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I think the overwhelming majority of the time it has little to do with nutrition and training, but rather mindset. Of course merely spending time in the gym doesn't translate to results, it's what you do there that matters and it's what you do the other 23 hours a day that matters even more.In the same way that merely showing up to class doesn't guarantee that you'll pass.Of course nutrition, training and recovery are important, but managing your expectations and how you approach each of these components from the mental side of things is definitely the catalyst for success or not.Here are the major faults that I typically see in my work.1. Bad Adherence to Whatever the Plan is (or worse, no plan at all).Recent research is coming back now saying that adherence to a plan is probably the single biggest contributing factor to fitness success. Meaning that it typically doesn't even matter 'what' program or plan you're following, so long as you're following one consistently and progressing. Adherence is a mindset thing, not a nutrition or exercise thing. Assuming you get to the gym with regularity, are you executing on the plan you have? Most people I would argue, do not. They generally get into a routine of doing all the same stuff, or stuff they like to do in meaningless quantity, assuming more is better. There is a point of diminishing returns where you must spend a higher quality of time in the gym instead of mere quantity.2. Unrealistic ExpectationsWe've all heard the famous Woody Allen quote, "eighty percent of success is showing up." I'm not saying he's wrong, obviously you should be getting to the gym with a level of consistency in order to find success, what that quote doesn't tell you is that once you show up you still have to be effective with your time.Plenty of people show up to work every day, with a high level of consistency, but few would be considered by their bosses/peers to be exceptional at what they do. Merely getting to the gym to do the same thing, day in, day out, most likely won't yield the results you're looking for. People expect that if they put in an hour a day (or worse 2 or 3 hours a day) they will get results merely by 'doing more.' The actual way you get results is by 'doing better.'Throwing more time at a problem almost always leads to negative emotions and thinking as a result, which hurts your performance in the gym and kitchen.Furthermore, there is an direct relationship between the amount of effort you put into your nutrition/training and the results you'll see. Most people expect that their training will make them look like the stud on the cover of Men's Health or the babe on the cover of Oxygen with little understanding of how that person most likely achieved that physique.Hint: They most likely train more and harder than you do (because it's their job); are more religious about minding what they eat (because it's the difference between being employed or not); they often have a coach or someone they work with regularly to maintain and achieve their physique; they most likely manipulated their water/salt content the week leading up to the shoot (and don't look like that every day, just on the one day they dehydrated themselves enough to drop 4% body fat in a week for that particular shoot); they obviously had their makeup done and/or airbrushing (tanning for instance creates more of a shadow giving the abs more definition) and all of this doesn't even mention the photoshop touchups the magazine most likely used before publishing.The reality is that most people simply don't have the time to commit to looking like that, the knowledge, the required skill-set, nor have they spent the time tweaking their lifestyle to find the appropriate balance that allows them to maintain what they perceive to be 'their ideal body' and their perception of the 'ideal life.'If you want to drink wine with your friends 3-4 nights a week, eat fast food because it's convenient, eat out most nights, or love your pasta/bread/other calorically dense foods too much to give up, then no amount of exercise or going to the gym will offset your expectations of how you want to look. Be realistic with your expected outcomes, relative to your lifestyle (or ideal lifestyle - some people really enjoy their wine and rich french food, it's not a crime, but it can be an issue if gets beyond moderation and balance).Which is not to say that most people can't look good and still drink wine on the weekend once and a while, or have a pasta dinner or pizza every now and then, I just think our perceptions of what is 'good' are flawed and we should match our expectations with what we are prepared to do (and potentially 'give up'). I like a a glass or two of wine every now and then, I like pizza and pasta just as much as the next person, but I eat them far more sparingly and deliberately than most. Years of training have also allowed me to consume more calories per day than most people without gaining weight, though my metabolism is surely slowing just as everyone else's does as we age.I often have this conversation with clients because they've been out with me at events and see me drinking or consuming less than ideal foods. What they don't see is that may have been the only night I did that all month. They also sometimes forget that I spend all day in a gym, and while I might not be working out 8 hours a day, I am moving around a lot more than they do. Nor do they know how much training I did from 16 years of age onwards to improve my metabolic efficiency.Furthermore, you should account for your body type and learn to get more comfortable with even the best possible outcome for you. If you're built like a twig it will be easier for you to look like a runway model, but you probably won't be gracing the front cover of a bodybuilding magazine anytime soon. If you're built like a powerlifter, then being a run way model probably won't happen. At least the relative ease of achieving a certain image is definitely dependent on your body structure. It's hard to look 5'9" when you're 5'0" tall, so consider your structure before you consider your ideal image.Can the majority of people walk around with six pack abs?I'm not so sure, but I do know that for most of the people to do so, they need to dramatically change their perception of what is required. They are going to have to create a lot of small incremental changes. Start doing things like cooking more of their own food, making their workouts harder/more challenging, introducing more variety (but not too much) into their routines, eating more vegetables/protein/healthy fats, being mindful of what they eat and