StudentForever77

Hey there! Any April/May/June grads hearing from the detailer or accessions yet? Any discussions about your DPS? Sent mine back and haven't heard from anyone... Hoping to square away soon :-)

Hey elisabethm! I think all of us graduating in the next +/- 6 months got the dream sheet... I got that email yesterday, too :-) I'm so excited and nervous at the same time... Took me no time flat to do things in life... like start a business, buy houses, have children, move regionally, and choose a college....but here I am...sweating my first duty station like a teenager! LOL Am I the only one that has no interest in going to any of the big 3? LOL I don't like traffic... Has anyone heard any "rumors" about JAX or Lejeune?

teacher08 - Absolutely no need to apologize... I just wanted to make sure that my intent is clear. Thank you for your kind reply... I certainly hope that I didn't come off as a jerk. You're right - it's tough to communicate effectively here... In an non-sarcastic way, "You don't know me!" I'll tell y'all this, though; I think very BIG, I advocate for change to the point that sometimes I hurt feelings, it is woven into my extracellular matrix to help people, I'm passionate, determined, direct, Christian to the core, and I am committed to others to the extent that I would literally die for you. That stated, here's what I'd like to "do" on this board... I want to figure out what's really broken - because by telling people ATI sucks and Hurst rocks and Kaplan is essential and you're just stressed...those are good tips but doesn't add up - because for every hater of ATI there is someone that swears by it... I think the suggestions are well-intention-ed and appreciated...but I just want to go deeper.... Determine the cause of the bleeding rather than stick on a band-aid. Furthermore, the average NCLEX pass rate for first time is ~85%... the average pass rate for a second attempt DROPS a whopping 20%!! So yeah let's get a tourniquet on this thing...but then lets ask the painful questions so we can get down to business. I want to know: How is accreditation impacting students' performance? Were all your test proctored? Did your exams have a bunch of questions you could find online 20 minutes before taking it? Did you have to write essays? Did you learn to research EBP? Did your profs give you an exam study guide comprehensive enough to pass the exam without reading and REreading the text? Did they give you extra credit? Did they give you"credit" on exam questions that were "difficult"? Were your textbooks geared to the proper level? Did you have a comprehensive exit exam? Were you taught stress reduction skills? Were you taught leadership and organizational skills? Were you taught to think critically? Were you given opportunities to overcome "real" stressful situations and learn from them? I could go on... And yeah, asking and answering these questions can hurt. Who wants to admit they could have cheated on all their exams? (Not saying any of you did!!!!!) Who wants to say that they never learned how to overcome an obstacle? And yeah, I'll be the jerk to ask... Because once we get this kind of stuff out in the open, we can cluster and figure out what to recommend. Maybe it's "You have to go take patho over." May be it's, "Yeah do Kaplan's mental health chapters and you'll do this in 75." Maybe, "Here's a book on reducing stress!" I don't know... but let's start digging because I want every single college graduate to have an equal opportunity to pass NCLEX on try #1.

I'm the type that pushes for change and improvement...and a huge 'risk taker'...that stated... Your prof seems to have some high standards. But not insane. I had all essay and fill in exams...proper spelling...location...etc. Other folks I know had the easiest multi choice ever...each prof is different. It's your job to figure out what you're in for early enough to make a choice to stay or drop. You chose to stay...ya gotta deal with that decision. Arguing tough questions now isn't going to help you. I'd let that part go. On the other hand, I think every point is valuable...so if there was a legit discrepancy, I would drill into it like my life depended on it... but ONLY if it's cumulatively going to save your grade. If however, she simply made a few mistakes...but the changes will take your grade from F to F or F to D...then why waste your time and energy? Move on. So if you're going to go, let's say, from an F to a B after points are corrected, I would 1) remain profession, 2) present only facts, 3) Not bring up the tough question issue, 4) Not present the exam pics (big issue there), 5) follow chain of command, 6) always request a face to face, 7) File formal appeal with school, 8) Go to state board of education if you exhaust all school contacts (though this will probably not result in your points being issued). Overarching message...you don't have to allow broken things to stay broken...always be an advocate for change. Sorry to play mama bear now... but use this as a crappy 'life lesson' ... Not all profs are good... You have to take control of your education. Unfortunately that 'control' often just means sniffing out a bad prof and dropping before it gets to this point. If more students dropped problematic courses it would send a 'real' message to the administration. You don't have to be hypervigilant about it...but just don't 'go with the flow' until it's too late. You will get past this F, too... Youd college may even have a forgiveness policy...check into that!

