Marion Technical College — Local services in Ocala

I am a recent grad from the Practical Nursing program who has taken and passed the NCLEX in 75 questions! If there is one thing I am good at it is keeping it real so here it goes. When I got accepted into this program, every nurse I knew told me to get ready because my life was going to change. They never lied!

My mom went into cardiac arrest two weeks to the day that I started my program, remained hospitalized for the next four months and passed suddenly. I lost my oldest dog on the same day. My father was in an out of the hospital, rehab and I ended the program with him in hospice. My husband also had two ER visits and a week long hospital stay. Two weeks to the day following graduation my only child, 19 year old son left for boot camp.

The program itself I felt adequately prepared me for what I experienced on the NCLEX; however, I mentioned all of the above to simply say it is your determination that will see you through. I dealt with multiple departments and everyone was always helpful and went above and beyond in my opinion to help with any issues that arose. Some of my classmates were able to zoom but technically it was reserved for COVID purposes or so I was told but I maintained attendance and even showed up for a test the morning following my mother's passing. The month before graduation when we received students from other programs and while waiting in line to enter the building for the NCLEX I truly realized how fortunate we were to have the experience and instructors we had. We got clinical experience during a pandemic at a hospital, COVID vaccination site and rehab facility, while so many others did not. Many neighboring companies came and made presentations to us for employment opportunities and they usually bring lunch or a dessert. For every challenge, there was an equally yoked blessing.

You certainly get everything you need but you have to apply yourself, study and if you're smart you will learn to lean on your classmates before you are two thirds of the way through the program. They are the only other people who can relate to the struggle and it gets real at times. I suppose I should also add I'll be 40 in less than six months and graduated with a 3.4 GPA, if I can do it...

I want to share my experience with the previous instructor Ms. Yolanda. Since I was her student, she has done nothing but put me down behind closed doors, in front of the class, and in front of customers. Never in my life have I met an instructor that tells people to be positive yet shoots them down whenever they express anything positive. What I mean is that when I told her that if I fail I can always try again. She replies to me saying, “Failure isn’t an option.” Does that sound like a normal response to someone trying to be positive? After her constantly putting me down, she goes as far to say that she doesn’t think I'm taking the class seriously. Just because I'm not a fast learner like the others doesn’t mean one isn’t taking it seriously. When I told her that I have Attention Deficit Disorder, she says, “I don’t think you have add I think you have something else.” Is she qualified to say something like that to a student?

I honestly had no one to talk to and felt I was the only one who she had an issue with but to my surprise I wasn’t. Anyone and I mean anyone who dares to ask her a question, she brushes it off by saying, “read the syllabus, read the syllabus.” Part if learning is being able to ask a question without a teacher/instructor giving you the evil eye or yelling at you. She claims she wants people to ask her questions but if you ask she gets annoyed.

On March 11th, my grandparents came to support me. Ever since Covid-19 became a pandemic, my grandparents extremely cautious which is understandable. When my grandpa asked Ms. Yolanda if she has any masks available. She told him she did but are for students only. After my that incident, she decided to mock my grandpa in front of the class. Not only was it embarrassing but completely unprofessional. I felt mortified after she had done that. Is she the kind of professional behavior that’s acceptable?

I will not recommend or even return to the program after my horrible experience unless there is a new instructor that isn’t an ableist that puts people with a learning disability down nor do they display...

This may be a good college for other programs, but the fire and EMT program is through the Florida State Fire College. This is the review of our experience... My son went to the Florida State Fire College because it is supposed to be "the best". ( Maybe it used to be.) They tell you on the tour that their students have a 98% passing rate for the state exams, but leave out the low graduation rate.( About 67%) ( I am an educator and a retention rate this low shows there is a problem with the education system.)Even if you are really tough, smart and determined, you may not make it through. It is alot like boot camp, except at boot camp you aren't getting kicked out! You sign several papers saying there are no refunds. ( I wasn't worried because there was no reason for me to think my son wouldn't pass.) So you pay about $10,000 for food, board and tuition, but if for instance, if you don't pass a "terminal objective" ( There is only one chance.) you are out of the program, it doesn't matter if there was a reason or mistake from your teammates, etc. (Normally, you would expect there to be a learning process. Maybe you have more than one chance to learn something and perform it correctly. Nope.) So, you have paid for FF1, FF2 and EMT. You don't get any credit for FF 1 and they don't want to refund your money for Firefighter 2 or EMT, even though you were never able to take those classes. You are told you can retake the classes from day 1 and pay all over again. (Thanks alot. No way.) It is hard to get back the food money from the cafeteria also. REALLY???? ( I had to let the college know they needed to refund the money or speak to my lawyer. ) There are some great instructors that are helpful. However, this was a VERY disappointing experience. They are failing out guys that will be excellent fire fighters one day if they didn't get too discouraged from their experience at this college. Only go to Florida State Fire College if you like to gamble with your...