when, being mindful of how well they are recovering from workouts (and other stresses), getting more sleep, changing how they work, changing how their family life works a little bit, etc...etc... It can be easy, but only after a long road of learning how to make it easy on yourself. Also coming to grips with your own personal reality.You have to match your expectations to your level of commitment.3. They have a short-term outlook on the process.I've never met anyone who has achieved outstanding fitness success who says something like the following:I'm just going to hammer down on this for 3 months until I can fit in that dress/tux.Or...I'm just going to cut out carbs/dairy/sweets/gluten this month.Most people who struggle to see the success they so want, do so because they have such short-term outlooks on success. Everything is this month, next month, this week, next week or tomorrow. This type of thinking leads to the infamous yo-yo cycle. I know numerous people who have done this throughout their 20's only to hit 30-35 and now notice that it doesn't work so well anymore just to drink and party all summer, hunker down for a month or two in the fall to get back to your normal weight and do it again for Christmas time, only to make a New Years resolution. Making this a successful routine gets harder and harder as you age to change.You are essentially training your body to get used to huge fluctuations in weight by not having a more consistent lifestyle strategy. You're also doing a bunch of long-term damage to the metabolic pathways I'll mention below (things like insulin sensitivity/resistance, blood sugar levels, triglyceride levels, cortisol overload, testosterone levels, etc...) Yo-Yo'ing is worse for you than being a few lbs overweight, because it teaches you bad habits that get harder and harder to fix/change as you age.Successful people think more long-term and view the process as a lifestyle. I exercise because it's a part of my identity, I feel awful when I don't exercise; that's the kind of thing that successful people are telling me.4. They dramatically overestimate how hard they work at the gym.There are various studies showing that the majority of people believe they are burning 2-3 times more calories in the gym than they actually are when hooked up to direct calorimetry measurement devices. This is assuming that calories matter (and on some level they do, but not as much as people think) but everybody knows that they should burn more energy than they take in.The real advantage of training is far more complicated but I believe is more closely related to hormone and life cycle management than merely calories alone (on the other side of the equation the overwhelming majority of people underestimate the caloric load of the meals they eat often as much as 50% less than they actually consume). Training teaches your body how to maintain homeostasis better through things like increased insulin sensitivity, which helps you manage dairy and carbohydrate consumption better. Increased testosterone (and other androgens) better management of cortisol, better protein turnover, better management of life distress, better patterns of sleep, etc...etc...I don't use heart rate monitors much when I train people anymore (unless they are endurance athletes) but I often do so that people can get an association with just how hard they are working. Things always feel tough, until you see that your heart rate just hit 140 and you realize maybe you have a little bit more in you. HR monitors can sometimes be useful for helping people understand intensity of exercise.The same can be said for weight training, most people can lift more than they think they can. Grabbing the 15 pounders for 15 reps because that's what the magazine said, when you can do 20 reps with 20 lbs, won't yield much of a training effect. You may 'feel a burn' but that's a poor gauge of progress and you haven't reached the level of fatigue necessary to train muscular endurance anyway, so you're always training under your actual level of fitness. You always need to be training slightly above your current level of ability in order to force adaptation.Once again this comes down to pushing your mindset just a little bit beyond what you think you're capable of.5. Preconceived Belief PatternsI'm too old for this.I hate exercise.I never had to do this before.Sound familiar?Everybody has a belief system based on our interactions with the world, some for our own good (not getting burned at work by trusting certain colleagues for instance) and often, many not-so-good ones too.For instance, most people believe that there are 'good' and 'bad' foods, the same way we believe there are 'good' and 'bad' people. The reality is that it's much more of a spectrum. Baked Potatoes are a lot better than sour cream and butter mashed potatoes, which are better than freshly fried fries or chips, which are better than ones deep fried in hydrogenates oils, etc...etc... Most people are inherently good, they just tend to have a morale flexibility when it comes to certain things like cheating on their taxes or a test or stealing a coke from your roommate.Other people believe that they are not coordinated and therefore shouldn't do any physical activity (I can tell you from experience that most people have more coordination than they believe they do, but also that coordination is a skill people can develop just like reading and writing). Maybe they feel they are too old to learn something new.In any case, many of the people I work with have a fixed outlook (what psychologist Carol Dueck would call a 'fixed mindset') on their ability to perform well at the gym and thus resort to a state of mediocrity for fear of failure more often than not.6. They underestimate the importance of relationships.Most of my friends are at a healthy weight, they lead active lifestyles (skiing, hiking, biking, paddle-boarding, etc...) many of them train regularly too, we enjoy cooking (and frequently get together for dinner parties instead of going out to bars) it's just what we do.The hardest cases I've seen almost always involve an overweight spouse or strong ties to a group of overweight friends. Sometimes you have to re-write your relationships, sometimes you have to push through and hope your new patterns of behavior get adopted by the people you care about having in your life the most.We know for certain just how powerful relationships are when it comes to physical change. If you like the people you train with, or the people at the gym you attend, you're far more likely to attend with a high level of consistency. You also value their opinion more, take to heart more of what they have to