Galen College of Nursing Reviews of Bachelor's in Nursing

"It seems like every day this school gives me reasons to not want to pursue nursing any longer. It’s over priced for a school that can’t get everything together. Every quarter there’s issues with scheduling not allowing us to be able to register due to high demand at the same time that they all have us set for registration. Clinical director faculty talks down to the students like we are children when regarding concerns with dress code when it could have easily been addressed by out instructors who care more for our education than anything. But then there’s your bad apples where instructors can not teach, when an instructor has over half the class failing… why are they still allowed to instruct? Not to mention they think it’s just another job not that they’re preparing the nursing profession next graduates. They have made faces regarding that they would never help students clean up patients, and come in go out of class as they please, have no idea what units we are on in class. The clinical setting is just sitting at round tables doing head to toes every two hours and giving a couple PO meds once out of your entire quarter. If I could leave I would but they make it to where you credits do not transfer so you’re too far in to quit and lose all of you hard work and time teaching yourself."

"Do yourself a favor and do not attend Galen. Instructors don’t care whether you pass or fail. No one willing to work with you. Administratively it’s a disaster. All they want is your money. Save your time and hard earned money and apply to a different school."

"This school is insanely unorganized and unprofessional. God forbid you ever have an administration issue, it’s like they haven’t worked a day in their lives. You call the school, either no one answers or they send you to 10 different people. Ridiculous."

"I honestly would not recommend Galen to anyone. The program itself was extremely unorganized, the instructors consisted mainly of a lot of nurses who could not get jobs anywhere else and the entire experience was frustrating from the quality of learning to the financial aid department. I basically taught myself the entire way and never formed one meaningful relationship with any of the instructors no matter how hard I tried. All of the exams are the same for every single campus, meaning the Louisville campus takes the same exams that the Tampa and San Antonio location takes and so on. For this reason, they do not go over exams with you, and teachers literally teach to pass the exams; which they usually don't know any of the rationales for the information on there themselves. They absolutely do not value students' opinions on ANYTHING, and will claim they care but never do anything to change. My entire time at this school we mentioned how we did not learn anything in the pharmacology course and were always told "it's okay, you'll get more of that in your later nursing courses."..... so what was the point in taking the course in the first place if that was the case? Nothing this school did made any sense, it was so clearly for profit, and nobody cared about anything. It's a joke of a school and there's no wonder they have a reputation of being a joke. Spend your money anywhere else for school. I don't think I've ever written a review for anything in my life before but this school....deserves this 100%."

"Completed the bachelor's degree (BSN) 06/2021 in St. Pete, FL. I do not know how the other campuses are run. I had 2 job interviews before graduating and both wanted to hire me. I currently work for BayCare and will be starting ICU training in 8 months. PROs: Good education Tough Fast paced I got right in the program Regional Accredidation CONs: Expensive Disorganized at times Money driven Tough This will be long but may help to explain some things: Galen is overall a good school. A lot of people become jaded because it's hard, you need a 74 to pass, and Galen does not cut much slack for those who fall behind. This weeds out the people who would fail the NCLEX. However, I know many a person who went through tough times during school and the school worked with them to pass. You get 2 failures throughout your program, after the second one you may petition to the board on why you should be able to continue. Galen is expensive; between $35,000 - $63,000 depending on transfer credits from another college. If money is an issue (like you can't acquire loans or grants) I suggest going to a community college to get your ADN/ BSN. Galen quarters are 3 months instead of 5 and there are no breaks longer than 2 weeks (I liked this because being in school longer sucks). There will be new teachers and experienced teachers, but that's many places. I have talked to people at other nursing schools so here's the deal - NURSING SCHOOL IS HARD. NURSING SCHOOL IS A MESS. NO SCHOOL HAS THEIR S**T TOGETHER. Thems the facts. Every medical program has its messes, but students graduate from the program regardless. Education - what you learn in class will be on the test (for most classes) and if you apply yourself then you will most likely pass. Know all your test/ due dates and make study friends. Friends are what get you through school. For BSN students, there will be papers and projects, follow the rubric to the letter and you'll get As for days; Labs - can be a disorganized mess, but always get done and I never had any real issue completing my CPEs whether online or in the class. Med math is easy. Galen did a good job at preparing me for CPEs and I carried those skills to the real world. I recommend going to open labs to get skills ingrained in your brain because you will use everything you learn in lab. Clinicals - unless your school is well established with a hospital system, trying to set up clinicals will always be a mess. Some classes will be screwed over while other classes will reap benefits. There will always be students who get f***ed over by clinicals no matter the program or school. Be prepared to drive up to 2 hours from your home to make clinicals and always make it there on time. You get one missed clinical day and that's it. FL nursing school policy is to have X amount of hours in clinical for each student. Galen does not set up extra clinical days, therefore you can only miss one clinical day a quarter. I had a mixed bag for clinical instructors but if you put forth effort they will make your clinical as enjoyable as possible. Generally clinicals suck because no one wants to be there and they last for what seems forever. My 2 cents is to ask lots of questions, get your head to toe assessments down pat, learn your drugs, and go to as many codes/ rapids as possible. You'll learn a lot that way and will be far better prepared for real nursing. NCLEX PREP Galen tests are hard. There are 3 types of test takers. Those who just get nursing questions, those who read every line of every page, and those who read half then chant "Cs get degrees." Galen is harder than the NCLEX and prepared me well for it. All of my Galen friends passed first try and I've yet to talk to any one from Galen who has failed the NCLEX. If you are a B student or above at Galen then you are likely to pass the NCLEX. Galen also does ATI which is a curveball when you first take it. You get 2 tries each quarter to pass, otherwise you rollback. JOBS Galen is HCA owned, hence the drive for money. Galen drives people to work for HCA. All clinicals are at HCA facilities, job fairs are mostly HCA, and I still get emails about HCA hiring events. Typically, if you ask a nurse who works at an HCA hospital about what it's like they shake their head and tell you to work somewhere else. Not all HCAs are like this but it's a risk one takes when applying. That being said, a jobs a job and Galen will help you get a job quickly around graduation time, granted it will be HCA. TEACHERS This is for shout outs - Professors Morgan, Horn, Riviera, Land, and Coughlin for all your help. TL:DR Galen provides good education but is expensive. If you're not strapped for time go to a community college program to save money. If you want a faster paced program and can handle the heat/ afford the price then Galen is fine to go to. Just be prepared to work. "During nursing school if you're married you'll get divorced, if you're single you'll find love, and if you don't believe in JC you will by the end of this." - Professor Riviera, 1st day of lab"