Weeding out?

[wantccu]

It seem's like everyone is always telling me which semester is the "weeding out" semester. And everyone has a different opinion of which that is. So, I'm curious to know what the masses think. IS there a weeding out semester? Or will it be uniformly difficult throughout the program?

[Guinevere39]

I've heard that for my program the 1st and 3rd semesters are the hardest. Also, it's a competative entry program (vs wait list), so prerequisites and the entrance exam do the majority of the weeding. There were only 20 people in my cohort to begin.

[mind_body_soul RN]

Apparently every semester at my school is a "weeding out" semester. My cohort loses 5-6 a semester it seems. The new semester ones lost 16. Not sure how many of those are going to try and repeat or just give up.

[grpman]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't become a diabtribe about "weeding out." Normally instructors can't resist the urge to have a verbal scrap when seeing these two words put together.

[Jasel, BSN, RN]

Just depends on the program. Ours is definetely second semester (out of 4).

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

Doesn't matter what the masses say. Different people think different things are hard.

Think about it this way...LIFE is a weeding out session in general. Some people make, some people don't. Success isn't a guarantee, don't worry about what others say is hard or difficult

[Feistn]

I don't think there is any intentional "weeding out," but I do think that they are not going to be sympathetic to people who aren't up to snuff. This isn't to be mean; it's much better to fail a semester of nursing school than to get out into practice and get in big trouble with your employer, the nursing board, or even the court system. They've only got so many spots available, I think they want to pick the students who are going to succeed. It obviously doesn't work out that way (one person has already been dismissed from the program in my semester, and I suspect there are 5-10 people on the bubble), but that is not for lack of instruction or support by the instructors.

[Compassion_x]

Every semester is a weeding out semester. Semester 1, if you can't grasp the basics, you're out. Semester 2 is what's hardest in my program (at least from what I've heard from everyone I know!). Med-surg is what gets people here.

[PatMac10,RN, RN]

For my school, thus far, that has been every semester! Went from 47 on the first day of class to now having 18 about to graduate.

On s more positive note, it doesn't matter what sestet it is! If you are Willing to put up dang good fight, I highly doubt you will be weeded out!