say, and adopt some of their habits as your own. Dr. Christakis has done some amazing work in this field.If your friends look how you want to look, you're two to three times as likely to look more similar to that.7. They underestimate the importance of environment and mindful practices.In research people often report back on surveys that advertising is minimally convincing to them or that it doesn't change their habits or routines. The finite research details however are quite different. Namely that advertising impacts all of us and mostly in a big way, typically without our conscious awareness or knowledge.Our environments are very similar. Most people I work with will tell me that that they have chips, chocolate, ice cream, etc... in the house right now but that they 'hardly ever consume those kinds of things.'Yet they still are not obtaining the results they see. This is a bit of night blindness, they don't view nibbling on these things a few times a day as gorging themselves on these items, therefore they can't possibly be the reason they are not hitting their objectives. What's a few chips here or there, right?In reality we've deluded ourselves into believing that we have more self-control than we do, that we eat better than we do, that we train better than we do, and that we have more control over our lives than we do.Eliminating cues that cause bad routines is monumentally successful in helping people obtain ideal body types. Removing tempting foods from the pantry, moving foods out of sight at the office/home, etc... etc... all go a long way towards helping you achieve your objectives.Likewise utilizing cues that start positive routines are equally useful. For instance the weekly ritual or bi-weekly ritual that I often teach clients plans out meals in advance on one or two automatic days, then you do all your shopping for the next 3-7 days, prepare as much of it as you can when you get home. In doing so, you eliminate a lot of the friction of eating during the week by shortening the amount of work you have to do cooking meals.For others, getting a pre-workout routine in order can enhance the productivity of the workout. I go to the gym and do the same thing for the first 5 minutes every time (listen to energizing music and foam roll). Maybe you need to lay out your gym clothes every night before bed to serve as a cue for exercising in the morning.Bottom line is your environment matters, from the gym you choose to train at, to the layout of your home or office and the cues you expose yourself to regularly.8. They have no concept of progression and have not learned how to train/eat appropriately and individually.If you do what you've always done, you get what you've always got. In some cases though it's worse, people do something, see success with it 5 years ago and suddenly it stops working and they don't know what to do. They can't lose that last 10 lbs anymore the way they used to.Most of the time this comes down to a lack of understanding how they train and eat. A lot of people can get away with mindless circuit training or group classes 3-6 days a week for a long time, until their body adapts and the fat starts to creep on. Or until their metabolism starts to slow and they continue to eat as they've always ate.I see that lot with athletes who don't change their diets after retirement from sport. The sheer volume of work they used to do kept a lot of the weight off and they could eat whatever they wanted, until they start sitting most of the time and golfing with a cart instead of hitting the gym four days a week and playing their sport 3-5 hours a day.Others find success in dieting by doing things like 'going vegan' or 'going paleo' or 'going vegetarian' only to wonder why that also eventually falls apart (because your body adapts to it or you get complacent most of the time) because they didn't take the time to learn a lot about the intricacies of that diet and how to maximize it's usage.It's important to understand that the body responds to change (both dietary and training). This is often why people may say that they feel a lot better since going on X diet, or in some cases feel worse. The body is adapting to that change, and often the effects of that change are short-lived, so while you may feel awesome or terrible when you switch up your diet dramatically (a good reason to do it more gradually). It's also why people will often continue to see relatively easy gains within the first 3-6 weeks of a new phase of training/programming until they hit a plateau. We want change, we just don't want change that is too frequent in nature so the body can be allowed to catch up with the adaptations we want to occur.Honestly I don't really care so much what strategy or strategies people choose to utilize (I've helped Vegans, Paleo dieters, Vegetarians, Pescatarians, IF people, etc...etc...I've also helped endurance athletes, power athletes, some powerlifters, even the odd bodybuilder though it's not necessarily my forte) as long as they take the time to learn how to utilize an approach that suits them in the long run and on an individual level.I think it's important to understand that eating and training is an ever evolving process, you don't just eat or train the same way for the rest of your life or you risk stagnation as your body adapts. You can achieve a great many things in a great many different ways, but you have to learn how things progress and you have to learn how they relate to you and your needs. I'm mostly concerned with the quality of life people have through this process, which is why it needs to be individualized to some extent. Typically that is something you can't just read in a book either, you have to experience it.9. InjuryA big one actually. Most of the people I see are injured, have been injured recently, or have a history of injury. Most people have no idea how to train in a way that prevents the reoccurrence because rehab doesn't always focus on this aspect.For instance I see people with shoulder issues with poor posture, who don't have enough T-Spine Mobility, have unbalanced shoulder mobility issues and not enough stabilizing strength to press overhead, yet still insist on doing it once a week in their routine.Why?Often because they simply don't know any better. They just want to train their shoulders to 'look a certain way,' without knowing how to get the function restored so they can train it appropriately. They may not know that a simple trick like moving the elbows to a neutral grip can often relieve a lot of the problems here if your shoulder mobility is decent. They probably don't know a lot of hacks to work around their injuries actually.People tend not to learn