Galen College of Nursing Reviews

"This is the BEST decision I made leaving the previous program I was in to come here! The instructors are great invested in your success! It is a positive environment. They do everything fairly and I like that! You want a good school this is the place to go!"

"It is truly disheartening. There are many dedicated students out there, yet Galen’s policy regarding course failure seems unnecessarily harsh. If a student fails the theory portion of a course, they are required to retake all three components— theory, lab, and clinical—even if they passed the latter two, which involve long hours and significant effort. The theory portion alone consists of five tests, and failing just one can make it difficult to recover. Before attending, I read similar concerns in reviews, but I dismissed them as negative comments. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize they were accurate. If Galen truly cares about its reputation rather than its students, it should implement meaningful support to help students progress. Many of us are studying tirelessly, day and night.I reached out to an enrichment specialist for assistance with the three-component course, only to be met with disappointment. I was simply told to “read the book.” There was no offer of tutoring or meaningful guidance. When I sought additional help, the specialist discouraged me from sitting down to work through questions or understanding the material in-depth. The response I received was, "Just read and follow the objectives; it's all there. Besides, I have thousands of students to deal with." My experience with the enrichment support was disheartening, and it seems to reflect a broader issue within the school. I strongly advise prospective students to do thorough research before enrolling. The experience has been disappointing. It's not fair for all the monies paid. At least give credit for two pass component. Galen, it’s time to reevaluate your theory-based curriculum. Someone will continue to raise concerns until meaningful changes are made. Unfortunately, until that happens, many of us will remain guinea pigs in the process."

"Expensive with Flawed Policies and Poor SupportIt is unfortunate that a school as expensive as this one has such terrible policies in place. While there are a few instructors who genuinely care about student success, sadly, they are in the minority. One of the most frustrating aspects is that if you fail a theory class, you also automatically fail the clinical and lab portions, even if you’ve completed all the requirements to pass them. This means you have to repay and repeat both clinical and lab, which feels extremely unfair. It’s clear that this school prioritizes money and their NCLEX pass rates above all else. While NCLEX results are important, they shouldn’t come at the expense of student support and preparation for exams like COMPS.In the final quarter, the focus shifts to NCLEX prep, but you’re expected to pass three comprehensive exams (COMPS) before even thinking about the NCLEX. The problem is, nothing that’s reviewed in class seems to appear on the tests, which makes the whole process feel like a waste of both time and money. On top of that, trying to get help or even speak with someone is nearly impossible everything requires sending at least 10 emails before you get a response.Overall, this experience has been disheartening and not worth the high tuition cost."

"Welp, the reviews here dating from years ago are still relevant today. Fail 1 exam out of the 4, you basically are doomed for the rest of the semester. Teachers will just tell you to read the textbook and do 20 NCLEX questions a day. You can make flashcards for information from the teacher's powerpoint slides, copy and paste questions from the unit chapters study textbook, actually do the NCLEX questions daily, all studying for 3 weeks and end up with a very disappointing exam score. This is not just me, but only like 2 people are passing out of the entire class. Even worse, if you fail lecture, then you also fail lab regardless if you are passing one or the other. You will have to pay the same expensive tuition to take both and sit through it all again. This also means losing both credits combined enough to leave a permanent hole on your GPA. YOU CAN'T REVIEW EXAMS. How are we supposed to know what is correct or wrong if you've decided to retake the class? God, I wish I've taken reading these reviews seriously when deciding on enrolling. Apparently, there was a Change petition not too long ago that shows a glimpse of what us students have to face."

"A 91 percent in a class doesn’t even equal an A, Galen considers it a B, and a 72 percent is failing/repeat. They have unnecessary rules implemented just to make your life harder too. I didn’t know what I was getting into before it was too late. They accept low level entry scores and expect you to have high scores on everything after."

