Saint Joseph's University in Lancaster — Local services in East Lampeter Township

To the students that are seeking an education at this college; adult, older or younger- go somewhere else. I applied to this nursing program alone to save on distance but if I knew then what I know now I would have traveled farther for a better education!!! I am an adult student, I have been to other colleges so my opinion is not biased!

When I go to a college I expect to pay for a good education. Here you are only paying for an overpriced building. When 70% of students fail a semester there is a problem. When I hear on very good authority that a clinical instructor left students at a clinical site quitting on the spot, another quitting last week and an instructor with choice words about the program and college, there’s a problem! When a student service center employee tells you there is a lack of resources to help students— there is a problem!

The only tutor that was there was a past alumni student who barely passed herself. And there is only one instructor that tutors for NCLEX style questions and to find time with her is near impossible as she teaches the BSN program. Instructors would meet for 15 mins here and there with a lack of suggestions for improvement. When my coordinator tells me that she saw how hard I was working and she knew how much effort I put into this, then where was she? Be prepared to self teach. I had to go to the internet and YouTube to help me and it did for a few exams while others it did not. I sought out the Dean for help, and ultimately got no where.

I spoke to Hacc graduate nurses at clinical sites and they had 30 question exams on one area such as perfusion and ATI was only worth 5 class points. Here we have 100-150 question exams on many areas of nursing which are brutal in 3rd and 4th semesters. And ATI is a beast as 2 are for theory at 46 pts and 22 pts and 1 for clinical worth 49 pts. You have students that fail a rotation of clinical and barely make it through the second rotation needing their hand held. And to think those people could potentially become a nurse?! It makes me sick!!! Being a good test taker doesn’t make you a good nurse, being a clinically competent nurse does!

For an adult student, who transferred with good grades, who sought out the testing that’s required to get accommodations while in the program, just to get denied by the college on some of those accommodations, ultimately goes against the law of ADA “Americans with Disabilities Act.” I don’t know how they get away with it. Attending a school that failed many honest dedicated students is pure deceit. Many students feel this way! I can personally attest to that! I was a good test taker before I came here, and I knew going into it this it would be challenging. But this school makes it impossible for many good hard working students. I had all my sciences accomplished the year prior to coming and all my prerequisites completed and I had to retake everything with nursing courses. The college kept asking for my official transcript and kept misplacing them or saying they never got them, I was so angry but wanted to get started so I went with it and I shouldn’t have. Maybe I would have been more successful if I fought them! Also pay attention to your tuition bill. There are charges that they cannot account for!

They want your money they do not care about students they truly don’t. If they did they would help advocate for the students and have the resources required to help students succeed! I know adult students with previous degrees, students who are 4.0 students that struggle fail or withdraw completely. So when I hear students say that the ones who struggle don’t want it enough or aren’t committed deserve to get throat punched! The only good thing I can say is that I met some great people along the way!

Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else!!!! For me this is just a road block. But I’m working on transfer elsewhere, a college that has the proper resources. Some schools will accept nursing courses for...

Most professors were great. It’s the administration that seems to work against you. It seems like a money scheme. They try to hold you back over stupid stuff like logistical issues that can be fixed easily (ex: castlebranch / exxat). The biggest problem was graduation. During our last semester we were told repeatedly that we’d graduate and our names would be released by the school to the state board of nursing by 12/20. Admin went on their month long winter break and ignored our emails and calls since that did not happen. They gaslit us saying degrees would be conferred on January 15th, after most of our nursing job start dates, also when that was never communicated to us. There’s also no pinning ceremony at all or graduation for December grads. Overall, way too expensive, way too difficult for what it is, and a significant lack of communication and support from anyone above your professors. The exams, especially in the last semester, were based off content that was not lectured on. We had an entire class failing and barely pass a very easy course because of this. Also, the clinical sites sucked. For psych I was at PPI where we only saw the floor once for maybe a half hour. For critical care, which I want to do, I was at Select Medical while a lot of my classmates were in level 1 trauma ED’s and ICU’s. Spend your money and...

I’m currently in the nursing program. I have been in the medical field for 5 years now. I can tell you that nursing school is HARD. It will probably be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. It was not meant to be easy! You literally have people’s lives in the palm of your hand. If you make one wrong decision or one wrong calculation.. you can literally kill someone or even seriously injury them. They won’t just let anyone pass the class. They expect perfection because when your out working in the field of nursing you have to be flawless. Anyone who has worked in the medical I know could attest to this. While some of the instructors really aren’t not good at being teachers. Or some of the policies seem absolutely ridiculous like 10% deducted off your grade because of a loved one dying. I’m happy they are hard on us! They are teaching us to be great nurses! I don’t know how many people know what’s it’s like to have a doctor scream at you and demand answers or a patient scream at you because they are scared but this is apart of the nursing career and I come in contact with it every day. Sorry but if you can’t handle when someone is yelling at you or being hard on you maybe this isn’t the right profession for you. I love what I do. I can’t wait to graduate. Those new students coming into the college. The classes are what...