how to train according to their body type/structure. I love olympic lifting and at low volume and with certain modified techniques I can do it. But chances are that my shoulder structure just won't allow me to ever truly 'excel' at it the way someone 4 inches shorter, with shorter legs/arms and more stable shoulder joints would be able to excel at it. I've learned how to train around my limitations and find a way to train explosive power.10. Nutrition, Nutrition, NutritionExercise by itself is actually terribly ineffective at helping people obtain a result. Where it shines is helping people maintain where they are. If you incorporate exercise you're significantly less likely to revert back to a previous physical form (exercise in this regard is actually regarded as more effective than nutrition - it's the 'prevention' king).Most people say cliche things like 'Nutrition is 80% of the equation' and truthfully, I hate that analogy, but it does highlight the importance of nutrition in the grand scheme of things, relatively speaking...The reality however is that nutrition by itself is only a little more effective at helping people lose weight (and it's not much use on it's own for helping people add lean mass) than exercise.When you combine the two though, that's where the magic happens. Nutrition + Exercise is a recipe for success.That being said, try think about it in really simple terms, you spend maybe an hour, maybe an hour and a half training 3-6 times a week. Most people eat 3-6 times a day, that's 21 to 42 times a week. By sheer volume, clearly nutrition is important. Even if you only eat twice a day, it's still an important consideration because food is everywhere now a days and it's constantly nagging at your willpower. The gym is not.The donuts you have to avoid at work. The chocolate bars at the grocery store as you're waiting for the people in front of you to pay. The ad at the bus-stop or on the highway when you're trapped in gridlock. The allure of ice cream or potato chips at home when you're alone and bored.Fact: People tend to think of food about 30-35 times a day.I think the majority of the world's obesity problems could be solved if only we started cooking more of our own food again from whole 'relatively unprocessed' sources -- it's just a long uphill battle to get back to that way of life.If you can take the time to make those cookies/brownies/pie/ice cream from scratch, good on you, but convenience has definitely put a damper on our waist lines and thrown our energy balance way off.Once again I feel the need to mention that your level of compliance with your nutrition is in direct proportion to the outcomes you achieve. If you want to look like a cover model, then you have to have a high level of commitment to eating good quality food regularly. Most people could get away with a decent physique just eating whole unprocessed foods, but it probably won't make you look like a cover model without a little more careful monitoring and manipulation depending on your body type.Nutrition is highly individual too (both mentally and emotionally, a big part of the equation a lot of people overlook, in addition to the physical part), some people do well on vegetarian styled diets, while others do better on Paleo styled diets, where others still may do well on a Scandinavian, French, Mediterranean or Japanese styled diet.If you want to lose weight you need an energy deficit. If you want to gain it, you need a surplus of energy. If you want to maintain your weight you need a rough balance. Unfortunately energy balance isn't as simple as counting calories in and out. However there are still good methods for creating the energy balance necessary for achieving your objectives.11. RecoverySleep is a big one, but so is minimizing distress (family struggles, house struggles, mortgage struggles, money trouble, work struggles, etc...etc...) and learning good coping mechanisms. People often assume that things like socio-economic status have nothing to do with training, but they do. People who make more money (to a point), are more educated, live outside of poverty, etc...etc... tend to do better in the physical realm of well-being, in part because they tend to have less life distress.Of note: Stress is often sub-divided into two components. Distress and Eustress. One has negative connotations (distress) the other positive connotations (eustress). However stress in general often creates an adaptation within a biological system that can still lead to negative consequences. If you really like your job for instance but work too much as a result, even though you enjoy it, you can still display the symptoms associated with distress. Even a good stress like exercise can be overdone, leading to negative issues like adrenal fatigue and immune system repression.Glycogen replenishment is good but only if you worked hard enough in the first place to warrant it, it's more of an athletic strategy than a general population one. Good nutrition definitely comes into play here when it comes to managing stress.Things like meditation, yoga, stretching, breathing practice, napping, massage and monitoring your workout performance can go a long way in helping you perform better at the gym. This can depend on whether your in need of parasympathetic work or sympathetic work (which makes recovery a lot more complicated for people so I won't get into the finer details) to moderate the stress levels that occur from hard training (and other life stresses).There is a deep psychological component to this too and the impact of stress. Recently a concept has been getting more and more researched (though not a lot of attention necessarily in the media), it's called Cognitive Dietary Restraint. Which basically means that deliberately restraining/abstaining yourself from certain foods significantly increases distress and actually may significantly contribute to why people don't see progress when they are 'dieting.'Most of the research I've read has been done on women in particular, but it's reasonable to assume that the same can hold true for men. Basically people who are extremely focused on restricting foods from their diets (especially a lot of things at once - AKA most dieters) experience poorer health as a result of the stress, and have a more difficult time losing weight (and achieving other physical objectives). This cognitive focus on everything you shouldn't eat because you're on X diet has been shown to increase cortisol secretion (increase stress), give women irregular menstruation patterns, affect sleep and sleep quality and lead to worse results. Particularly when compared to people who change their diets by focusing on the process (small changes over time) over the long term (see point #2) and view everything as a lifestyle change.A lot of people exclude these recovery (and psychological) strategies in their training programs to poor outcomes, because they haven't learned how to use them appropriately yet.Well that turned into a novel, I could probably come up with more but those are some of the more glaring principle-oriented ideas.

