Happy holidays to everyone, and thanks again for your kindness.

Thank you ALL for your continued comments/advice! [[Does your daughter's school have a student handbook for the nursing program?]] That's the thing...we can't seem to find anything in writing that specifically spells out what the "rules" are. The web site says one thing (must maintain at least a 2.0 - she has a 2.9something) and not fail more than two nursing courses (she hasn't). The catalog doesn't spell anything out that we can find. (By the way, this is Mercy College in Toledo...anyone been there?) Her grades were posted and she passed the course in question. However we received word today that she has been deregistered from the nursing program. We are confused and of course we can reach no one until after the holidays. Merry Christmas to us.

Thank you, boogaloo. This school doesn't discriminate between nursing and non-nurses courses, unfortunately. She didn't do well on her first exam in this class, and even though she figured out how to study for the course and has done well on subsequent exams, it may not be enough to climb out of the hole. I understand the point about how critical certain skills are for health care workers - I have a couple of chronic conditions and interface with nurses on a regular basis. :) I had three surgeries this year and the nurses who cared for me in three different hospitals were amazing. However, I have to ask...how much difference is there between a nurse who scored a 79.5 in algebra, and one that scored an 80? From my perspective as a patient, not enough to make me trust him or her less.

Thank you pagandeva. (Love your Maya Angelou quote - it's one of my favorites!) I have no doubt she'll make it eventually. I guess we didn't anticipate it would be this difficult. If we had known going in, we might have made wiser choices and got her through without the student loan burden she faces now.

Thank you, Sunny. Best of luck on your boards. :)

Thanks, Batman. :) It was our intention to get her through a bachelor's degree without her graduating with a load of student loans to pay back. It looks like that dream is slipping away - we saved enough money for four years but after that she's on her own.

Thanks for your response, KellT! My daughter has done very well on her clinicals, has been passing those with flying colors. If she can get an 80 in this one course it's all clinicals from here on out and she'll be home free. It makes zero sense to me to prevent an otherwise excellent student and wonderful potential nurse from graduating for falling one point below a B in one non-nursing course. Meanwhile this country is importing nurses from foreign countries to fill the need. When I tell nurses I see (I see a lot of them because I have a chronic disease) about the schools' policies nowadays, their eyes get wide and they can't believe it. Every one of them says "Geez, it wasn't nearly that hard when I was there..." [deep breath] I'm sorry, right now I'm just angry. I'll get over it and we'll figure this out. :)

Hello, I hope no one objects to my joining and asking a question, but we are getting desperate. Our daughter is in nursing school in Ohio. She started at U. of Toledo and was on track to exceed the GPA required to get into nursing school there, but they changed the rules at the last minute and she just missed the mark, as she didn't have time to raise her GPA another tenth of a point. She transferred to another school in Toledo, one connected to a hospital with a good reputation. We've discovered that at this school, any student who scores below 80 percent in ANY course more than once is kicked out of the program. We know of a student who had successfully completed all her nursing courses and only needed to pass an algebra course to graduate. She scored 79 and was told she could not graduate and would have to repeat the ENTIRE program which she had already passed. Our daughter is in her third year of the BSN program and is in danger of a second strike that could force her back to square one. That'll be 60k of our money down the tubes. IMO it's a racket that should be investigated. I know many nurses my age who didn't have to endure this...um...stuff. The demand for nurses is at an all time high and it seems like they're making it harder than ever to achieve a degree. Are all the nursing schools in Ohio like this? What about in other states? We're considering looking at schools in NC, as we have family there. Does anyone have suggestions for schools that have more sane policies? We would be extremely grateful for any guidance - we don't know where to turn. Thank you for letting me vent. Carolan