Nursing graduate test scores climb to highest in Georgia

Georgia College’s nursing program got a huge boost recently, as nursing graduates from the university who took the national licensing exam for the first time in 2010 earned the highest pass rate out of all public colleges and universities across the state.

With 83 out of 84 Georgia College graduates who took the exam passing, the school earned a 98.81 pass rate. This figure far exceeded the Georgia Board of Nursing’s acceptable performance minimum of 80 percent. The rate was also well past the statewide average of 89.65 percent as well as the nation-wide pass rate of 87.42 percent.

“The high pass rate is just a national reaffirmation of the excellent job our faculty and staff as well as our students do in combination to help our students do well in the program, graduate and then pass the licensing exam,” said Judith Malachowski, Director of the School of Nursing at Georgia College. “So it’s one of those things where you know you’re doing a good job, and now at least the whole United States if not the world knows that graduates from Georgia College do very well on the exam.”

The national licensing exam is essentially the second step for students in becoming a certified nurse.

“When individuals go to a college or university to become a registered nurse, they take specific courses and then earn a degree,” Malachowski said. “The degree these students earn is a Bachelor’s of Science in nursing. The graduation gives them a degree, but it does not make them a nurse. So you have to pass the exam to hold a license.”

In order to help prepare students for the exam after graduating, Georgia College’s nursing program incorporates several strategies to help increase the success of the students. Undergraduate students take standardized exams each semester to help measure their progress. In addition to that measure, students must pass a comprehensive exam very similar to the national licensing exam before graduating with their bachelor’s degree. Malachowski said the national licensing exam can be taken at almost any time throughout the year and that most students generally take the exam within one to two months after completing their undergraduate degree.

Each academic year, Georgia College’s School of Nursing admits 104 students, with 56 of those coming in the Fall and 48 of those coming in the Spring. The program is very competitive to get into, and the university receives an average of about two applications for each available space. The program has been very strong, averaging a 97.9 percent retention rate across all the cohorts since Fall 2007.

Malachowski said those statistics prove to be very attractive to both prospective students and their parents.

“Overall schools in Georgia do well. Georgia schools are right up there in terms of scores across the nation, so if you have a friend or relative that wants to go to nursing school, Georgia is a good place to start,” Malachowski said. “And what’s great is that Georgia College had a higher pass rate than any of those schools this past year. We trumped all of them.”