Rasmussen College Reviews - Associate in Nursing

I attended the St. Cloud, MN campus. I do not work for the school or benefit in any way leaving this review. It just makes me sad to see all the negative reviews, so I wanted to chime in with my experience. A lot of the negative reviews talk about the schedule, the grading or the cost. Nursing school is never easy, flexible or cheap. I went to a well regarded public school for my LPN and had issues with all of the above and then some. Sure, we got our clinical schedules last minute but that is not because of rasmussen - that is how clinical assignments work. The grading is tough, but that is true for any nursing program - you need to have above 78% to pass. Personally, I wouldn't want a nurse caring for me that got lower scores than that in school. The instructors at the St. Cloud campus really care about their students. They were available to talk to at all hours of the day, and got to know us on a personal level. Some reviews state that most courses are online, but that wasn't true for me. There were a few online courses (4 total), otherwise we were in lab, lecture or clinical. The simulation lab is an excellent learning experience. The best thing (in my opinion) is that Rasmussen really prepares you for the NCLEX. They build ATI exams into all the courses and that really seems to help people pass boards on their first try. Most people in my cohort have passed on their first try with the minimum questions. Please take the negative reviews with a grain of salt. Nursing programs always s***, that is just a fact. But this one prepared us to pass our boards and be good nurses and our instructors cheered us on the whole way. We have not had trouble finding jobs. Consider the St. Cloud campus if you are in the area.

This school is not ACEN accredited for the nursing program. Its misleading because the school says they are regionally accredited. I ran into some problems applying for jobs. Some of the more desireable places of employment will not even consider you if the school you went to does not have ACEN accreditation. I spent over $35k for a degree with limited job prospects. Had I known this information prior, there would have been no way I would have attended this school.

Hi, I'm halfway through the RN program and there is a lot of self starting studying and self teaching. I do a lot of independent work - and i do it because I wasn't accepted into any other nursing schools. if you can get into st kates, go for it. But this is what I've got and I'm determined to make it work. I'm still going to be a nurse after all this is done. So far I've met some very smart students and a few excellent teachers. And I've heard horror stories. I just keep my head down and keep working- if you want it bad enough. its there for you.

My experience was interesting because I accomplished and learned so much, at the same time there were some frustrating and disappointing moments I think could have been avoided with the school. There were a couple of instructors I feel were not empathetic and unreasonable, non-negotiable when it came to students education and lacked the ability to teach. However, the majority of the instructors there were great! I think all colleges have this issue with couple of bad apples, but most instructors are excellent teachers. I am glad for the experience I had because I had to work hard and it taught me a lot about myself. I walked away with an education in nursing and I applied my skills and knowledge immediately after passing my NCLEX on the first time through a nursing agency paying me $40 hour until I found the job I wanted. I did not come from a health care background before school. I accept the good with the bad because it all worked out in the end. Nursing school is at Rasmussen is an accelerated program so It is fast paced learning and very demanding. I worked full time with school and went part time by the last two semesters to graduate. If you cannot handle high stress and long study hours this program is not for you. You may want a BSN program that will allow you the slower pace to absorb the knowledge and experience given. One think I wish Rasmussen had was clinical sites at hospitals, which would be extremely helpful getting into hospitals after graduation.

The problem with Rasmussen is that they claim to be flexible, however they are anything but. I attended the nursing program as a post bac attempting to get an associates degree in nursing. However, as the classes progressed you would be required to be on campus usually 4 days a week for 1-2 hours at a time with clinicals additional time. This would have been fine, but I had my childcare assistance taken away and I couldnt afford to send my son to daycare all day when I am only required in class for one hour. Besides that the classes were extremely disorganized. Half of my lab sessions would be the teachers trying to find supplies for medication, the mannequins etc. There was also constant turnover between the teachers throughout the quarters. For the price you have to be very prepared to teach yourself everything and utilize your peers for learning rather than instructors. Also you will have to have someone else to support you because the way they schedule classs makes holding down a job very difficult.

I do not recommend the nursing program unless you want to teach yourself the ins and outs of being a nurse, most classes are online so theres no one there to help you , it is over priced, yes its an excelarated program but the amount of assignments are extreme. They will also hold on to the financial aide that is not needed and should be sent back to lender until you threaten to take action

This school claims to be flexible and affordable. Most students were forced to quit their jobs to keep up with the insanity and several lost their jobs along the way due to the school's inability to provide a clear schedule without making changes. My schedule the last quarter changed 6 times in the first 2 weeks. It's unbelievably expensive and everything is so much more complicated than it needs to be. There's little to no communication and you're treated like a child. If you ask questions, the answers you receive from both instructors as well as support staff are of no help and downright frustrating. It's so hard to explain how bad this school is. And affordable? 50k for an associates btw. Thankfully I came in with 100% of all prerequisites for their ADN, or associates degree in nursing. Still cost me almost 30k.

I'm a recent graduate of Rasmussen Bloomington, MN campus and excited to share that I passed my boards on the first try with the minimum amount of questions. As with many others in my class there were many frustrations that I can sit here and complain about, I think for me the most frustrating part was releasing the schedules in a unreasonable amount of time to schedule days off from work. This changed when they were going up for accreditation. The good and the annoying part was ati's, the good part is if you really read them and take them seriously taking the nclex will not phase you well..... the bad is their annoying, but worth the annoyance in the end. No school is perfect but I believed Rasmussen fully prepared me to take and pass the boards on the first try.

They say that it is flexible and it works with any schedule, but that is far from the truth. Also, many of the professors are not helpful. They have other jobs and will not hesitate to put your education last. With all of my online classes I have been responsible for teaching myself everything and all of my professors are in other states so you can not set up a time to meet with them if you need help in the class. Many of the classes dont have any supplemental learning, you just read the textbook and take a test; so youre basically paying to teach yourself. Also the advisors are almost impossible to get ahold of and the office is extremely disorganized.

Many of the complaints I see about this school, (grading scale, third-party background checks, mandatory classes) are all part of being in nursing school. I went to PHSC for my LPN and it was the same thing. They do not work around your schedule and they expect you to get with the program or get out. That is how nursing school is and If you expect to be coddled don't waste your time and money. Nursing is a serious program because the patients' lives are in our hands. DO YOUR RESEARCH!!! READ THE STUDENT HANDBOOK/ NURSING HANDBOOK. Before applying to any college program I recommend you do all your research to see if that program is compatible with you!! I am about half way done with the program. Yes, many classes are online. I panicked initially because I normally do not do well with online classes. I have not made anything below a B. Their online classes are simple to navigate and easy to work. They even have the latest simulation labs for Microbiology that were incredible. I will update my post if anything changes but so far I have been very pleased with this program and found that it is much easier than my previous program. Also, I almost forgot to add you CANNOT WORK FULL TIME AND EXPECT TO BE SUCCESSFUL. Yes, there may be one or two people who may be able to but for me, I could not. As soon as I started working part-time my grades became all A's. There is so much to study and so much to learn. You can't just memorize you actually have to learn the concepts. That is the part I tend to struggle with the most. Well, that's my rant!