SUNY Alfred State nursing students fall 09

rewkew · Jul 1, 2009

I am a parent of an Alfred State Nursing graduate-there are both PROS and CONS to the Alfred State program.

Some of the staff is excellent If you were referring when talking about the head of the department-well she needs

some serious help. She is not a professional acting person. She may be qualified to teach but she is not a qualified teacher.

I'm not sure what statistics they gave you-but out of 100 in my daughter's starting class-thirty failed the first semester-and more the second semester. This is because their testing questions are ambiguous and although they use the same questions from year to year-with the same choices for answers-they change up the correct answer. The instructor that teaches a certain section is not necessarily the instructor that writes the test questions for that section. This last year every senior passed-but every senior did not achieve passing grades.

My daughter came out TOTALLY stressed(she was a Highest honor student in high school and had over a B GPA at Alfred)-so bad that she started losing her hair.

There are better programs in NYS SUNY system with more up to date facilities and equipment.

They are currently changing to a new review program to-Kaplan-don't buy into it. Buy into a plain old review book and software for a quarter of the cost. Early results of state boards are showing that the Alfred students who took the Kaplan course are failing the board-luckily my daughter did not buy into and passed her state board-with only 75 questions.

The PROS-current the skills instructor- is the absolute best at preparing her students for the REAL hospital. My daughter started in a TELE unit with nurses from other schools-the other schools were not prepared AT ALL. In fact my daughter taught some new skills to nurses at her new job.

The other PRO-if you can pass at Alfred-nothing else will EVER stand in your way. When my daughter tells people where she got her degree-they just shake their heads and say you're a better student than I.

Be prepared to do nothing but STUDY STUDY STUDY and you will make it thru. If you intend to do anything but STUDY-go to another school.

nevergonnagiveup · Jul 1, 2009

Wow sounds pretty scary:redbeathe...but I do intend on studying really hard especially since I technically only have 9 months and then I'll graduate!!! I don't want to be there any longer than needed.

Glad to hear that your daughter made it through successfully...I hope I'm another success story. If you or daughter have any insight on the best clinical sites, what's the passing grades (on the website it states C+ is passing for Nur 3 and 4 but it does not give the numerical equilavent) that would be great.

I really want to say thank-you for replying. I have made previous posts asking for feedback about the program with no response. I was starting to feel like I was the only one going to the program. Anymore info you can provide will be most helpful:specs:.

PS-I agree the skills instructor is wonderful. I did my skills challenge exam with her...she took all the fear and anxiety that I was having because she is so calm and patient.

rewkew · Jul 2, 2009

This is the daughter speaking now.

I went to Alfred expecting the very best and while I came out prepared and ready for anything, and everything, I am not sure I would do it again. I was stressed to the point of tears most nights, and felt like I NEVER was able to reach their HIGH standards, and I was one of the students having and easy time.

Their is always some project due, test or quiz to study for, or some home work assignment due. If it was just that there was always something due it wouldn't be so bad, but they change their minds CONSTANTLY about what they want or how they want it. On the last project I completed at Alfred, we started with an unclear rubric and were told to figure it out if we had questions, that it was easy and what didn't we understand. As if it wasn't bad enough that we ALL had trouble figuring out what they wanted, they changed the rurbic. Then, because each student had a different advisor grading their paper, you were expected to follow their rules as well without knowing exactly what they wanted, because they changed their minds CONSTANTLY!

As for clinicals, NOYES is the best! For other choices I would choose ST. JAMES or OLEAN. Each clinical has a different advisor, some of which are better than others. I did learn a lot at clinical and had a good time, but my clinical instructor, is no longer there because she couldn't handle the bull that goes on. She was one of the best if not the best clinical instructor. She is also one of the nursing supervisors at NOYES.

If you do decide to go to Alfred, here are some hints to surviving. One instructor is the best at explaining things when you don't understand. She has the best review books, will help anybody who tries and will do anything to help you understand the material, no matter how long it takes. She practically lives there. Another is the BEST teacher their. She teaches skills. She is kind, patient and wonderful. She is the bright light in the cave full of hell, which I call the alfred program. She will help you and is FANTASTIC at clinicals. she is a little old fashioned but has a good heart.

More hints. Start all projects early, and finish them early! DO NOT do study questions for exam review becasue the review questions are too easy and the alfred test questions are EXTREMELY hard. Complete all extra credit, you will need it. Sleep when you can get it and find a stress relief program because I did loose a lot of my hair because of stress. My hair has started to grow back by the way.

