Fortis College in Salt Lake City — Local services in Millcreek

As a recent graduate from the Fortis' College Nursing Program and now a licensed RN I would like to share why I'm glad I attended Fortis.

When contemplating attending nursing school, I think it is imperative to first understand what nursing school should be. Nursing education isn't just about learning the science of nursing, in other words, the pathophysiology of diseases and the clinical skills needed in order to treat diseases. The profession of nursing is much more complex than that. Nurses must excel in therapeutic communication, they must be disciplined, organized and possess superior time management skills. Because patient care does not take place in a static environment it is crucial that a nurse be able to critically think and make appropriate and safe decisions regarding the patient as a whole. RN's must delegate assignments to CNA's and LPN's while still maintaining the responsibility of care given. They must be a team player and relate to co-workers in an assertive, non-aggressive manner. When communicating with physicians, they must be clear, concise and be able to make recommendations for interventions. Nurses must be able to handle stress. These are all things you should learn in nursing school. It's about training you to be exemplary and a professional in a respected profession. This is the education I received from Fortis.

Because Fortis is what a nursing program should be, their standards are high, for which I am grateful. I was well prepared for the NCLEX (passed the 1st time with the minimum amount of questions) and feel confident and prepared to start my nursing career. I found small classes invaluable to my learning experience because I felt safe asking questions and my instructors always had time to provide any extra help I needed. One example of that; I had to pass a skill off and I was very nervous and although I passed it off my instructor stayed on her own time so I could perform the skill until I felt confident and comfortable. All of the instructors are highly educated and have several years of nursing experience. They are knowledgeable and compassionate (of course - they're nurses!) As an example, on one of my clinical's, a death occurred that I found very difficult. My instructor spent time with me, empathizing and helping me process my emotions and then learning to handle those same emotions as a nurse. Her personal help that day has been invaluable. The Sim Labs are fantastic and the Instructor puts so much effort into making them a very rich learning experience. The Career Services Director is wonderful. She is high energy and takes her job seriously. She personally reached out to me and has been committed to helping me not just secure a job but obtain the nursing position I really want. It has been very motivating and powerful to know that the staff at Fortis cares about my success.

In conclusion, if you are really committed to becoming the best nurse possible and understand the dedication it takes on your part to do so, I highly recommend Fortis College for your...

Fortis college was amazing the first 2 years I attended. I enjoyed the flexibility it gave with the flex program that's offered to nursing students who work full time. The professors most of them were great and knowledgeable. You can tell most of them were dedicated to your success and willing to work with you. Fortis College did exactly what they said they would when it came to prepping you for the nclex as advertised. The new current Dean is more flexible and student friendly then our previous one so he's nice to work with. The online classes were also easy to follow and I enjoyed the most. Unfortunately, my last year was not so fun. The financial aid department was infuriating to work with due to them constantly changing payment plans without notice even though the previous one was signed and approved by you before hand. I would receive notice they did with an email asking me to sign for it. They did little to work with me when it came to it. Never called before hand to discuss the changes and why they happened until l called. I complained to the president about it and was told he'd talk to them and never heard back. Another mishap involved my capstone placement. My capstone clinical was previously assigned and taken care of weeks before the first day of class with the clinical coordinator. Then right as I'm about to start said clinical a week before while I'm turning in the schedule to the capstone professor I'm told by her that she has decided last minute against it due to not giving me enough "experience." I was then shell shocked with this information and was told later on she'd find me a new and "better" placement for me. This was around week 2 or 3 of the quarter. Our quarters are 12 weeks long so mind you this is VERY last minute. I did not receive a clinical placement until halfway through the semester. Week 6! We need 84hr total to pass the class. Also the new placement I received was PACU which I did my best to enjoy but most of my time in pacu was spent charting and using very few basic nursing skills which was the complete opposite of what I wanted. I was not the only person in my cohort to receive such last minute clinical placements towards the end of the quarter. That was by far the nail in coffin for me involving this school. I do not recommend this school due to their lack of communication skills and springing things onto students LAST MINUTE. Until they can work on these skills then maybe I can recommend the school again but in its current state I can't. I am not some bitter student that was droped from the program. I graduated and was adequately prepared to test. I am...

I've been an instructor at the Salt Lake campus for over 5 years; it has been fun, challenging, and rewarding. The nursing and dental hygiene programs are difficult (whose programs aren't?), but the pass rates for both programs are exceptional. The HVAC program is outstanding, and the director of that program is well connected and extremely informative. In all programs, many of the instructors have been there for several years.

The students who focus their efforts...do well. But many students come into the program thinking that it's going to be a piece a cake and it really isn't. There will be countless hours of studying, and homework. And some of the students who fail out of the program blame the school for that, when in reality they either weren't prepared for the amount of work or just couldn't pass.

I've watched hundreds of students graduate over the years and get jobs for 2-4 times what they made before they enrolled, and it is life changing money for them. Fortis College is a good school, and yes, it is expensive, but it's a better option than waiting five years on a waiting list to get into a less expensive school. The overall length of the programs are also much shorter, and this allows the graduate to begin working much faster than a traditional college...