"After avoiding student loan debt for the first thirty years of my life, I naively decided to enroll at Galen College of Irreversible Student Debt and pursue an Associate degree in Registered Nursing. The biggest red flag for this school is what makes it appealing to people like me who are new college students with no transfer-in credits, they accept 100% of applicants who pass the TEAS test. 100% acceptance with 90% NCLEX pass rate, sounds like a dream, right? More like a nightmare. Galen is upfront about attendance policies (can’t miss <20%} and academic policies (>74% pass & failure of 2 or more nursing courses is grounds for expulsion). The problem is that voluntary withdrawal from any course is documented on official transcripts as course failure; even with documentation of adverse circumstances (serious illness, death, etc.). You can be on academic probation for withdrawing without ever being notified. This program is a minimum two-year commitment and, unfortunately, for a vast majority of alumni, serious illness, hardships, and loss of loved ones will occur during enrollment. Other ethical nursing programs have Leave of Absence programs that give grace to students in need of pausing academic pursuits, allowing them to maintain earned credits without penalizing them for negative circumstances that are likely out of their control to begin with. At Galen, if you have withdrawn from courses and proceed to be academically successful fourteen months after and then have your first course failure, they can dismiss you from the school. Then you have to repay the loans you now owe for the pre-requisite courses they charge double for, without an increase in income. Or pursue readmission. After sitting out multiple semesters and finally being approved for readmission, you are once again set up to fail. You continue the program with not only your earned credits, but also the negative course credits. If a re-admit passes retaken courses, the cumulative GPA will remain under 2.0 unless they achieve over an A-grade in ALL REMAINING COURSES. If the cumulative GPA is under 2.0, the student is again up for dismissal as well as non-approval for student loans to pay for this shark of a school. Greedy Galen will let a hopeful re-admit rack up even more debt, allowing the student to dig a deeper financial hole that they’ll likely never recover from, without advising them of the slim likelihood of success. There is also no official disciplinary probation period, so it can last as long as your Program Director likes(this is not universal & varies between students & campus). Again, past negative academic marks never dissolve, even after successfully retaking the courses, permanently staining student GPA’s! This school accepts all applicants so they can charge double for pre-requisite courses. Galen ensures NCLEX pass rates remain high by weeding out weaker students so that only self-taught academically gifted students who never fail or withdraw from a course make it to taking the NCLEX. My cohort started with >60 students, there are currently <20 students left that have two terms until graduation. I wish I would have looked at the statistics for students who successfully complete Galen’s programs before I wasted my time and money. I hope the BBB shuts down this money trap."

"There may be a few instructors who want to see you succeed, but other than that the whole school is a complete joke, making it only 4 exams to pass a class is so unfair, some people aren't great test takers but know the material. I don't care how much you cry out for help, you will just be told to read your book—a waste of money & time."

"Horrible school choice! They pack way to much into a tiny time from currently doing LVN to RN and they treat you like your a new nurse and over load you with content if you fail in one then you fail 3 classes if your taking a set of lab theory and clinical boom down the drain waste of money! They need to fire who ever is in change on these classes and redo the whole entire program not even similar to what’s out there at other campuses. It should be about transition HELLO get a grip"

"Such an amazing school! I can't believe how well they work with their students to succeed. They are supportive, available and offer the best learning environment. It shows up in their NCLEX pass rates that are above 90%. I'm grateful to know that graduates have the right schools for the crazy nursing environment that they have been thrown into in the last few years."

"I attended Galen LVN to ADN. COVID hit and when I was in MY LAST SEMESTER, I got COVID and was hospitalised. Galen dropped me and refused to readmit me to complete my final semester. Over $30,000 down the drain. I tried for over a year to get readmitted and finish the program and they refused to readmit me. They do not care about their students. It was not my fault COVID hit Texas."