Alfred has prepared me to be the BEST and I have done very well so far and hope to continue to do so. I do thank them for preparing me but I am not sure if it was worth me being soooooooo stressed and having nearly no life. I had to study all the time to maintain my grades and keep a float in nursing, and I only had nursing my last semester, no other classes. The decision is up to you and I know I have pointed out a lot of negatives and not a whole lot of positives, but when you get so stressed that you can't sleep, it is hard to find anything good about anything. I did meet a lot of great people, who I will always talk to, but once again I DON'T know that i would do it again.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jul 2, 2009

have edited a couple of names from several posts, can i please remind members of this part of terms of service

no potentially libelous information about specific schools, instructors, or health care facilities/entities should be posted in these forums. while it is important to be able to network, everyone should be mindful of the following:

1. it is a small world - when we narrow it down to a state and throw in some personal info, there is actually a pretty good chance someone may recognize you if you are not careful. your privacy is paramount to us.

2. while allnurses.com is a wonderful place to vent (without excess personally identifiable details) it is not the place to express why ("x" specific person, place or program) is terrible. gripe away, but since we cannot permit allegations to be made about named entities, your care in not naming them is very much appreciated.

3. please do not give out personal information about others. do not name names where anyone could identify the person in any facility including your nursing programs.

terms of service

nevergonnagiveup · Jul 3, 2009

Thanks for the detail info. I guess I should expect nursing school to be hard everywhere because I was already in a nursing program but had to drop for personal reasons. I feel like Alfred was the only option I had because no other school (I called almost everyone I knew of) would except my biology courses because they were so old but Alfred did. And to my surprise, they even allow me to challenge the first year of the program.

So I only have Nursing 3 and 4 to do. I don't have to take any other courses except nursing so that should be a help as far as time to study. I also heard that it is so boring there that there is nothing else to do but study.

I guess since you placed some professors names, they (the moderators) did some editing but I kind of know who your talking about. Thanks for all the heads up. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

One thing that I think is a plus is that they (Alfred) have are quizzes and extra credit work. The previous nursing school I attended only had 3 major exams and then the final. So if you screwed up on a major exam, it was hell to try to pick up the grade. Thats why they had such low amounts of students graduating.

Wish me luck...hopefully next year...I will be in the same position as you...a Registered Nurse.

kepakids · Aug 14, 2010

To Never Going to Give Up....I was wondering how your year at Alfred State was? My daughter, who is 21, will be going there this fall. I would love to hear your honest opinion. She is going in with alot of transfer credits.

Thanks

nevergonnagiveup · Oct 7, 2010

To Never Going to Give Up....I was wondering how your year at Alfred State was? My daughter, who is 21, will be going there this fall. I would love to hear your honest opinion. She is going in with alot of transfer credits.
Thanks

Hope its not too late but here is my response to your question. To be honest, Alfred's nursing program is extremelty difficult and challenging but with that being said, the faculty and staff honesty want the students to succeed and are available if needed. The workload can be overbearing at times and it seems as if there's always something due but its doable.

If your daughter's going in with a lot of transfer credits then she should be okay. Its a little easier just taking the nursing nurses. In any event, she will definitely have the support of the nursing staff. Just let her know to do all assignments as soon as possible because no sooner is one assignment done, another is due. Any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Stakes11 · Feb 5, 2012

Somehow, I stumbled on this forum. I attended Alfred State in the 90's, and it truly seems as though nothing has changed there. They praised their passing rate on the boards, but never spoke of the amount of students that did not make it through the program. When half the class of 100 fails out in the first semester, that says something about the program. I was someone who went to Alfred as a bright eyed 17 year old, and left defeated, with absolutely no confidence in my own abilities. I was one day away from graduating from Alfred, with a job on the horizon, and I found out that I missed graduation by three hundredths of a point. The nursing faculty did not show any compassion, nor would they review my grades. To those who have transferred, this meant losing a whole year of nursing credits. When the president of Alfred was notified, his response was that the head of Nursing had more pull in the school, than he did. My point of writing this is to encourage all that have started in Alfred's program, and got weeded out for various reasons, to never give up. I moved away, graduated with honors from a 4 year university, and have been practicing nursing for over 15 years. Never give up....Alfred did nothing but make me believe that I coukdn't do it. The school I attended in Florida, made me believe that I could not only do it, but be a great nurse!!!!