Rejecting Applicants In 2019Jump to section...Find Nursing ProgramsFAQ:3 Reasons Why Schools are Rejecting CandidatesPossible SolutionsHow To Get Into Nursing School in 5 StepsFind Nursing ProgramsIt is a well-known fact that there is a significant nursing shortage across the United States. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the nursing profession is projected to grow at least 15% between 2016 and 2026. This is much faster than the national average of other professions.The Bureau projects the need for an additional 203,700 new RNs each year through 2026 to fill newly created positions and to replace retiring nurses. This gap in supply and demand is being driven by several factors.Find Nursing ProgramsWhat Best Describes You?What Best Describes You?I’m not a nurseI’m an RN with ADNI’m an RN with BSNI’m an RN with MSNI’m an LPNI’m a CNAI’m a paramedicOtherSelect Program of InterestSelect Program of InterestShow Me ProgramsFAQ:What GPA do you have to have to get into nursing school?GPA requirements are set forth by the University that the nursing school is a part of. Generally, BSN programs will require a minimum of a 3.0 GPA while an ADN program at a community college may only require a 2.5 GPA. The GPA required to get into an Ivy League school nursing program such as the University of Pennsylvania may be different than the GPA needed to get into the University of Kansas’ nursing program.What are the requirements to get into a nursing school?The only requirement to apply to a traditional four year nursing program is graduating from high school or earning your GED. All other requirements are part of the application process. These include, Successful completion of a high school diploma or GEDMinimum GPAAdmissions applicationPersonal essayPersonal interviewTeacher RecommendationsVolunteer experience (preferably in healthcare)Application FeeTest of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) if applicableMinimum SAT scores or TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills) (These will vary amongst Universities)What do you do if you don’t get into nursing school?It’s okay! If you were able to get into the University but not the specific nursing program - continue to take classes and reapply the following year. If you were unable to get into the University, apply to a local community college and take basic general education classes and then consider reapplying or applying to other programs the following year.How quickly can you get a nursing degree?A Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree can be earned either through a traditional four year program OR in 12-18 months through an accelerated second degree program. This is for students that already have a bachelor’s degree in another field. An Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) can be earned in as little as two years through a community college or hospital based program.Can you get into nursing school without prerequisites? No. If you have not graduated from high school and earned your diploma or the GED then you will not be able to apply to nursing school.Show Me Nursing Programs3 Reasons Why Schools are Rejecting CandidatesAccording to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) some key findings related to the ongoing nursing shortage include,Dr. Peter Buerhaus and his colleagues addressed the accelerating rate of nursing retirements and projected that one million nurses will retire by 2030.According to the 2012 “United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast” reported that the shortage of nurses will spread across the country between 2009 and 2030. The shortage is expected to be worst in the South and the West.The Institute of Medicine, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, called for increasing the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the workforce to 80%. This puts an increased strain on nursing faculty.1. RetirementA substantial portion of qualified nurses are reaching retirement at the same time, creating a sudden deficit that has been hard to fill. At the same time, Baby Boomers, which represent one of the largest generations, has increased demand on the healthcare system as they age and require additional medical care.The National Council of State Boards of Nursing and The Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers (2018) found that 50.9% of the RN workforce is 50 or older.The Health Resources and Services Administration projects that more than 1 million registered nurses will reach retirement age within the next 10 to 15 years.2. Shortage of Nursing FacultyWhile there was an increase of 3.7% in admission to baccalaureate nursing programs in 2018, there are still thousands of prospective nursing students being turned away each year. There is an insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, and clinical preceptors.According to AACN’s report Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 75,029 qualified applicants for the 2018-2019 academic year.According to the 2018 Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions 1,715 faculty vacancies were identified.Faculty vacancy rate of 7.9%.Needed creation of additional 138 faculty positions.1/3 of current nursing faculty in BSN programs are expected to retire by 2025.The average salary of a nurse practitioner is $97,000 compared to an average salary of $78,575 for a nursing school assistant professor, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.Master’s and doctoral programs in nursing are not producing a large enough pool of potential nurse educators to meet the demand.Higher compensation in clinical and private-sector settings is luring current and potential nurse educators away from teaching.Faculty age continues to climb, narrowing the number of productive years educators teach.3. Reduction in Available SpotsAccording to a CNN Business article, in 2018 Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan, reduced its accepted students from 80 to 64 students.University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Nursing receives 300-400 applications for the BSN program and accepts 104 students.University of Central Florida had 489 applicants for 126 students in 2018.Show Me Nursing