teacher08 Wow. "Does it mean the institution was successful with educating 98% of its students? OR did the institution fail to educated 77% of its students? The latter is rarely expound upon." It means the institution did their job. They redirected students that may not have chosen the right career path. They didn't dangle a carrot for the sake of profit. They recognized achievers and then invested 110% effort into making them successful. Such a school would have taken someone like the OP and scooped him/her up and provided the tools for success - not just book smarts...everything necessary for success (yeah...a school can do more than throw a textbook at you)... It's mind boggling how people love to shoot down good schools... "In all honesty, not one person on the face of this earth can definitively say why any individual was "unsuccessful" with passing the NCLEX or give a definitive "solution" related to passing the NCLEX. Culturally, spiritually, cognitively, emotionally, mentally, and personally WE ALL have different stress levels, various personal issues, and learning styles." I agree. That's why your school is important. A good school can help make learning and passing an exam the "least" of your worries...or it can add to your nightmares. "Therefore, to question how anyone could fail, or shouldn't be allowed to sit for the exam various times, or to say "it's a minimum competency test and I don't understand how a student could......" is unkind, belittling, and degrading (not to say you exhibited any of the aforementioned)." The plat de resistance. Just WOW. Yes I would love for you to locate that "quote" you fabricated here... NCLEX is a minimum competency test. That is a fact. Not opinion. But to combine that statement with your own twist...and such a twisted one, at that... interesting. You can put a thousand words in parenthesis and decorate it with a hundred smiles... misquoting someone so you can stand on your soapbox is... well you can finish this sentence on my behalf. I suppose you're saying I should have refrained from posing "philosophical" questions and instead bathed the board in repetitious suggestions of Saunders and Kaplan books... Everyone knows about those and for those that don't they can quick search it in no time. Maybe you're saying I should have been more emotionally sensitive with the OP? Yeah, perhaps asking what people think of their school isn't the bleeding heart reply you expected. The point I made (and somehow you didn't get) is that if you're taking the NCLEX multiple times, I wonder if it's not so much "You" anymore...and a lot more "the school." So I've actually been taking blame OFF these students...quite contrary to your...(non-implicating, of course) word salad. Finally, I'm not complacent and I do want to figure out why folks fail... Handing out "I'm sorrys" doesn't help someone do better next time. But when you start to dig in...ask the questions that people don't like to ask (don't like to answer)...peel the layers back...only then do you find the real problem...and only then can you help someone reach their goals. Otherwise you're just giving them a bunch of fluff...over...and over and over again...each time a student doesn't pass NCLEX...more fluff. If, for instance, someone replied to my message with, "I felt like mental health was impossible... I don't really know the meds... but somehow I got an A." Well then we're getting somewhere...and now I might be able to suggest something useful... The most useless thing you can do is NOT ask questions, get out your photocopied sheet of generic nursing diagnoses you used for the last 5000 people this week that didn't pass NCLEX, paste them in, and expect wild change or improvement. And so now I will conclude with a series of uplifting smilies and a reminder that the above statement was written with love and all sorts of happiness and peace. :-) :-) :-) :-)

