Non medical parent here. I know ZERO about nursing. Our child has narrowed down their choices to University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, Cincinnati (DA), Robert Morris (DA), and Ohio State in that order.
He’s basing a lot of his decision on how many clinical hours each program provides and the listed curriculum in each school’s nursing student handbook. He also is taking into account his chances of actually making it into the programs that aren’t DA.
Are these reasonable ways to decide on a program? And when we do our final visits, what questions should we be asking of the programs? What are the signs of a good program and what are the top red flags?
Many thanks!
I would definitely put the direct admit programs at the top of your list for starters. Know what the criteria are for remaining in the program, but it’s usually something reasonable like a C+ in all classes.
I can share some info on Cincinnati, but my daughter was a 22 grad so it’s possibly already out of date. Clinicals are usually about 20 minutes from campus (city driving time). Clinicals start second semester sophomore year, but actual nursing classes start freshman year. It appears to be a good way to go, since you actually learn something before you are thrust upon unsuspecting elderly people (during my daughter’s time, geriatrics was the first clinical). At the end of sophomore year you can be easily hired as a PCA at the surrounding hospitals without having to complete an outside class (in-hospital training is, of course, provided). My daughter was a PCA until she landed a co-op at Cincinnati Children’s which led to her currently specialty of oncology. Cincinnati itself has many clinical sites, several of which are world class such as Children’s and UCMC, which is where Damar Hamlin was taken after suffering an on-field cardiac arrest.
It’s a program that has a lot of opportunity for those who seek it. I believe they have a very active chapter of Men in Nursing. It’s an urban campus with both pluses and minuses, and by junior year most students move off campus. Most nursing students have cars, so that enables them to live a little further out and have nicer apartments lol.
I don’t know what the NCLEX pass rate is for the schools above. I will caution that NCLEX passage rates are not a standalone statistic - the exam has changed in the last year or two, so make sure you are comparing apples to apple. Also, some programs gatekeep who can take the test - there will be a difference between programs who let every grad take it and those who make them earn a certain GPA or whatever. And the NCLEX is largely based on individual effort, since there is a fair bit of studying to be done between graduation and taking it.
I’m sure the bones of UC’s program are very similar to other DA programs. Good luck in your research, and your decision!
Search for each program’s nursing handbook, which should have academic progression requirements listed.
Usually, there is a GPA minimum, which can range from 2.0 to 3.5. It is also common to require a minimum grade in each major course (usually C), so any grade lower must be repeated, and often the second grade lower (in the repeat or another major course) results in dismissal.