I just want to urge anyone considering applying to a Wilkes graduate program to reconsider. This is a warning.
1. Content: Everything is self-taught. There are no lectures whatsoever. Some professors will supply supplemental materials and others won't. The administration's solution to this was not to provide more support but to forbid any professors from providing additional resources. All of the modules have outdated sources (some dating from the 90s, no joke) and most of the citations are wrong. I don't really care about citations but considering that they profess to, you'd think they would fix their own citations.
2. Support: LOL. There is none. The school uses Keypath, an education management company. The advisors provided are not nurses and have no idea what the program entails. They cannot offer any useful information, advocate on your behalf, or even register you. You also can't register yourself. Who registers students? No one actually know. Also, you will NEVER be able to speak to an actual human being ever. Have a problem? Search for the right person, send an email, wait 2 business days, and hope you get an answer. Also, the people at Keypath are just rude. They don't actually want to help you. They're pushing paper and you, the student, are only getting in their way apparently.
3. Professors: Again, LOL. These programs have NO onsite professors. All the professors or should I say instructors because they don't actually teach, are adjuncts. Typically, they work for several online programs at a time. Some are decent but most are unresponsive, flippant, or just downright rude.
4. Placement: They do very little to find placements. Like the bare minimum. You have no idea whether you will be one of the lucky ones and get help finding a preceptor. You cannot speak to the placement team directly so you are not even able to follow up. In my cohort, less than 10% of students were placed by Wilkes. Everyone else had to find their own preceptors. Most paid thousands of dollars for preceptors.
5. Administration: The administration changes almost yearly. Again, you can't speak to anyone on the phone. Instead of developing appropriate and relevant content, they troll facebook and accuse people of cheating and plagiarism. They've had facebook pages shut down because people were sharing self-developed study guides. That's right, student created study guides. Um, okay.
6. Culture: Rude. Condescending. Unhelpful. Unreachable. The administration just does not care. Have a problem? Struggling? Need help? You cannot reach out to these people and get any sort of support. You are in an online environment and there is NO ONE to assist. And if you do manage to reach someone, you will be met with irritation and contempt. Just a nasty, nasty place.
7. Admissions: They've lowered their admission standards to the point where if you have a BSN and a pulse, you're accepted. This is such a disservice to those in the program or that have already graduated. They have turned themselves into a degree mill and consequently every degree delivered now looks suspect.
In short, I hate this school. I wish I never attended. The experience has truly been one of the worst experiences of my life. Learn from me. Spare yourself. Go someplace, anyplace else.
I see the 'self taught' quote here often for the Florida LPN to RN programs and NP programs from many states. Does this mean they gave you a book and told you to read it and tested on it? or did You have online lectures which would be the basis of your testing....or (you are all on your own here is the the test....you can learn from anywhere) to learn the content for the test?
When somebody says they self taught and they still passed the boards, it make me think that the boards are too easy. Otherwise, why should we make anyone have to take the didactic classes if they can just buy the book and pass the exam on their own?
When somebody says they self taught and they still passed the boards,
For the NP education students....They are just "wonder students" on here. They debase their education, are either thinking they taught themselves, or frankly do not understand an upper post grad education. Yes.. you have to learn how to research a topic....but these cr**** online NP programs have some research articles (some) on their one line library. They complain about no new articles....ummm You might have to go to a nursing/medical library......get lost in the stacks.....actually learn something instead of learn to 'parrot something back'.
But their response is " I am working full time"!! Get a freakin scholar ship! Work another job on your 4 days off! This is why I do not go to a Nurse Practitioner.
For the NP education students....They are just "wonder students" on here. They debase their education, are either thinking they taught themselves, or frankly do not understand an upper post grad education. Yes.. you have to learn how to research a topic....but these cr**** online NP programs have some research articles (some) on their one line library. They complain about no new articles....ummm You might have to go to a nursing/medical library......get lost in the stacks.....actually learn something instead of learn to 'parrot something back'.
But their response is " I am working full time"!! Get a freakin scholar ship! Work another job on your 4 days off! This is why I do not go to a Nurse Practitioner.
Just another variation of the We Are Doomed theme when we lower our standards to accomodate students who have no business being in these programs in the first place. I'm sure that our profession has enough talent to enlist more dedicated people but they can't afford to go to a real school. We need to make that happen for them. Maybe make an alliance with the Public Health Service to provide an affordable alternative with zero interest loans since it really IS a matter of the public's health.
Wilkes student here and just starting my 3rd trimester (6 credits, 2 classes per semester). The material is difficult enough and I feel like I am learning something. My main complaints are:
1. Cost, Why should I pay the same as a state school to attend online and have 20 students in each class? Wilkes supposedly has around 75 students per cohort with 20 per class. The state school has far less students. Why can't they step it up. My reason for attending is I was not top of my class with a 3.6 GPA and didn't get one of the 15 spots in state school.