"Be prepared to teach your self and get a overload of nothing that’s on the test be prepared for nurse to teach you instead of professors and teach things wrong and so called right for points back out of 30 6 went on to the next quarter worst mistake ever be prepared to pay 5000 plus for failing a class"

"I had a horrible experience at Galen in Gainesville. I should have known something was wrong from the first semester I started they were passive things like giving me a brand knew pair of scrubs pants that was ripped down the middle. The classes are too expensive. Second semester fundamentals is $5,000. So if you don't pass it, that's what you have to pay again. When I took pharmacology, I withdrew because they brought in an instructor who told Cortney jokes the whole time would make passive aggressive remarks to get the students to single me out because he was targeting me. I knew the material but because he refused to give me my correct grade I was failing when I got my third grade. The pharm test was on scantron. The instructors have the pen, so they pretty much give you what they want. When I took sociology, I would always have issues when writing my papers on canvas too, like Grammarly would always mess up on me but not in any of my other courses. In microbiology online, that was just terrible my courses on canvas for this course and pharmacology were removed for no reason for about a week which delayed my studies,then my worksheets in Canvas got removed. I reported this to my instructor but she couldn't understand why I was having these issues. She did everything she could to try and help me, but I could tell that something else was going on to try and prevent me from studying. When I finished all my prerequisites I was supposed to start clinicals for med.surg. the next semester but all of a sudden it said I didn't have any financial aid to cover my tuition at Galen, even though I was told that I had enough financial aid to finish the program."

"Horrible school, school instructors set up the students for failure. Instructors turn over rate very high in which makes learning in a classroom environment nearly impossible. School was convenient and heard great outstanding results from one of the other locations. 60-75 percent of the cohort is borderline failing and the instructors show no empathy or concern. RUN away before you invest your money and time"

"I can’t say it loud enough, please run from this school. These proprietary schools are all about money. They are not really here to educate professionals. I only even looked at this school because my employer pays 100% tuition reimbursement for Galen. It has been a huge waste of time. I withdrew from my program to attend because it was free and was only informed after withdrawing that they would only accept 50 of my 94 hours from UTA."

"Currently attending Galen it’s the worst mistake I ever made I was attending the community college but I dropped to attend Galen because I thought it would be faster the school is way to expensive the teachers are terrible Galen is only concerned about your money they set you up for failure they don’t teach you don’t prepare you for the exams there are no assignments only 4 exams which each make up for 25% of your grade if one is failed you fail the whole semester and you will be kicked out the program which would be a waist of time and you still have to pay student loans back if you decide to retake a course you will be paying out of pocket financial aide will not be available and all the classes are together so If you ace all of them except one you will be forced to retake allllll of them and pay out of pocket credits can not be transferred so it will be a waist of time and money please please be aware of Galen it’s a set up for failure debt and a waist of time"

"Great experience so far! New campus with a great location, faculty and staff are helpful and understanding. I’ve met so many new people and am in a study group that meets every week. Looking forward to my first clinical rotation next term…if you’re looking for a VN to ADN Bridge program, I would check out this one."

"Would Not recommend! The new program director is rude and condescending. She had me unenrolled the day before finals and the last day of class for an error in attendance. I had proof on my phone I was in class. She ignored me told me to take it up with the instructor who was quitting anyway so he didn't care. Then come to find out the same instructor was counting me present back in the fall when I had dropped the class and had proof. so she would not let me continue after being half way done with the program. Even though it was an error on her instructors."

"This is the worst school ever! They change the exams and make their own without main campus (Kentucky) informed. Staff never shows or teach nothing. If you not in the circle they will kick you out or change your exam grade by blaming the scantron malfunction. I have proof and releasing it to the board members of every campus. STAY AWAY FROM SA GALEN especially veterans"

"To be honest I’m not even sure when I am graduating from this school anymore. They are trying to block my graduation because apparently they think some students should not graduate so they can keep the NCLEX pass rates high and block the students they think won’t pass. Last semester they switched clinicals from once per week to twice per week. Now they are choosing clinical sites and they’ve enrolled me in a 2 hr away clinical while working full time. If you actually want a degree, choose a different school. They make all these promises when you are applying in and then it’s the complete opposite. They said they had clinical sites close to me. When in fact there was only 1 and they split away from Galen when I started. I was fortunate enough that they accepted my other credits from another school but others weren’t that lucky. Just stay away from this school at all costs!"

"I see that someone using my name has written a terrible review for Galen. I DID NOT WRITE THAT POST. I had an excellent experience with Galen. Their communication is lacking in some areas but overall felt that I was VERY prepared for NCLEX and the world of nursing."