ProgramsNursing Schools Acceptance RateUniversity of Utah - 82%East Carolina University- 62%University of Kentucky - 67%University of Northern Colorado - 89%University of Maryland College Park - 47%University of Washington - 59%Ball State University - 61%Western Kentucky University - 92%Clemson University - 58%Auburn University - 77%Indiana University of Pennsylvania - 61%Temple University - 67%University of New Mexico - 65%Richard Stockton College of New Jersey - 57%Tennessee Technological University - 97%Emporia State University - 72%North Dakota State University - 84%University of Massachusetts - 63%Why Accreditation Matters?With the reduction in available nursing spots at major Universities, more non-accredited nursing programs are opening its doors. Unfortunately, they are not the solution to the nursing shortage. Non-accredited universities should be a HUGE red-flag for prospective nursing students. Why?Students that graduate from programs that are not accredited, whether an ADN or BSN program, will NOT be able to sit for the NCLEX. This means you will NOT become a Registered Nurse.Look out for these 2 red-flags while you are researching nursing programs - they usually indicate that a program is not-accredited,If the program is extremely cheap or extremely expensive.The program promises completion in less than a year.There are two main accrediting bodies for nursing programs,The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN)The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)The purpose of accreditation is to focus on the same standards and criteria across all nursing programs. This ensures that there is some level of sameness within the programs. The accreditation process ultimately improves the quality of nursing education and keeps the curriculum up to date on current trends in advances in nursing and healthcare.The Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) is an organization designed to support nursing education and ensure it is done in a safe, reliable, and consistent matter. According to the website, the purpose of the ACEN is as follows:The ACEN is recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) as a specialized accrediting agency for nursing education programs located in the United States and its territories.The ACEN is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) for nursing education programs in the United States and its territories as well as for international nursing education programs.The ACEN accredits all types of nursing education programs, including clinical doctorate/DNP specialist certificate, master’s/post-master’s certificate, baccalaureate, associate, diploma, and practical nursing programs.The ACEN accredited nursing education programs in secondary, postsecondary, and hospital-based governing organizations that offer certificates, diplomas, or degrees.The ACEN serves as a Title IV-HEA Gatekeeper for some practical nursing programs and hospital-based nursing education programs eligible to participate in financial aid programs administered by the USDE or other federal agencies.The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is considered the voice of academic nursing in America and contributes to the overall safety of the public’s health. This accreditation committee supports the continuous self assessment of national programs to ensure quality education is delivered to all nursing students. According to the website, the purpose of the CCNE is as follows:To hold nursing programs accountable to the community of interest – the nursing profession, consumers, employers, higher education, students and their families, nurse residents – and to one another by ensuring that these programs have mission statements, goals, and outcomes that are appropriate to prepare individuals to fulfill their expected roles.To evaluate the success of a nursing program in achieving its mission, goals, and expected outcomes.To assess the extent to which a nursing program meets accreditation standards.To inform the public of the purposes and values of accreditation and to identify nursing programs that meet accreditation standards.To foster continuing improvement in nursing programs – and, thereby, in professional practice.Show Me Nursing ProgramsPossible SolutionsSome nursing schools are responding to this problem with creative solutions.Expansion to new campuses and partnerships with local hospitals.Second degree nursing programs for students that already have a bachelor’s degree in another field and have the needed prerequisites.Veterans who received medical training during their military career are eligible for bridge programs that give them credit for the training they have already received.While nursing schools face some real challenges, there is some good news: the number of qualified nursing applicants is on the rise. Even entry-level nursing positions provide competitive compensation that can support a family and with flexible hours, nurses can enjoy plenty of time off. The field also offers an attractive level of job security. With the current level of demand, nurses should have no trouble finding and retaining optimal employment. For those interested in the field, the biggest hurdle is simply getting into nursing school.How To Get Into Nursing School in 5 StepsEarn your high school diploma or GED.Decide if you want to attend a four year traditional nursing program and earn your BSN or a community college and earn your ADN.In 2010, The Institute of Medicine recommended that 80 percent of the nursing workforce have a baccalaureate degree (BSN) by 2020. If you decide to pursue an ADN, then you most likely will have to earn your BSN at a later date.Research Nursing School Admission RequirementsApply to Nursing Programs and Prepare for Personal InterviewsDetermine How to Finance Nursing SchoolApply for financial aid, scholarships, grants, and student loansShow Me Nursing ProgramsScholarshipsA scholarship is an award of financial aid to a student to further their education. This money does not have to be repaid. There are a variety of different types of scholarships. These includeMerit-basedNeed-basedAthleticStudent-specific (gender, race, religion, family, and/or medical history)Career-specificCollege-specificGrantsGrants are determined by financial need. They can be used to cover the cost of tuition, books, clinical uniforms and supplies, housing and educational supplies. When applying for grants they will inform how they are to be applied towards your education. The amount of money you are eligible to receive depends strictly on your financial situation.Typically grants do not have to be repaid as long as you graduate nursing school in the allotted amount of time. If you were to drop out there can be incurred costs.Student LoanUnlike scholarships and grants, loans must be repaid. Loans incur interest, so you will ultimately repay more than the initial amount of the loan. The exact terms of the loan will depend on the lender and other factors. There are several types of student loans.The most common loans are Federal Student Loans. Federal student loans are a great option for most students for the following reasons:They don’t have to be paid back while you’re in school.They charge lower interest than loans from private lenders.If you’re having trouble paying back your loan, there are programs you can qualify for to assist you.You don’t need any credit history to get a federal student loan.Two other fairly common loans are direct subsidized loans and direct unsubsidized loans more commonly referred to as Stafford Loans.

