I had never really thought about this before. honestly, I go to my college b/c it is in my city. i didnt realize the great things about the school until i was already in the midst of it.
anyhoo, after seeing discussion here, i wonder-which do you think is most important in looking at how "good" (for lack of a better word) a nursing school is-the retention rate or nclex pass rates? is it better for a school to have a high number of the nursing classes' acceptees stay in thru graduation but have a lower rate of those original acceptees pass the nclex?
its intersting to think about, b/c if retention rates are low, this leads to fewer potential nurses making to the nclex to become nurses and get out there in the field. but, if retention is high, but fewer of them pass the nclex, that really serves no point since you can't really be a nurse without the nclex, huh?
obviously a high retention and high pass rate would be best, huh?
my school has a not so good retention rate (well, in my eyes, but what do i know). we started out with 80. now, in third semester, (even iwht the adding of 7 LPN transfers) we have 56. and are likely to lose more this semester. at end of 2nd semester we had 16 who failed.
BUT, our nclex pass rate is 98-100% and was the second highest pass rate in our state this year.
I just started my prerequisite courses for nursing school and I'm already starting to get burnt out. I know how important the information is, but seriously, do we really need to take ten thousand entrance exams and know the process of cellular polarization? Do patients ever ask you why thier cells do things? I don't think so. Usually they just want a no b.s. honest answer. I am experiencing a huge meltdown in all my courses. No matter how much I study or try, I'm still BARELY making the grade. It's so frustrating. :angryfire Why can't we study what we'll actually use and get on with our lives? Does ANYBODY have some advice? I really need some reassurance on why I'm here. I love my internship at the hospital and what I do there is exactly everything I signed up for when I started this program, so why is "nursing school" so abstract? Help!
Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.
I just started my prerequisite courses for nursing school and I'm already starting to get burnt out. I know how important the information is, but seriously, do we really need to take ten thousand entrance exams and know the process of cellular polarization? Do patients ever ask you why thier cells do things? I don't think so. Usually they just want a no b.s. honest answer. I am experiencing a huge meltdown in all my courses. No matter how much I study or try, I'm still BARELY making the grade. It's so frustrating. :angryfire Why can't we study what we'll actually use and get on with our lives? Does ANYBODY have some advice? I really need some reassurance on why I'm here. I love my internship at the hospital and what I do there is exactly everything I signed up for when I started this program, so why is "nursing school" so abstract? Help!
I hear you loud and clear. It doesn't make sense why you need to know all the things they teach you... until you get to nursing school. Then, things come together. For instance, you mentioned cell polarization. When you see an electrolyte imbalance in your patient labs, specifically potassium, you will put two plus two together. A potassium imbalance will affect muscle cell polarization, and we're talking cardiac muscle. You will know that your patient is at risk for possible cardiac consesquences and flag that lab for the physician. See how it works? It's not as abstract as it now appears and you will apply most of what you learn at one time or another.
Feeling burnt is part of the deal. I think we all get there, every semester right around midterm. Hang in there. Learn.
I think they're trying to do both at my school. If you're bombing the clinicals and your theory grades are consistently bad they may drop you from the class and send you to remediation. I've never had to do remediation (thank God) but from what I've heard, the instructors who do it are very good about helping the students to get through it so they may continue in the program (though some people get discouraged and drop out on their own anyway).
I used to hear that they do the 'weed out' thing here, too. But, I've seen cases where they really helped some students so I don't believe it now. Even the instructors who totally b*tch out students during clinicals rarely fail anybody (unless you're REAL bad with basic stuff like pt safety, or med errors). And I know of one case where they even went out of their way to get 'bridge' financing for one student who almost had to drop out because she ran out of money.
I'd say the teaching here is pretty good. The key thing to learn though is that the stuff you read in the textbook is always only a part of the answer and the instructors here go out of their way to emphasize this with the type of questions they ask on their exams.
: ) i have to say that n-clex pass rates are more important than student retention; my program has pass rates in the high 90's consistently, and a program nearby my college has very mediocre passing rates and is being threatened to be shut down if they don't raise them : / which makes sense- why would someone want to spend all the money, time and effort to go through a program only to be very unprepared to pass the n-clex?
on the other hand, my program ABSOLUTELY is weeding out people. they drop like flies in the first few weeks of every semester. we also have to deal with the HESI entrance, interim, and exit exams, which must be passed to move on in our program and are supposed to be predictors of how you will do on the n-clex, based on the knowledge learned up to the testing point. and they are not easy by any means : / i have seen very bright students fail these tests because of nerves alone, and they either had to leave the program, drop to the lpn program, or repeat an entire semester of nursing courses and go to our needs coordinator for remediation (which they can only do once, or they are out of the program)
we do hospital rotations in student groups of 8, and mid through the semester we were already down to five in my specific group alone. i guess alot of people are feeling the pressure : / but then, who isn't? i know that i study my butt off and eat/sleep/dream nursing lately, but i am lucky enough to have a supportive family and job that doesn't pile on added stress when i'm near the breaking point. some of these weeded out students may be very capable of being an RN and are just not at the point in their lives where they can put all their focus into school and boards. i hope the students like this try again and come back.
