what a week.
Preface: I never expected this to be easy. Matter of fact I know it will be a ton of work, some of it fun, some of it boring, some of it rewarding and a lot of it all kinds of other things.
First thing, I worry too much, always have, but there I was feeling somewhat confident, comfortable and most of all quite relieved that the week had finally arrived that I have been waiting for. Although I have a BS in CIS, I still had to do 1.5 yrs of science pre-requisites that my business degree didn't encompass. After that I opted to go the community college route instead of the university because of $, that meant a 2yr+ waiting list after pre-reqs.
Sitting in lecture and at break now comes along Debbie Downer and her pessimist accomplice; they spoke to anybody who would listen about how they failed the first semester and are re-do's.
Little info: Nursing school (here) a 76% is a C, at 75% is a D, which is a failing grade. The grade is arrived at by your test scores, and test scores must cumulatively be above 76%, regardless of how many points you earn on other assignments. However you still must pass those other assignment too, so in all basically if you break it into two parts, you must pass both parts.
That's all fine, good and as anticipated.
What was not, is Debbie and her warnings about how "they" (professors) are going to try to weed as many out as possible and that "20 of us (out of 80) will be lucky to graduate on time". To which I thought, wow, 75% attrition rate, holy moly
So I did a little, research, per my state's Board of Nursing, collectively for all RN programs in 2011, the amount that graduate on time is 67%. I'm sure there is some portion of students in there that lost the feeling, never wanted to do it in the first place, etc. and up to those who just couldn't cut it. It would be pure speculation, but I'd assume 40something yr olds (39 myself) are more successful and account for less of that attrition rate than the 20something yr olds.
If you've read this far, you probably have some advice, so I'd appreciate any you might have. If your wife, family or friends are nurses maybe you could ask about how true it is they are really trying to weed good students out, or if they just want to see their students act and work like adults.
Suckitupbuttercup is my feeling at the moment, but Debbie helped to eschew a moment of pure fear and doubt in myself. I think I'll have to stay as far away from her negativity as possible. It didn't help that 3 other students identified themselves as redo's too.
I know it will be a lot of work, know it will test my patience, my will, and my testament to achieve.
Wish me luck if nothing else.
Sorry kinda felt like ranting a bit too, that I felt duped into a racket; in hindsight 33% attrition is probably not that far off from most universities though.