Singapore’s education system has been deemed world-class by many in global education circles. But much evidence suggests otherwise.The city-state’s reputation for educational excellence rests upon its top scores in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in the International Mathematics and Science Study). In 2015, PISA and TIMSS gave Singapore No. I spot of over 50 countries whose students they surveyed for educational achievement. The students were tested for their proficiency in maths, science and reading by PISA and for maths and science by TIMSS. Singapore has usually scored top ranking on TIMSS tests since 1995 and on PISA tests since 2003.However, Singapore’s Education System, Myth and Reality shows that the tests conducted by both organisations are deeply flawed and misleading. It cites research revealing methodological defects in the PISA/TIMSS tests that only assess a narrow range of educational skills and often permit biased sampling.Also, the administration of these tests allow such countries as Singapore and those in East Asia to game them to boost their scores for reasons of national prestige. Gaming tactics include ensuring that the best students, rather than a random selection of all the students, are selected for the tests. That and the constant tests Singaporean students are subjected to also give them a significant advantage over students from education systems which aren’t so exam and test-based, such as is so in many Western countries.Because Singapore’s top PISA/TIMSS education rankings for mathematics, science and reading proficiency (beating over 50 to 60 countries, including all those in the West) it’s seen as an example of educational excellence. But Singapore’s education system is far from that.A Range of DeficienciesSingapore’s Education System reveals the city-state has a test-based and exam-driven pressure-cooker education system that kills creativity, intellectual curiosity and the desire to learn. But such mindsets are the ones Singapore’s government has been desperately seeking to foster since the late 1980s. It wants to transform Singapore into an innovative and entrepreneurially nimble economy that can survive and prosper in a competitive global environment.Streaming-driven PressureSingapore’s high-stress education is due to extreme streaming policies introduced in 1979 under the New Education Scheme (NES) by the country’s Peoples’ Action Party government which has ruled the island state continuously since 1959.Under Singapore-style streaming students are pitted against each other. They must compete for the top grades to gain entry into elite schools and then into university which greatly enhances their prospects of career success in Singapore. Students who fail to do well are consigned to technical and vocational streams that lead to mediocre job opportunities.Streaming pressures are accentuated by the NES’s bi-lingual requirements where students had to learn their mother tongue (MT). For Chinese students this was Mandarin while for the Malays it was Malay and Tamil for the Indian students.Students’ MT results often significantly determine what stream they can enter. For Chinese students the MT stipulates they must learn Mandarin, a language which is alien to most of them and is very different to the dialect Chinese they normally speak at home. But failure to do well in Mandarin often means they will be consigned to a lower stream.Parental measures to ensure that their children get into the top stream and also the elite schools and avoid the lower streams can take extreme forms at times. One mother caned her 9-year-old son for only getting 73 per cent in his mathematics exam.Anything less than 85 per cent was unacceptable to her and she made him study six hours a day. She was unrepentant about her treatment of him. Getting him into the Raffles Institution, one of Singapore’s most elite secondary schools, was and abiding obsession for her.Sometimes school pressure has tragic consequences, prompting students to commit suicide by jumping from the high-rise apartment buildings in which most Singaporeans live. One was an 11-year-old girl who reportedly said that she didn’t want to be reborn a human being so she wouldn’t have to do homework any more.Not surprisingly, 68 per cent of Singaporean students thought life was very stressful, according to one survey, and 93 per cent believed this was due to the pressure to get top exam results.A Shadow Education SystemThe intense competition Singapore’s education system generates between students has generated soaring demands for after-hours coaching. Up to 90 per cent of Singaporean students have private tuition to keep up in class and maintain their competitiveness against each other. In fact the tutoring sector is so extensive that it constitutes “a shadow” education system in Singapore that does much to support the existing system. Few of the foreign fans of Singapore’s education system seem to realise this.Tutoring has also done much to produce a very unequal education system based heavily on parental income and connections rather than meritocratic principles. With Singapore having income inequalities among the highest in the developed world, children from affluent families enjoy correspondingly greater educational opportunities. While about 90 per cent of school children receive tuition, those from affluent families get the most, giving them an enormous advantage over students from poorer families who don’t.Elitist EducationThe bias towards students from affluent families has helped foster an elitist education system which contradicts one of Singapore’s most strident nation-building claims that it is a meritocratic society. But while the country’s streaming-based schooling provides the structure for its elitist education