I'd have to say go with a high NCLEX rate. A lot of schools in my area bounce between 85 - 100% and they all have about the same retention rate which is about 60%. There is one school that has an 85% retention rate, but three years ago their NCLEX pass rate was 48% and the last two years have been in the 70's. The school is private and expensive, but it has a bad reputation (maybe because they don't kick anybody out). There is a community college 5 miles away that is super cheap and has a 100% pass rate that is impossible to get into, so the private school gets the run-off of those students who didn't get in.
I found recently that there are so many factors that make a good school. I was looking at our local university sciences center due to the reputation, the bsn, etc. I found thru a seminar that it was all reputation and no substance!! They actually said your main motivation for going there was the degree with their name on it!! yeah right. Their nclex is lower than any of the adn programs and they blame that on the fact that the students don't get out and get real life training!!! Then what are they doing in class!! And after the first 8 weeks the programs becomes online intensive--I'm not paying $15,000 for online instruction!
I'm applying for an ADN program at one of our com colleges (I have a previous BS in a science) - I've visited and really like the facility and the people. I think you have to weigh it all---watch out for reputation and going strictly by the numbers. Talk to students, grads and visit the schools.
I say ignore both criteria unless one or the other is so dismal you just can't ignore it. Try to talk to students who have been throiugh the program and get a gauge of the quality of the instruction, whats good and bad about the program, etc.
My school had a very high NCLEX pass rate and a very high attrition rate to go along with it. Nursing school is supposed to be academically rigorous. Just make sure the school you choose isn't hard for all the WRONG reasons. I'm sure some of you know what I mean:)
I say ignore both criteria unless one or the other is so dismal you just can't ignore it. Try to talk to students who have been throiugh the program and get a gauge of the quality of the instruction, whats good and bad about the program, etc.
My school had a very high NCLEX pass rate and a very high attrition rate to go along with it. Nursing school is supposed to be academically rigorous. Just make sure the school you choose isn't hard for all the WRONG reasons. I'm sure some of you know what I mean:)
Another thing to consider is the type of program: whether it is a basic RN (for students who are not LPNs) or whether it is a bridge program for LPN to ADN or LPN to BSN. For the basic RN - pass rate of NCLEX is important - that is the end goal. However, for the LPN to RN bridge programs, retention comes into play too. And, in the long run (at least in my case), I had to take what was around the neighborhood anyway...I had little choice in where I attended school. I did some pre-reqs in Alaska (commuting 110 miles one way three times/week with some friends), did some courses via remote access (using VCR tapes - again in Alaska), did some more courses while in Korea, finished my LPN in Las Vegas, did the bridge to RN in Indianapolis, finished a BSN online and will (hopefully) finish my MSN online in June 05. There are many different reasons to attend schools, however, convenience and location need to be considered too.
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.
Can I ask what school you're going to right now? I was accepted to Pasadena City College and Mt. San Antonio(both in Southern Cal.) and was curious if either is the school you're attending. Please advise. Thank you.
I'm in virginia so it's not what you are looking at. Best advice someone here gave is talk to the students at the school.
Can I ask what school you're going to right now? I was accepted to Pasadena City College and Mt. San Antonio(both in Southern Cal.) and was curious if either is the school you're attending. Please advise. Thank you.
kcf_leo
7 Posts
I just started my prerequisite courses for nursing school and I'm already starting to get burnt out. I know how important the information is, but seriously, do we really need to take ten thousand entrance exams and know the process of cellular polarization? Do patients ever ask you why thier cells do things? I don't think so. Usually they just want a no b.s. honest answer. I am experiencing a huge meltdown in all my courses. No matter how much I study or try, I'm still BARELY making the grade. It's so frustrating. :angryfire Why can't we study what we'll actually use and get on with our lives? Does ANYBODY have some advice? I really need some reassurance on why I'm here. I love my internship at the hospital and what I do there is exactly everything I signed up for when I started this program, so why is "nursing school" so abstract? Help!