OP... What good is it really going to do for you having folks post their GPAs...aside from helping you beat yourself up some more for nada? Forget about everyone else. Unless they went to the same school and took the same classes as you did, it's not fair to your ego to compare. I'm not referring to anyone that's posted a great GPA here... but OP could use some pick-me-up perspective. .. When I transferred to nursing school, I transferred in a 4.0. Another student also had a very high GPA. I earned my grades sitting behind a desk taking A&P exams that were timed essay and fill in the blank as well as timed labs standing with a blank sheet of paper in front of a cadaver full of 50-100 pins ...the other student got an A from an online class with no lab and not one proctored exam. I can give you a dozen similar examples. So you can see that not all As are the same....not all GPAs are created equal. You seem determined and smart! That's going to get you far...you don't have to have the highest GPA on allnurses to prove it. :-) Just try to stay calm and focused. When you go to the school, stun everyone with you outstanding communication skills. Do well on entrance exams and essays. Most importantly reflect on the fact that you're doing an awesome job and take pride in all you have accomplished. .. A positive and flexible attitude works... I promise that. :-)

What I learned is that if you get a blood return, you're in a vessel (doesnt necessarily mean it's a vein) and if you continue on to inject, you're no longer giving an IM... youre shooting it into the bloodstream...which would not be the right route anymore. The only exception to aspiration is immunizations. You just inject those....This is a recent change as you used to aspirate those too. I recently asked for the rationale supporting this but I can't seem to find anyone who knows (and im too busy to look it up lol)... I think a textbook cited the CDC...Pretty vague, I know. All other IM injections require you to aspirate. Blood return= no go...do over. As a disclaimer, I'm sure there are always some unique circumstances with particular drugs or patients. .. I'm stating the most current basics of IM.

Sunflower - I should clarify my statement about feeling prepared for the NCLEX. I am truly speaking for myself when I say that I'm not worried about passing. My confidence has little, if anything, to do with my school. I feel that my earlier statement is unfair because I do feel the school is important...It can make or break people. I'm just so disappointed that I've realized I have to take control of the situation and that puts me in "bulldozer mode" lol! So in summary... Am I worried about NCLEX? Nope. But I speak for myself only. I hope all of this put together makes sense. :-)

Nalon1 Im not specifically targeting non accredited institutions. I've never been to one so I can't assume what they do or don't do... that's why I asked. The NCLEX is designed to determine if you are minimally capable of being an RN. Not expert RN...simply a safe RN. That's it. A school should be able to prepare a student for such an exam. Exit exams and proper Proctored testing throughout the curriculum should be a good predictor of how you will do on the NCLEX. The school's version of preparatory materials should account for nervousness when taking the NCLEX. As for stress, I agree that it is a significant factor. Some people are biologically rendered incapable of functioning and certainly that can't be pinned on the college. Have you ever made a technical presentation to hundreds...or thousands... of people? I don't care who you are... it's intimidating! One of the finest public speakers I know told me as I was preparing for a doozy that solid knowledge of what you're speaking about will make any presentation easy...and on the other hand, when you aren't insanely prepared, your stress level will skyrocket and you will stumble.... unless you just love that kind of attenion, of course! In my short time on this career path, I've learned that memorizing lab values or nursing diagnoses or whatever worked for me in my past life doesn't work for these perplexing NCLEX style questions. I've had to learn differently....and I had to learn how to re-learn from listening to one particular professor. Learning online doesn't always give you that enrichment necessary to be successful. ..the school has to foresee that and compensate. Maybe some do...and maybe some don't. ..again, thats why I asked. Finally, Let's look at some statistics. There are several schools in my state with 97% - 100% pass rates. Is it a supernatural phenomenon that all the stars were aligned and they just so happen to have admitted thousands of students year after year that have an uncanny ability to not be nervous? How did these colleges figure out how to weed out the brilliant students that were destined to freak out and fail upon sitting for the big one? I just have a sneaking suspicion that it had everything to do with good preparation... ...the good preparation has to come from the school...not just the student. When it comes to the students... 'you don't know what you don't know'...you have to trust the institution to get you ready.