system, the elitist beliefs of its founder-leader Lee Kuan Yew have provided its ideological justification.Lee believed that only a very few people were fit to rule society. The education system should firstly be geared to grooming them to be the country’s future political and bureaucratic leaders, Singapore’s Education System shows. A network of elite schools and gifted education programs has been set up in Singapore since the mid-1980s for such students.A Racist SystemEven more confronting for those who believe in racial equality were Lee’s racist pro-Chinese beliefs which the city-state’s education system also reflects. His racism is well known to those who have studied him. But few among his foreign supporters are aware of this. Over the years Lee has repeatedly denigrated Singapore’s minority races, the Malays and Indians, contending they are genetically inferior to the Chinese who comprise about 75 per cent of the population, as the book also shows.Under the NES a range of measures was introduced to favour Chinese students. These included the establishment all-Chinese Special Assistance Programme (SAP) schools. They were and are far more lavishly funded than other government schools which Malay and Indian students mostly attend.Sub-standard Graduates and School-leaversSingapore not only has a racist, high-stress and elitist education system but one which produces exam athletes who often fail to meet job market requirements, including those at elite levels. Moreover, it is one that has failed to produce sufficient job-ready graduates for either the labour market or those who can adequately fill the top positions in the country’s civil service and political elite.Singaporean employers often complain about the inadequacies of Singapore’s school-leavers. While often book smart they lack initiative and expect to be spoon-fed.Singapore’s elite graduates have proven themselves to be similarly disappointing. They exhibit conformist thinking and lack the innovative mindsets required of those who occupy the most prestigious echelons of the civil service and the political elite, as Singapore’s Education System shows.The book also reveals that Singapore’s skill levels and literacy rates lag behind those of developed countries. And despite learning English from first year primary school, many Singaporeans’ levels of written and spoken English remain substandard. But such shortcomings are hidden by Singapore’s stunning PISA/TIMSS rankings.Stressed Out and Hamstrung TeachersBesides its top education rankings Singapore’s reputation for educational excellence rests on the supposed quality of its teachers. They are deemed to be top-class by various Western think-tanks, including the Grattan Institute (GI) in Australia and the Asia Society (AS) and Aspen Institute (AI) in the US. But the truth suggests otherwise. Singapore’s Education System shows Singapore’s teachers are over-worked, stressed out and demoralised. Although their selection and training may match conventional best practice standards the nature of the education system they work in hamstrings them.Apart from being forced to work 12-hour plus days (often because of time spent on non-teaching tasks), the need to teach within a test/exam-driven system has compelled them to practise “teach the test” rote-learning methods.Moreover, teacher stress was accentuated with the introduction of the Enhanced Performance Management System (EPMS) in 2005. The EPMS, an import from the corporate world, purports to boost teacher performance. The scheme has also been praised by the GI, the AS and the AI and is thought to significantly account for the purported excellence of Singapore’s teachers.The EPMS operates by monitoring teachers’ performance and forcing them to compete against each other for promotions and the grades that determine their bonuses. Besides imposing further pressure on teachers the EPMS discourages collegial cooperation between them, undermining their capacity to help students. Huge workloads and EPMS-driven pressures have resulted in low morale and high resignation rates by Singapore’s teachers.The Ministry of Education (MOE) has been compelled to import foreign teachers, especially from Canada and Australia, to fill the gap. But they usually leave within a year or so. They complain about the long hours, stressful work conditions and poor treatment by the MOE and the schools they teach at. They also condemn the authoritarian and hierarchical nature of the MOE and school administrations which ignore teachers’ complaints.Failed ReformsSingapore’s flawed education system produces students that lack the skills and mindsets that the country needs to remain internationally competitive in the 21st century. The country’s PAP rulers are painfully aware of this. They have been strenuously striving to reform the system since the 1990s. The irony of this is striking. While Singapore’s education system is praised as world-class by foreign educationists and political leaders its rulers are desperately trying to reform it. But their reforms have largely failed.Two major reform initiatives were the Thinking School, Learning Nation (TSLN) scheme launched in 1997 and the Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) scheme in 2005. Both were designed to move Singaporean schools away from the traditional rote learning methods to those which would cultivate creativity, intellectual curiosity and love of learning in students. But studies of both schemes by Singaporean educationists have found that each has produced meagre results. Test-driven, exam-oriented methods still prevail in Singapore’s schools. Promoting independent thinking, as well as getting good grades, is difficult in schools “where results rule”, said one local educationist.Another barrier to reform is parental opposition to government initiatives aimed at making the education system less exam-oriented and stressful, especially those aimed at modifying the MT requirements. Singaporean parents have been conditioned to believe that high grades are essential to career success. They insist their children must achieve top marks above all else. The more traditionally inclined parents also want them to be proficient in their own race’s language.Reform failure has meant that Singapore’s education system not only keeps producing school-leavers and graduates deficient in job market skills but those who also lack risk-taking and entrepreneurial mindsets. A country whose population is deficient in such attributes cripples its capacity to develop ground-breaking products and services that can compete on world markets. Such shortcomings demonstrate the hollowness of Singapore’s stunning PISA/TIMSS rankings.