I earned my undergraduate degree in 1989, and had researched several options for attaining my Master's (FNP track). I applied and was admitted to Georgetown University under a Special Student status since I had been out of school so long. When I questioned what that meant, I was told that Special Students were held to the same standards as regular admit students, it was just the fact that we were considered 'on probation' for a semester to prove our worth and prove we could make it in a university setting again.
Their program is intense; extremely heavily content loaded first semester including Pathophysiology and Pharmacology. The instructors even warned the classes that many people fail tests (especially the first test). And, Georgetown is NOT cheap! Of course, I took this seriously and studied hard only to make average test scores in the 70's. (I always scored with the class average on their tests).
I received a midterm notice that my performance was "unsatisfactory". It was then that I was told that Special Students are held to a 13 point HIGHER standard than their 'regular' students. I found out that if I was a regular student, I would be eligible to move forward in the program because they allowed their regular students to make a 70%, however, since I was a "special student" then I had to either withdraw or make super exceptional grades on the last 2 exams to achieve an average of 83% in each class.
I find this totally unfair and discriminatory against older nurses who have been out of school as long as I have. I am left feeling that I was used as a money making scheme for the school since I have performed with the class averages, but cannot continue.
Georgetown makes a lot of promises about study groups, tutoring, and making sure they do everything to help you succeed, but truthfully, they do very little to see to that. The online class schedule did not take into consideration the Holiday schedule of the university, so we were forced to learn on our own and miss lectures during the Christmas break. The Pharmacology section lead I had broke the class into small groups and make you work on your own during the 2 hour class time. I felt that for those 2 hours, I was paying to have someone lecturing and bridging everything together instead of having to work and research more on my own (which is what you do all week long to prepare for class).
So, now I am over $10,000 in debt for my first semester with basically nothing to show for it. Older/experienced nurses who have been out of school for a long time, beware of their sales pitch! They do a lot of smooth talking to get you in (I believe this is how they are making their money). I saw several people drop out over the course of this semester. Do your research and try to go local if you can. Lesson learned here!!
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