Mstein86 No I'm not saying you should have been held back... I'm saying that I think the school did a poor job of preparing you...and you're paying the price...and that's really crappy that you have to go through that. Because you're plugging along thinking all along that they are challenging you and putting you on a path to success. ..and they weren't. A student with a 3.1 GPA and a passing exit exam should have little reason to struggle with the NCLEX. I question the grading integrity and school curriculum. .. I'm sorry you're going through this! Hopefully the prep materials will fill in where your school let you down. I wish you the best. ..with determination anything is possible!

Maybe it's wrong of me but I can't help but wonder....Those that failed more than once... You all graduated from an accredited college, right? I ask because I feel like your college failed you, in a way. A nusing school's goal is to produce students that can pass the NCLEX. Call me a 'newbie' but I would think that if the school was on track to produce RNs, those that are destined to fail the NCLEX shouldn't graduate until they can. I mean, I would much rather have my college hold me back...make me repeat classes...versus tossing me an A and sending me out to meet my demise. Passing you seems like it sets you up for failure and disappointment. It's not right.... What do you think of your colleges? What should have gone differently?

Sorry locjoie... I have been buried... I rarely check messages here and only randomly jump on boards (the unpredictable it's-midnight-and-I-can't-sleep visit!). I didn't subscribe to this one so I never saw your post here. Things have absolutely not gotten better. Just day by day, we remind ourselves that it's 'almost' over...

Sunflower - I feel that NCLEX prep falls into your own hands to a degree. I mean technically, if you read the textbooks, go to clinicals, and do the NCLEX exam reviews, you can pass the NCLEX. We don't have professors that actively teach the didactic portion... We learn from a textbook, on our own. So I suppose I consider my chances of success to be proportionate with my self-directed effort. I know I'll pass the NCLEX... for students that need direction, encouragement, tutoring, or additional academic assistance, I feel for them...there isn't much of that available, outside a few "new" professors that I think feel bad for us.

We had 2 out of 24 to start. Now it's down to 1 in 17...

IcySageNurse, I also agree with you wholeheartedly. .. I am also a BSN student (second degree) and even I see what will come of the profession if standards aren't set appropriately high. However...devil's advocate here... what of PAs? A PA gets ANY bachelor's degree....a few measly hours as an ambulance driver (emt basic)...and a couple of years in grad school... voila! Now you're a PA... making (according to the latest from Advance NP/PA) just under 10K MORE than NPs. They didn't have to grind away as full fledged nurses (or anything but a history major) for 2+ years. They don't go to school any longer than NPs. Yet they still earn more and don't have employment problems. Don't get me wrong, I want to preserve the integrity of the profession...but if the educational/preparatory requirements are too demanding, I foresee a problem. I do agree that nursing school has an insane amount of time wasting fluff. If, when I pursue grad school, I encounter the same BSN fluff, I will be very disappointed. We do need more advanced A&P and Patho...just from my current perspective. I can only imagine where it goes from here. My argument is that somehow PA schools are turning out grads that can command more money as well as equal respect... Take someone like me... I could have just worked as a CNA for 6 months and gone to a PA school for 2 years... plenty don't require a GRE... and today I could have already been a PA... Yeah me. The chick with a pathetic shred of experience compared to most of you...and I'd be making more $ than many here. So along with higher educational and experiential demands, NPs are going to have to carve out a helluva niche. .. like CRNAs have... Just my late night been studying too long rambling thoughts... :-)

Nothing here... Just plugging away at school stuff! :-)

Great story...thanks for sharing! :-)

Well that's good news! During the 20 years my husband put in, he spent about 70% of his career putting in overtime...By the time you broke down his pay without getting paid for all the extra hours put in, the paycheck was very...humble. Most of my friends are O4 and below and no one makes what you do....so I guess that's also a different perspective. I suppose every rate is different but I'll say from our experience I certainly didn't do it for the pay! Lol

I agree, wtbcrna... Pay works out in the long run. Takes some time to get there, though and depending where you're located, civilians may advance in pay a bit quicker than military counterparts, based on my comparisons. I find the 2025 deadline interesting... There was so much talk for so long about NPs needing a doctorate by 2015 but many NP friends have argued "that will never fly." Will the new CRNA regulation really stick or is this just another wild stab at demanding advanced education? I personally think its a good idea but see that these don't necessarily go as planned.... BTW in the majority of the states, a doctorate prepared nurse is not legally allowed to be called "doctor"... one of those things the AMA really pushed back on.... I suppose military rank changes the dynamics of all that, anyway.

