Would a 75% NCLEX pass rate scare you away from a school?

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I thought I saw a similar thread and I can't find it so...here we are.

I'm trying to plan as much as possible what schools I want to apply to after I finish my prereqs. (Mostly because I want to make sure I'm taking the right prereqs)

Some schools want you to have a CNA license, some want a statistics math class, etc.

I don't mind taking extra prereqs or anything, I just want to make sure I'm taking the right ones etc.

The school I'm doing my prereqs at has a nursing program that had a 75% nclex pass rate in 2015. They changed their curriculum a lot apparently so they think that 2016 will be much better, but I have no solid evidence of that really, so I'm going on the 75% figure.

It would be super convenient to apply to the the nursing program at this place, but I want some advice because the pass rate is not beautiful.

(I want to just do the 2 year program for now and I'll worry about deciding if I want to go for my BSN later)

As a side note: I live on an island. I have to take a boat to school every day, regardless of which program I choose. This (75% pass rate) school I'm going to is the closest, with a 2 hour commute. The rest would be ~3hours.

I've heard a lot of people say that passing the nclex is up to the student individually, so if you study enough independently, it doesn't matter what the pass rate is for the school. I just thought I'd get more opinions :)

The national average is 69.87%. https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2015_%283%29.pdf

That includes repeat test takers. Among first time students, it's about 85%. I would think twice about a school with a pass rate below average. However, if I had no better choices in the area, then I would go.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Where was this? How does a school like that not get shut down by the BON?
The school was in Oklahoma.
But I guess some states don't care?
Apparently not. This school has had consistently low first-time NCLEX pass rates for the past decade, but somehow it remains open.
Specializes in OB.

Is the school close to a state border, or do a large population go out of state to find work? Typically, the NCLEX pass rates are based on students within a class that pass within the state to school is in, so if students leave, it works against the school.

The national average is 69.87%. https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2015_%283%29.pdf

That includes repeat test takers. Among first time students, it's about 85%. I would think twice about a school with a pass rate below average. However, if I had no better choices in the area, then I would go.

The 69.87% figure also includes internationally educated candidates, who get horrible (on average) scores; since they, by definition, did not attend a US nursing program, I don't feel that number is relevant in a discussion of NCLEX pass rates of US schools.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

It could be worrisome. Accreditation/approval (state) usually requires NCLEX pass rates >80% for first-time takers. Two consecutive years

Specializes in nursing education.

The NCLEX pass rate of the school may be related to the students who are admitted (eg, what is the lowest TEAS score the school will accept for admission) and perhaps the school's being a for-profit status ("pass them all"). The actual quality of instruction in classroom, lab, and clinical may be great.

Just saying.

I didn't know people actually failed the nclex. I thought all of the fails where from people like, not showing up, or falling asleep while clicking random buttons thus running out of time and failing.

I have 2 schools in a 30min radius. The closest one to me has lower NCLEX scores than the one furtherest away. Still, I heard the one closeser is the better program. I spoke to a few students from the other school and was told that the program teaches you to pass the NCLEX and not really teaches you to be a nurse. If that makes any sense. I guess if scores were not that low I would consider more than just the NCLEX pass rate when choosing a school. 75 seems pretty low, though..

I really appreciate all the responses.

I think I'm going to try to get in elsewhere. It's interesting because I have heard that employers love grads from this school (It's Tacoma Community college, if anyone was curious :) ) But I'd rather not risk it. I'm a little worried about the potential loss of accreditation like mentioned above.

The NCLEX pass rate of the school may be related to the students who are admitted (eg, what is the lowest TEAS score the school will accept for admission) and perhaps the school's being a for-profit status ("pass them all"). The actual quality of instruction in classroom, lab, and clinical may be great.

Just saying.

Their minimum TEAS score is very low, but they just raised it and changed the curriculum a lot, so I dunno. I've heard a lot, and when I asked the head of the nursing department about it she said that it was absolutely because of the low TEAS score (It was like 70 or something?) so people were getting into the program that maybe shouldn't have.

Specializes in Emergency.
I didn't know people actually failed the nclex. I thought all of the fails where from people like, not showing up, or falling asleep while clicking random buttons thus running out of time and failing.

I've read through some of your previous posts and my God, you are a complete douche!

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