students who have applied numerous times

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I am writing a paper on how to increase limited programs at my college. I'm curious as to how many of you have applied and been denied more than once. I am also referrring to those of you who had good grades, met all the pre-reqs and what not...........basically denied because there are too many applicants for very few spots. With the shortage nursing in this country........I'm trying to figure out ways to help with that. Increasing the number of students into the program each fall/spring sounds smart to me. Of course, I'm not talking about just letting anyone in the program.........the ones who meet all the requirements. Any ideas on this would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance.

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I am not sure if this totally helps you, but you have described the position that I was in.

I attend a community college and have been on the wait list for the nursing program for three years. Fortunately, I am not waiting anymore, I start the program in August! Before being accepted I had good grades and I have already taken all of the pre-reqs (A&P, Micro, etc.).

I spoke to the nursing director as to what was happening and she stated to me that each semester about 200 hundred students apply for 75 spots. It's basically a lack of faculty to teach, from what I can gather. They actually have a woman who teaches a nursing lab and A&P. There's just not enough people to go around.

Sorry this is so long, but I hope it helped in some way.

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From what a nursing director told me... its all about funding. Especially where I am (California) funding is very hard to get by especially with our states continuous budget cuts. Not enough funding means not enough intructors to hire, no money to create bigger facilities to fit more students, not enough money for labs and clinicals, etc. Does this help?

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I haven't been waitlisted or denied but I might have some helpful information.

Here is a link to an online program developed by Tennessee Board of Regents to help with the nursing shortage.

http://www.rodp.org/aasn/default.htm

So those that don't get accepted into the nursing program at the community college can apply to the online program. The requirements are the same except the online program requires some type of medical license. It also allows people like me to enter the program sooner than planned. I wasn't going to apply until my son starts kindergarten in 2010 but now I can apply in 2009.

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Specializes in PMHNP, Faculty,.

I was lucky enough to be accepted my first time applying to nursing school. (Starting in mid-May.) :D But, I was talking to the director of our program and she told me that our school and all of the others, really, did not have enough faculty to handle a large class. (Our class is capped at 24 students a year.) So, as far as I know, there just aren't enough teachers, but that's just my :twocents:.

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Specializes in hospice.

I had to wait two-and-a-half years to get into my program (it's a lottery system; I start at the end of May). Another big problem, which goes hand in hand with the schools not having enough funding, is that nurses get paid more to be a nurse than they would to teach. Ergo, why would you stop being a nurse to be a teacher? I can't fault them for that.

Maybe if the schools had more funding, then they could afford to pay the instructors better, then more nurses wouldn't mind teaching.

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Specializes in PACU, Case Management.

I'm in the same boat. I now have 2 AA degrees, and will have an AS degree after a short summer class this year. I have been waiting to get into a nursing program for a year and a half now. My GPA hasn't been below 3.5 since I started college. In California, it seems there just isn't enough funding to put up more instructors, which in turn limits the number of students that can be accepted into the schools.

Last semester, at one school (out of the 4 I applied to), I was one of 470 applicants for 30 spots.

I am still waiting.....

Frustrated in California:bugeyes:

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I applied to a CC school twice got rejected twice. I based my whole curriculum on their nursing program and I have a 3.4 average (not GREAT but good) I also work in an emergency room, I was talking to one of the nurses and she said the same thing. You need a masters to teach a clinicals course in most schools, but she makes more working her per diem shift once a week than nursing school instructors. I really do hope they figure out something, people will give anything to be in a nursing program. Its frustrating, but Ive put my eggs in more than one basket. Try 5 LOL.

Good look to all those aspiring nurses, hang in there kiddos

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I have been applying for 2 years (this is my 4th semester applying) and I would have to say that funding is a big issue however, the attrition rate is extremely high in my area. When you apply to our programs they are only looking at the grades.Nursing is not all about who had a 4.0. Nursing is about how to communicate with patients and staff, being able to emotionally deal with the situations that are one of the more difficult (death and dying) and having the intelligence to know what to do and when to do it (patient advocacy).

In no means am I saying that those who have achieved a 4.0 are not wonderful students, you have worked very hard to get the grades. I am saying that there are skill sets that are critical for a potential RN to have that are very difficult to test. The easiest and lowest cost way to identify students is by testing and their grades. Unfortunately it is not the best way to tell if the person will make a good RN.

Here is a clip from a previous posting that I submitted in another discussion that may assist with more details about California's problem.

I am here in California and I recently read the LAO report (Written by the legislature) about what things are needed in the NS to accommodate more students. Most of it was specifically talking about attrition rates, compensation for the faculty and expanding the facilities that are necessary for students.

In my state there is a lottery deciding on who gets in (so they say however I do know that they get to choose, they just cant tell you that). So if you have a 2.0GPA then you can apply. So they are finding that the quality of student is compromised because of the way that they are accepting the students. The purpose of the lottery came from a lawsuit from a specific group stating that it was bias towards those who had English as a 1st language. It was GPA based and English, BIO's and Overall GPA were the criteria, some of the students that did not have a good English GPA would not be selected.

Therefore they settled on a lottery to accommodate and not discriminate (Which I have some mixed feelings about)

Some of the other things presented was about making the faculty positions more appealing to those that would like to teach such as paying their student loans, offering incentives and whatnot. One of the legal things that have to get past are the regulations that are in place currently that state each NS with X amount of nursing students can only have Y amount of full time faculty. So the schools have to pass the bill allowing them to be able to have more full time staff first. Which we all know will take some time, this is the state we are talking about here... nothing moves quickly.

As I read all 67 pages of the report I was able to see more in depth what is happening here at the CCC level in CA and what things would need to be changed in order to crank out nursing students in proportion to the applicants we have. Just to give you an idea my community colleges in the area (3 total) had between 600 and 800 applicants EACH! Two of them only accept 30 and one accepts 70. So in my area there has been an explosion of applicants and not even close to the amount of slots to accommodate them.

This is not a new issue at all and when my mother went to NS in Ohio in the 70's she applied for 2 years and couldn't get into CSUS, so she moved to Ohio and went to a private NS. This issue will continue to manifest if it is not explored in more detail. There are huge problems in the system that no one wants to touch with a 10 foot pole!

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Specializes in ER/Ortho.

The CC I applied to bases entry on a numbers system. They add your GPA, your Hesi entrance score - 75, up to 13 points for certain classes completed, and 3 points if you have already applied, and met all criteria for admission, but didn't get in. The highest score is 45, but you can apply with 2.75 points. Last semester the lowest score to get in was 27.something.

They have 40 spots each semester, and about 250 students apply for those 40 spots. I applied this semester for my second time, and will find out in 7-10 days if I get in.

They tried to open a sister nursing program, at another CC in the district, but it hasn't worked out at all. The first semester it was supposed to start after filling the 40 spots they didn't have enough instructors, and those people who just found out they made it were told they would not start the following semester, but would have to wait a year.

This semester the sister program was again put off, and everyone who was going to apply there was added to the pool at my CC.

I am told that its mainly what the above posters have said ...Not enough professors of nursing.

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