West Suburban College of Nursing - April 2009

chubbyhubby · Apr 1, 2009

At least the parking is free....... :banghead:

westsidern7763 · Apr 11, 2009

My daugther is in the class that is graduating next month. She is a straight "A" student, but all she does is complain about the program,how disorganized they are and how they change rule in the middle of the courses. She did say there are 2 very wonderful instructors like Darla and Beth Holestein, there is one instructor (Lisa PhD) that has made several insensitive racial remarks about students from different cultures. This school has lost several excellent long term instructors because they felt the schools adminstrators did not respect nor care about the students. My daugther also said she did not learn much of anything in many of her classes, she did all of the reading and along with other students formed study groups that is how many of the Spring 09 class learned their information. My daugther would not recommend WSCN to anyone. Another thing the school did was gave the students a study guide for ATI testing version 1 when they knew the test was another version that also came with a study guide. How fair is that ? That was a true set up for failure.One of the instructors actually took the ATI exam and complained to adminstration about it, but of course adminstration did nothing about it . There are several major issues at the school to many to mention. If anyone wants true information about the school just go to the school and start asking students questions.

chubbyhubby · Apr 11, 2009

It's a good thing your daughter is an 'A' student at WSCN. My wife is going there and would not recommend it to her worst enemy. I could go on and on, but that would be pointless. You right on them mark with stating that many of the good instructors have left due to the poor quality of the program there. What a shame, to pay that much tuition and go through such an inferior program.:angryfire

westsidern7763 · Apr 11, 2009

Hi chubbyhubby

Tell your wife that she needs to start or join a study group right away. It is shameful how this program continues to take in students without adequate faculty. Some of the students that are graduating next month will not even participate in the pinning cermony. Many are not order ing nursing pins because they do not want anything on their body that reminds them of the school. When a nurse recieves their nursing pin the are proud that pin implies that you are finish and should be worn proudly to work everyday for at least the first few years. Many of the student do not want it and that is the schools adminstration fault. Some of the students do not want the Dean to pin them some want family members that are nurses to pin them (only a nurse can pin another nurse). My daugther is paying for a review course because even though she passed every ATI exam with high scores she is afraid she will not pass NCLEX. The schools NCLEX pass rate was in the low 80's last year,now they are on academic probation (this is not unusal for nursing programs be be placed on probation).Schools areplaced on probation when their pass rate falls below 75% or 80%for three consecetive groups.I wish everybody Good Luck, study hard.

chubbyhubby · Apr 12, 2009

I agree with the study group idea, she studies with classmates already. I understand that the nurses are actually ashamed to admit that they came from WSCN when attending clinicals. As for the Dean, we have had nothing but negative results when dealing with her. She isn't able to tell the truth, or just doesn't want to. When my wife asked her for permission to participate in something, she was denied. When it was brought to the Dean's attention that Jane or John Doe (a fellow student in her class) was allowed to do it, the Dean denied it. And yet, the student told my wife he/she had the Dean's permission. Just too much BS going on at West Sub. It's hard enough getting through the schooling to be an RN, the extra crap that WSCN shovels on the students is just not worth it. CH

westsidern7763 · Apr 12, 2009

Good Luck to your wife. Tell her to study hard, ask questions, and compare notes with other students. Tell her not to give up and ask what was the results or the students interview when the Departmment of Higher Education came in last month. Was she interviewed?

lvaliav · Apr 13, 2009

I was going to apply here last year but I didnt have all the pre-reqs done, so would not have been able to start. Thank God, I did not attend. I have always heard some bad reviews on this school, and if a straight A student is having trouble, I definately will be having trouble!

westsidern7763 · Apr 14, 2009

Hi lvaliav

Just to let you know all nursing programs are going through changes at this time. Many are unorganized, they are changing programs ect. As I wrote my daugther is graduating next month, she feels great but she said she would never recommend anyone to WSCN. She is not sure if she will pass NCLEX therefore she is paying for a review class,as many new graduates do. She said she hate for any of the hospital nurses to ask what school she is from, because many of the nurses view them as dumb. My daugther also said that LPN and ADN new grads have more skills than they do, and they have about the same level of knowledge. If that is true WSCN has a very poor program because LPN's do not have the same level of theory as a ADN or BSN. I understand her saying the LPN have more skills simply because LPN's are bedside nurses and they should have several skills. Continue to look WSCN is too expensive to go through the headache.

lvaliav · Apr 16, 2009

Yeah, I dont think I want to even look at west suburban anymore. Scratch that - I know I am not going to. Even when people asked me a year ago where I was thinking of applying to, when I said WSCN, I too felt embarassed and I wasnt even in the program. I give a standing applause to your daughter who has done an outstanding job through such a hard time. I hope to be at least half of a great nursing student as she is.

westsidern7763 · Apr 16, 2009

Hi lvaliav

Just apply yourself, commit to not having any kind of social life, do not plan on working full time. From what I understand it is very difficult to work full time and go to school full time. Most schools advise students not to work full time, but everybody cannot afford to quit their jobs. My daugther quit her full time job luckly her husband and I paid their bills. My daugther did get a part time job a few months ago but she quit that job in order to finish her last 2 classes. I'm just happy she is done. I know a few people that are going through Wright College LPN program and I hear that program is just as labor intense, they cannot work full time they also have to give up so much but only for 1 year.

Good Luck. Hope you find the program that is right for you. Check out Aurora University and Lewis University ,I hear both are good programs.

Redbutton1 · Apr 17, 2009

well, i guess you are getting one side of the story. wscn is difficult and they have their problems (i heard that uic is losing their whole nursing leadership team-what is going on there). there are a few faculty that i don't like either (lisa phd), but there are more than two good faculty. if you talk around, the big mass exodus from the school was about eight years ago. since i've been there, they have only lost three that i know of (two they could afford to lose) but have hired six or seven. i like the ones i've met. if you knew the old dean, and have spent any time with the new dean and her assistant dean, they are way better than the last dean. though your friend may not have got what she asked for, it seems that everybody is being treated more equally across the board.

i'm glad your wife is getting straight "a"s. i'm not. but wscn has done a lot in the last two years that has helped me. they started a tutoring service which has helped me a lot (though i don't see many of my classmates taking advantage of it). there was a big cheating ring going on in my class last year. when the administration found out, they made our whole class retake one exam. i still passed. they also added examguard to the computers which kept a lot of students from e-mailing the exams to their classmates (it still isn't working well). and i don't like the ati either, but it has made me study harder and i get better grades. not all faculty use it the same way, but i attended the review session by the company rep (the only senior student in the session that i could see) to learn how to better use the review module and practice exams. it helped. i too would recommend study groups, attend review sessions, and review the ati.

how could any student come to wscn (or any other nursing school) and not expect to study hard. most of the nursing schools around the area required a 3.0 gpa to get in. wscn required only a 2.75. when i was applying, uci, lewis, rush, niu all had at least 200 students on a wait list. it seems that some students should feel lucky to get into wscn and would have a hard time making it up to the level of what is expected. the college must be doing some things right if they went from 60% pass rate to an 80"something"% pass rate since i've been there. think about it and then go study some more - we have projects due in a week!