I'd tell her to be honest. The consequences of trying to hide it and getting caught later on would be much worse.

I think it's also important to clarify that a CRNA requires a Masters degree, which won't make you a 'doctor'. Of course, if a doctor title is of interest, you could continue on and get a doctorate in nursing... Also... I recommend a quick google search of officer pay...Last I recall, it's a looong road to 6 figures in the military! :-)

Redruby... No you can't just sign up... Getting in is time consuming and competitive. There are several ways to join... I would recommend searching the boards for details. If you're an experienced RN you may be able to put a kit in for direct commission. All nurses are officers. Good luck!

Michael, Quote: "so basically it seems like I'll have to throw away my dreams and enlist :(" Followed with a bootcamp reference of :/. No, I don't know you. .. I'm going off your very own writing...and "emotions" you attach to those words. I'm not suggesting that you toss out your dreams. I'm saying that based on your other posts you didn't seem too pleased with the idea of enlisting...so why do it? There are more options than just NCP or enlisting and if being a nurse is your goal and enlisting is not, then pull up the grades, plow through nursing school and opt for a direct commission later on. They offer a nice bonus that can help pay off the juice loans, too.

Michael, If enlisting seems to be such a bummer, please stop considering it. Im in the NCP. My husband retired from the Navy with 20. I can tell you that if enlisting is some sort of ho-hum last resort, you'll never make it through bootcamp. Though I made it into the program, I'd still happy enlist if that's what it came down to...Frankly, I regret not having been an HM first. Time to dig deep here. I feel for ya but your attitude about being enlisted vs officer is concerning. NCP is highly competitive. No, your grades don't qualify. If you finish a BSN and get about 6 mo to a year experience you can try for a direct commission. If you take the ASVAB and qualify for HN/HM etc., you'll get a lot of great experience. ..but there is NO guarantee you'll be able to transition to nursing from there... again, it's a competitive process. I wish you the best.

I've yet to speak with an ONU ABSN student that is happy with the program. More often than not, you'll find someone that doesn't just dislike it, but rather despises it. The reason why you're not finding a lot of feedback is twofold; 1) no one has graduated yet and 2) we don't have time to give you the 1001 reasons not to get involved with this program. Several months ago, I offered to discuss our tribulations in a private email format... but I can't keep up with all of the requests. Here is the bottom line. The current ONU ABSN students are trapped. We are all unhappy but if we leave, we will lose too much with things not transferring. Plus, we got involved with the program in the first place because we all want to graduate ASAP... if we leave now, we toss a quick graduation that we busted butt for right out the window. So we are stuck. Why don't we all voice our concerns publicly? Easy. The ONU administration reads all of our emails and is surely reading this post just as you aspiring nursing students are. Is it wise to taunt and criticize the person that's holding a gun to your head? Probably not... And so none of us want to take the heat and risk being singled out just for the sake of warning all of you... it's bad enough as it is. Therefore, I am not comfortable with publicly sharing all the gory details... Suffice to say choosing ONU was a very, very bad life decision for me...and I think I can speak for many others in the program that share their regrets daily. For those trying to compare with Chamberlain Chicago... go to Chamberlain...please. I know how messed up they are too...but trust me, ONU's grass is burnt....Chamberlain still has a few green patches. Concerned that this may be coming from some disgruntled student that can't cut it in nursing school so resorts to blaming everyone else? I wish I could be that irresponsible! LOL I have always been a high honors student...and had As last semester. But just because I have good grades doesn't mean the program works... It is so broken, it's not even funny. So I'll let you know if anything improves... Also, last month I was looking into other programs out of desperation...I think Resurrection has an accelerated program, too. And Loyola...