George Mason University

Date: Oct 15 2010
Major: Nursing (This Major's Salary over time)
I am a senior at GMU, majoring in nursing. I have to say since I began the nursing program (junior and senior years), I have grown increasingly disappointed with it. The instructors are alright, some are very helpful and encouraging, while others seem to be condescending and not invested in student's success. I have two main complaints. First, the nursing department always seems to be a mess. Instructors don't communicate efficiently, and students are left confused and not sure who to listen to. They are constantly making changes to the program to find the "best" schedule/location/etc, and the students are the ones who have to suffer. For example, preceptorship was always previously 7 weeks, so you worked full-time with a nurse and did not take any classes. This year, they changed it to 14 weeks, working 1-2 shifts on weekends, and students take classes during the week. Halfway into the first semester of doing this, they have decided that next year for the rising seniors they will switch back to 7 weeks with no classes, because our class's grades are suffering as the result of this poor decision to change the schedule. Also, we have this amazing simulation lab that we only use about 3 times a year (currently under construction too—glad my tuition money is paying for that and I don't have a chance to use it). Many of the classes are useless and a waste of time (problem-based inquiry junior year, and an identical class senior year? leadership, and the didactic class that is paired with lab). Our rotations have been pretty awful too. Outside of preceptorship (which you're lucky if you're even placed in a unit anything close to what you requested), we have 5 rotations, if they can be called that. We didn't even have a pediatrics rotation, we had "community" peds, where we sat with a school nurse 2 days a week and took temperatures. The only one worth the money was med-surg, possibly OB. I will say on a positive note, that the pathophysiology classes are great, and probably the only thing that makes GMU's nursing program worth attending. Oh, and the fact that it's one of the cheapest BSN programs in Virginia. The program is very stressful and constantly busy, so be prepared to eat/sleep/breath nursing for two years or you won't make it through this.