2. Arbitrary grading sometimes. I produced the same material and got different grades in the the writing classes. Nothing else irks me more. The instructors seem to be well qualified, but a few of them are not very interested in interacting about much. I think that takes away from the learning. This is a side gig for them and they are too busy to be bothered with student questions. This is not the case for most of my instructors. Most are extremely qualified. I have the dean of a nursing school as my instructor in my upcoming semester. It does make you wonder what they are paying these state nursing Deans if they have to take on side jobs?
3. Complaints are handled, but not well. I had an issue with an instructor that thought she could drop the feedback and grade for a paper on the last week of the semester and expect the final paper to be due in 3 days. The assignment was a cumulative assignment so I needed that feedback to continue. They extended the deadline, but it was a nailbiter and it was not done without me going thru 3 people. You can't talk to anyone in charge. Your student advisor thru keypath has to ask their supervisor who asks someone at Wilkes.
Solutions to these issues with NP education:
1. Make students attend class in their state of residence.
2. Make students attend class at a state funded school or established brick and mortar private schol
3. Not allow Deans of nursing programs to moonlight at places like Wilkes and focus on educating people in their own state.
4. Lower the cost and make things more flexible. There are time limits from ANCC to complete these classes in 5-7 years which is complete garbage. A lifetime career in nursing does not have time limits. If you can pass the boards what difference does it make?
Wilkes student here and just starting my 3rd trimester (6 credits, 2 classes per semester). The material is difficult enough and I feel like I am learning something. My main complaints are:
1. Cost, Why should I pay the same as a state school to attend online and have 20 students in each class? Wilkes supposedly has around 75 students per cohort with 20 per class. The state school has far less students. Why can't they step it up. My reason for attending is I was not top of my class with a 3.6 GPA and didn't get one of the 15 spots in state school.
2. Arbitrary grading sometimes. I produced the same material and got different grades in the the writing classes. Nothing else irks me more. The instructors seem to be well qualified, but a few of them are not very interested in interacting about much. I think that takes away from the learning. This is a side gig for them and they are too busy to be bothered with student questions. This is not the case for most of my instructors. Most are extremely qualified. I have the dean of a nursing school as my instructor in my upcoming semester. It does make you wonder what they are paying these state nursing Deans if they have to take on side jobs?
3. Complaints are handled, but not well. I had an issue with an instructor that thought she could drop the feedback and grade for a paper on the last week of the semester and expect the final paper to be due in 3 days. The assignment was a cumulative assignment so I needed that feedback to continue. They extended the deadline, but it was a nailbiter and it was not done without me going thru 3 people. You can't talk to anyone in charge. Your student advisor thru keypath has to ask their supervisor who asks someone at Wilkes.
Solutions to these issues with NP education:
1. Make students attend class in their state of residence.
2. Make students attend class at a state funded school or established brick and mortar private schol
3. Not allow Deans of nursing programs to moonlight at places like Wilkes and focus on educating people in their own state.
4. Lower the cost and make things more flexible. There are time limits from ANCC to complete these classes in 5-7 years which is complete garbage. A lifetime career in nursing does not have time limits. If you can pass the boards what difference does it make?
online programs can get away with this crap of hiring gig workers instead of their own instructors who can get disconnected from their students. Wilkes is a non profit and I'm sure is hanging on by it's fingernails.
I agree so far with the negative statements. I'm beginning my second term. To compare not all instructors are created equally. My pharm instructor was engaging and really made an effort so we knew what to focus on. The patho teacher literally nitpicked posts but had no true feedback or focus. As a result I'm re-taking that class because I was literally 2 points away from their required 83%. Nitpicking and then zero teaching or focus is not a good combo. Example - how do you narrow 10 chapters of material into one 50 question test? Especially one with such specificity as this, unless you have focus and direction from your instructor. The answer is you can't. I also found that their study guides were useless as they were not specific enough for the tests. If you're going to go here cross your fingers for an engaged instructor otherwise good luck.
100% agree! I started the program in 08/2022 and immediately from the start including the orientation online felt I made the wrong decision. It was horrible. NO LECTURES like said, rude instructors, very hard to get a hold of someone and they are not of nursing backgrounds. Why I quit the program? they have weekly modules and do not open at times conducive for working nurses and no ability to look ahead-modules are locked forcing you to get behind and be on their time. Also so much useless busy work that just takes away precious learning time for what you really will need or actually want to focus on. The experience was so traumatic that I am just getting back into my search and still nervous and taking tons of time to find the right program. I hope this can help even one person because this actually affected my own mental health to the point that I would have definitely not beeen able to help others and that was the whole point.
subee, MSN, CRNA
1 Article; 6,115 Posts
When somebody says they self taught and they still passed the boards, it make me think that the boards are too easy. Otherwise, why should we make anyone have to take the didactic classes if they can just buy the book and pass the exam on their own?