school retention rate or nclex pass rate-which is more important?

jenrninmi, MSN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

Very interesting point. I must say. :coollook: I'm really exhausted right now as I am presently working on a 7-page term paper. I am so tired of these *** papers! Urgh!! I'll try to give my point of view...Anyways...I am in my 4th semester (out of 5) of nursing school. We started out with 64 students a few had to take a semester over,(including me) we now have 70 students in our class. I have no idea right now what the pass rate is for the nclex exam though. I hope it's high...

rosendalemj · Nov 22, 2004

The diploma school I'm in has an nclex pass rate of 94% but low retention. I'm second term in a 6 term program. This program has at least three problems ensuring many failures.

One is it's overly accelerated and has too many clinical hours. For example, this term we have attempted to learn ALL of OB, PEDs, and gerentology, do 200+ clinical hours in the hospital, and take pharmacology, developmental psychology, second term anatomy with lab as well. Right now we are wrapping up the semester and have an exam coving PEDs next week. We are so busy that we get only 2.5 weeks to learn all of PEDs which is about 15+ chapters in the maternal child text book. It's an illogical program.

Two. they can't teach at my school. All we get is a powerpoint presentation with some information extracted from the book. Class is a waste of time here.

Three. The school is interested only in it's survival. They can't instruct well. So they make the tests very hard. Their intent is to weed out anyone they think can't pass the nclex the first try. The instructors here don't care either.

Watch out where you choose to go to school. I'm finishing the term out and moving on to another school. Don't be like me and find out the hard way.

rosendalemj · Nov 22, 2004

oh, 2/3 of those at my school wash out by the end. Only 1/3 make it to graduation. Nclex pass rate is 94%. Ugghhh.

crb613, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

At my school the pass/fail rate has been 100% for the past few of years.I was also led to believe that the retention rate was good as well. My school only accepts 25 students a year. Right now the senior class has about 10-12 left!! the people that failed are allowed to come back & remediate but they have to wait 2 semesters until its taught again.So i'm a little worried about the whole program not being what it was cracked up to be. I am wondering if this is the norm for nursing school or does my school just take your money & if their tests show you don't have a good chance of passing the boards they fail you so their pass rate stays 100%.I am only in my 1st semester & I will have to say I could not have asked for any more support & caring than I have received from my instructors so i'm pretty mixed up & don't know what to think.

Imafloat, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

I think having a good retention rate is better.

There is another school in my area, they have a 98% NCLEX pass rate but their retention rate is really low, I am not sure but maybe 65-70%. My friend is in their program and she says it feels like the instructors want you to fail. In this case it seems to me that only the best make it to graduation, thus ensuring a higher NCLEX pass rate.

The school I attend has a 95% NCLEX pass rate and an 85% retention rate. I think the difference in our school and the other is maybe 2 students not passing. Our program is difficult, but it is much more relaxed than the other.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

NCLEX pass rate by all means. The point is not to have a large number of graduates, but to have graduates become nurses.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

I've never understood why people believed that nursing schools could only do one or the other: get most of their nursing students through the course to graduate or sufficiently prepare them to be nurses that could pass the NCLEX.

It seems to me if schools do their job, they do both. After all, with the standards so high to get in, if the instruction is worth anything, everybody should be learning well enough to pass. Right? If brainy motivated students are flunking out, maybe they should be looking at the quality of the instruction being offered.

And if the schools are actually teaching nursing, the students who graduate having learned nursing will in fact pass the NCLEX.

In the traditional school where I spent my first three (passing easily, thank you) semesters, the attrition rate was so high that the last two semesters the students were not allowed to see their exams after they were graded! Who knows what the grades actually were?! Nobody failed out that second year. Gee. I smell a statistical rat.

The school to which I transferred (in order to retain what was left of my mental health after that first year's experience) has a very high retention rate (since it is self-paced) and a very high NCLEX pass rate (mid to high nineties). So it can be done.

The best advice I can offer here: Don't worry about retention or the NCLEX. Give them exactly what they want while you are in school so that you are "retained." When you graduate, prepare for the NCLEX in the best way available. Today that's probably Mosby's CAT which is exactly, exactly like the NCLEX. Who knows what next year's best method will be.

Good luck to you all!

jenrninmi, MSN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

At my school the pass/fail rate has been 100% for the past few of years.I was also led to believe that the retention rate was good as well. My school only accepts 25 students a year. Right now the senior class has about 10-12 left!! the people that failed are allowed to come back & remediate but they have to wait 2 semesters until its taught again.So i'm a little worried about the whole program not being what it was cracked up to be. I am wondering if this is the norm for nursing school or does my school just take your money & if their tests show you don't have a good chance of passing the boards they fail you so their pass rate stays 100%.I am only in my 1st semester & I will have to say I could not have asked for any more support & caring than I have received from my instructors so i'm pretty mixed up & don't know what to think.

I have heard there are a lot of ADN programs out there that do this in order to keep their high NCLEX pass rate. I don't know if your's is ADN or not. So, in the end I think the best schools out there are the ones that have a high retention rate AND have a high NCLEX pass rate.

maliat · Nov 22, 2004

I think you also have to look at the selectivity of the nursing school. If they're not particularly selective, it does make sense that their retention rates are low. I don't know how you measure selectivity, other than to say that it's helpful to know how many applicants a school gets for however many spots they have. Something to think about.

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2004

In order to get our NCLEX pass rates up, student retention is also up. We've been given some additional hoops to jump through and they're more difficult to get to. An obvious attempt to weed out is being made and some students are hopping furious. I believe my school's NCLEX pass rate does not accurately reflect the true level of learning. It will look nice on paper though.

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Nov 22, 2004

I based my decision about my school on the fact that it's a very hands on program. I looked at, but didn't base a lot on, retention and pass rates.....

My school has a low retention rate (they accept 49 each year but only 25 or so will take the exam) but a very high pass rate (98%). There are lots of ways to view those #s. Are they weeding out the ones that will do well and give them a high NCLEX pass rate? Is this program so hard that students drop like flies? Who knows....

This is also a very well respected school (many hosptials around here will only hire their graduates) which says something even though the retention rate doesn't.

I think looking at the school as a whole is the best way to view it. Pass rates and retention rates are only #s

Good luck!!!