There is an element of self teaching at any nursing program. Ours was more distressing given we were in the middle of COVID. Mercy at least has somewhat of a decent lab and clinical program given that placement is easy in their network. They also have simulators. Overall, it’s one the easier programs to get into, but it will deceive you. It is difficult. By comparison I am usually straight A, but I was pulling As and Bs solidly.
I am also preferential towards ER and ICU, however due to my affinity to go to medical school, I took a step down ICU position to take advantage of their 100% tuition direct pay. Ultimately the school is a bit cheaper surprisingly for being a private school. I can take a fully loaded semester of 12 credit hours for 6k. Again, it is nice if you pick up any job in their hospital network. Who doesn’t like free school? Yet, there are plenty of transfer and academic scholarships of which to take advantage of. I was president of Alpha Delta Nu for our program and we even had scholarships to be given.
Nevertheless we had people move to Toledo just to get into the program. You don’t have to do a ridiculous prerequisite offering (I.e. pharmacology, calculus, etc.) nor is there a waitlist…unlike years for a community college… that only serves to appear competitive despite subpar program.
Speaking of the retention, people will drop out as they realize that either it’s not for them, personal reasons, illness, work issues, etc. many will not make the cut as they do introduce tougher check offs and material. We started with around 70 in our evenings and weekends class, and over the 2 year period we graduated with half roughly.
NCLEX pass rates were dropping in previous years, so the faculty improved upon them. The big changes were ATI integration, free access to practice testing, and remediation. Also they run your through their own prep course last semester. These students have scored an impressive 88% NCLEX pass rate over the past decade. The prelicensure BSN program graduates another 75-100 students per year, with a strong 83% NCLEX pass rate over the same time period.