In the current act of most community colleges, entrance to a nursing program is chosen based on wating lists for entrance. Upon being chosen, majority of the chosen are admitted based on GPA or acedemic scores. While this is a good way to determine who studys well, this is in no way a procedure to admit nursing students. Every one has things going on in thier lives that hinder them from studying but the entrance to a porgram such as this has no bearing on acedemic skill, rather social and communication skill.  In turn advanced placement is given to LVN or transfer students only on a space availibility. Those applicants start in the third semester rather than the first , but if no one drops in the second to third semester then these advanced students do not get in. People wait sometimes as much as 5 years to get into a program only to fail or quit because it inturn is quite the oppisite from what they expected. Or to have your prerequsites expire in the process and have to take them over again.Nursing is very much a hands on and delicate profession and is not meant for everyone. That is why it is important to start to take a closer look as the admittance policies. The criteria needs to be changed so that those LVN, medical background,and advanced placement students are  admitted first . They have much more experience and are much more likley to finish and excel in the porgram. 

“Community colleges with as high as 50-70 percent drop-out rates moved to accepting the students with the highest grades in prerequisites, or at least a minimal grade of B,” Said Patricia Benner, professor emerita at the University of California at San Francisco School of Nursing and lead author of a recent Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching ,believes all community college nursing programs should adopt competitive admissions.. “This lowered the failure rates, repeat course rates, and the drop-out rates. … It is expensive to take students who are likely to fail and/or drop out. Saddleback Community College nursing program in Southern California near [Los Angeles] is my prime example of this policy. They have a high completion rate, and they also have 100 percent pass rates for the nursing licensing exams.”  Really?  I dont think so, while the passing rate is high, these students happen to be good test takers with thier high GPA's. Almost all of the drop outs consist of the students with no medical background at all, The ones with the so called high GPA's. So are they sayin that an LVN with 5 years experience at bedisde in an acute care hospital in the telemetry unit would not excel because maybe they did not get an A in anatomy? .Because they held a full time job or had to take care of thier children and was not able to study as much as the A student? This is crazy!!!! These students would run circles around a 4.0 student!  Most of nursing knowledge comes from hands on experience, NOT a textbook! Benner holds that having competitive admissions for nursing programs does not violate the larger open-access mission of community colleges, primarily because all students have the ability to take the prerequisites that ultimately qualify them for such programs.“It’s not fair to admit students if they don’t have the intellectual capacity,” Benner said. “People’s lives are at stake here.” This is absolutly INSANE. You cannot teach someone common sense and a majority of 4.0 students have no social skills at all. Intellectual capacity is not solely based on what kind of grades you get. Half of the genius mind in this world were drop outs.

We need to really re-evaluate the entrance policy. If it keeps going the way it is, the only nurses you will have are the ones who can read a book to you but cannont save you in a code. LVN's and advanced students need to stand up for  what is right for our patients. I know first hand that this admission procedure is unfair!! PLease advanced nursing applicants stand up . LVN, MA, CNA, RT....lets get a better admission policy. We know nursing and medical already. Show the colleges 4.0 does not equal better nursing criteria.