Seeking Advice! Failed 2-Year Program. Now What?

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Here are my stats. I’m an older student (in my 30s). I hold a previous bachelors (3.025 GPA, yuck), all prereqs (3.59 GPA) and a masters degree in psychology (3.8 GPA). I’ve had to retake a statistics to achieve a A instead of my older C- grade. All of this will be seen on transcript. 

I had no clue what I wanted to do in life so I’ve made some mistakes along the way. I started the nursing entry process in 2016 (ADN level) but hated the school so I withdrew, did not fail out. Then, I decided to go back in 2019 at the same two-year community college because it was the economical decision and they accepted my TEAS (big mistake) because the program was/is terrible. 

In the middle of my program, the pandemic happened which totally lowered my motivation. In short, I was able to maintain a 3.27 GPA in the program until my last course. I received a failing grade because I bombed the final. 

I’m devastated. I want to become a nurse. What are my options here? Do I have a chance at applying to accelerated programs based on my stats or will they reject me? 
 

OPEN TO ALL SORTS OF ADVICE. Thanks!

Specializes in oncology.
18 hours ago, Hannahbanana said:

teaching students in the AIDS era. (If all you know of HIV now is those perky ads on TV for a drug keeping one’s viral load undetectable, you can have no idea what it was like. See if you can find a copy of Rand Shilts’ definitive history, “And The Band Played On.”

When people quote the CDC is infallible to me ("NO you don't need to wear masks now...it's all science!"), I think of when the CDC named it GRID (Gay related immunodeficiency disorder) attributed to "Haitians, Hemophiliacs, Heroin addicts and Homosexuals". 

Specializes in oncology.
On 5/19/2021 at 1:15 PM, AliceBack2It said:

Then, I decided to go back in 2019 at the same two-year community college because it was the economical decision and they accepted my TEAS (big mistake) because the program was/is terrible. 

Quote

I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.

Groucho Marx

Just move on...several here have tried to encourage you to meet with the Dean but you just keep saying bad things about the school. I am sorry for your disappointment but it sounds like this just wasn't the school for you.(either time)

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Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.
11 minutes ago, londonflo said:

When people quote the CDC is infallible to me ("NO you don't need to wear masks now...it's all science!"), I think of when the CDC named it GRID (Gay related immunodeficiency disorder) attributed to "Haitians, Hemophiliacs, Heroin addicts and Homosexuals". 

Back to the topic of COVID and clinical... It was reasonable to shut down clinical in the very beginning when PPE was scarce, but as PPE became more available and COVID was more well understood, it is now just ridiculous that clinical is limited.  I'm going into Summer semester psych and only about 1/3 of the entire class is able to do in person clinical due to site availability. 

Last semester peds we only were able to do 1/2 of our clinical rotations.

The lack of clinical is definitely impactful.

Specializes in Addictions, Psych.
1 hour ago, Hannahbanana said:

On behalf of my good friend RubyVee, who has had a hard time posting lately, thank you.

I don't know her other than what she's written here but I absolutely wish her all the best. 

Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
18 minutes ago, FiremedicMike said:

When people quote the CDC is infallible to me ("NO you don't need to wear masks now...It's all science!"), I think of when the CDC named it GRID (Gay related immunodeficiency disorder) attributed to "Haitians, Hemophiliacs, Heroin addicts and Homosexuals". 

.... until research and increasingly variable case characteristics over time demonstrated otherwise, and then they didn’t. 
The history of science is replete c such examples, even before Pasteur demonstrated with his swan’s neck flasks that sterile fluids stayed sterile if not contaminated by outside substances (miasmas or other now-quaint terms). Nephrogenic sclerosing fibrosis is no longer “nephrogenic,” to cite a much more modern example. If CHF were being discovered and named today, its new terminology wouldn’t start out with “dropsy,” or “congestion,” that’s for sure. 

Care to try again? You did have a basic science education, am I correct? 

Specializes in Addictions, Psych.
17 minutes ago, FiremedicMike said:

Back to the topic of COVID and clinical... It was reasonable to shut down clinical in the very beginning when PPE was scarce, but as PPE became more available and COVID was more well understood, it is now just ridiculous that clinical is limited.  I'm going into Summer semester psych and only about 1/3 of the entire class is able to do in person clinical due to site availability. 

Last semester peds we only were able to do 1/2 of our clinical rotations.

