The Nursing Program is taking steps to enhance the success of Nursing majors at RWC. There is a two-year waiting list that consists of 400-500 Pre-Nursing students hoping to get one of the 110 spots in the RWC program, but getting accepted isn’t the only difficult task in this program.
One goal of the Nursing Program is to keep the diversity within the program. Diversity between age, race, and gender is important not only to the program, but also to the Nursing field the students will be entering.
There is a huge shortage of nurses in today’s society, which means that the completion of nursing school is very crucial for these 110 students who are admitted each year to the Nursing Program. The admission criteria for the program are currently under review by Nursing Department faculty. According to Department Chair Marisue Naber, two goals have guided this review process: student retention and success, and ensuring diversity in the student population.
Lowering the standards isn’t the answer to having a lower drop out rate, Professor Naber said. The Nursing Department put together a series of workshops and courses that are designed to make sure the students are well prepared for the upcoming courses in Nursing.
Students are now required to take a pre-admission test, similar to the college’s placement test. The test results will indicate which subjects the student needs more review in before entering the program.
Remedial workshops have also been put into place for the students who need extra review in those areas. These workshops are mandatory for students with low test scores. The Nursing Department hopes the new workshop program will send the message that they are “Serious about Student Success.”
While admission testing seems to be an excellent start to strengthening the program, it is also a very costly requirement. Each test costs $25 per student tested. Multiply that by the amount of prospective students, and the sum is an extremely costly item for the program.
Thankfully for the RWC Nursing Department, support from RWC Dean Dolores Straker and Associate Dean Don O’Meara results in the college taking care of all expenses from the pre-admission test.