The lack of clinical is definitely impactful.

It isn't just about the PPE. Sites didn't want extra bodies that could potentially be bringing COVID into the facility. Patient numbers have also been reduced in some facilities, either due to patients not seeking services due to COVID or due to reduced bed numbers. And depending on how many nursing schools are in your area, is there competition for host facilities? 

Just saying there are other moving pieces. 

 

Specializes in oncology.
23 minutes ago, Tacocat said:

Just saying there are other moving pieces. 

We have 5 colleges using 2 hospitals with over 200 hundred students. Integrating these students into very busy medical/surgical units was a step the hospitals could not risk. Even in OB, the mother could only have ONE support person. In retrospect, it seems things could have been tamer but at that point in time ---- it was better to restrict the "coming and going" of visitors and staff/

Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.

To be clear, I wasn't blaming my program for lack of clinical, and I wasn't necessarily blaming the hospitals for shutting down to nursing students.  I was merely reinforcing that nursing school during COVID was unprecedented.  It's always been hard, people have always had personal issues they bring with them to class, but (to my knowledge) never before have students had to deal with a curriculum delivery that shifted on a dime and a complete lack of clinical experience to reinforce what they've learned.

I think you could loosely debate the stance of "I had to deal with my own stuff during school, just push through it" if the struggles were within one's personal span of control.  COVID was not in anyone's span of control, and nursing school became a disheveled mess overnight. 

My personal feelings notwithstanding on utilizing instructional methods that are decades old (lecture, textbook, then exam), I think that approach proved to be a disaster for many when COVID shut programs down.  Nursing is a personal and hands-on profession and it is difficult to learn that through zoom calls and Youtube.

I reiterate my statement earlier in this thread, unless you were a nursing student when COVID hit, I don't think it's fair to insist that it wasn't impactful.

1 hour ago, FiremedicMike said:

Back to the topic of COVID and clinical... It was reasonable to shut down clinical in the very beginning when PPE was scarce, but as PPE became more available and COVID was more well understood, it is now just ridiculous that clinical is limited.  I'm going into Summer semester psych and only about 1/3 of the entire class is able to do in person clinical due to site availability. 

Last semester peds we only were able to do 1/2 of our clinical rotations.

The lack of clinical is definitely impactful.

A psych clinical is so bizarre to me. That is something you cannot recreate through videos or case studies. It needs to be experienced in person. Mine was via Zoom and all we did was discuss Netflix movies. 

 

Specializes in oncology.
13 minutes ago, AliceBack2It said:

A psych clinical is so bizarre to me. That is something you cannot recreate through videos or case studies. It needs to be experienced in person. Mine was via Zoom and all we did was discuss Netflix movies. 

Our college can only schedule 3 days of psych clinical at different facilities. Somehow I would think your Master's in psych would have provided you with the knowledge. skills and attitude you would need for this population.

Specializes in oncology.

To compete in this 21st century you need to develop your learning style to include reading, listening, and practice.  (Ohhhh, I only had my textbook.....) And please do not tell me you learn by making mistakes. If you want to be in a challenging,  skilled, knowledgeable profession you need to know what to do by reading. If you have to have pictures to work consistently,  a fast food restaurant will provide that.

 

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Specializes in CEN, Firefighter/Paramedic.
47 minutes ago, londonflo said:

To compete in this 21st century you need to develop your learning style to include reading, listening, and practice.  (Ohhhh, I only had my textbook.....) And please do not tell me you learn by making mistakes. If you want to be in a challenging,  skilled, knowledgeable profession you need to know what to do by reading. If you have to have pictures to work consistently,  a fast food restaurant will provide that.

 

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Is this in response to me?  If so, I agree with your first sentence, but I think the part that should be emphasized is "to include" because it should incorporate all of those things.

I personally feel that your last statement regarding pictures and fast food restaurants is a condescending oversimplification of learning styles, rooted in decades old teaching practices unimpeded by the progress of understanding how adults learn, most notably that not all adults absorb knowledge in the same way as others.  Reading is important, but very few people can be simply given a textbook and some exam dates, especially on something as complicated and nuanced as assessing and treating our fellow humans.

I truly respect your 44 years of nursing experience, but I must say that from my own experience in nursing school, what I read here about other nursing programs, and what I read on other forums about PA and medical school, it seems that medical education as a whole is behind the times in terms of the evolution of instruction and efficient learning.

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