Accreditation: My Story
I attended Bob Jones University for two years as a nursing major. I wasn’t even going to consider BJU until I heard that they were accredited. At the time, I had no idea about the differences between national and regional accreditation. During a freshman meeting, my parents talked face to face with the nursing program director about my plans to attend anesthesia school once I graduated to become a CRNA. My dad asked her if there would be any problems with that, and she looked him right in eye and told him that BJU was highly respected. She had ample opportunity to tell us we might want to check some things out and make sure grad school would work for me--but she didn't say a word. So, we believed her for a while.
About a week later, the nursing freshmen were required to attend a meeting where it was revealed to us that the nursing program was not accredited. I had assumed that since the school was "accredited" the nursing program would be too, but that's not the case. They are approved through the SC State Board of Nursing to allow their graduates to sit for the NCLEX exam, but are not accredited via the NLN or CCNE. However, all the students were assured that although we could not practice nursing in the military (first time I was made aware of that “little” caveat) and attend one particular grad school, anywhere else should be just fine. I believed them for a while, but during the second semester of my sophomore year I decided to contact some anesthesia schools to see if my unaccredited nursing degree was actually as acceptable as the nursing program at BJU said it was. I was shocked when only 2 out of about 20 schools (this includes every possible school in the south around BJU) said they might consider me. Realizing that it would be absolutely idiotic to limit myself to the mercy of two schools for a highly competitive graduate program, I transferred to a regionally accredited state university with an accredited nursing program. None of my credits transferred due to BJU’s national accreditation.
I am extremely disappointed with BJU. I do not care what kind of accreditation they have or do not have, but I do care that they completely glossed over the ramifications of national accreditation and the lack of accreditation for a nursing degree. I would advise prospective students to do their homework on accreditation before choosing to attend BJU, and to not rely on what they tell you. The thought never crossed my mind that an institution so outspoken about God would be nothing less than upfront with me about their accreditation. I was wrong.
Comments
4 comments postedNot sure who "Erika" is because all of the students named "Erika" who attended while the school has been TRACS accredited graduated with BSN degrees from BJU, rather than attending only 2 years as the story states. Could you please give an example of the number of nursing graduates who have not been able to get into graduate school? I personally know of two graduates who have successfully completed their studies in nursing anesthesia school without any difficulty. There are multiple graduates who have successfully completed graduates degrees from many different schools and are currently working in nursing administration and nurse practitioner roles. Thank you!
Hello Anonymous,
My real name is indeed Erika. I also did attend BJU for two years, and yes, it was during the time BJU was TRACS accredited.
I also know about the two successful nurse anesthesia graduates. I was banking on their experience as a BJU BSN student going on to graduate school becoming my experience as well. Once I was told that the nursing program was not accredited by the NLN or CCNE and that the military and at least one graduate school was out of the question (after I had enrolled, started classes, etc.) is when my parents and I started to wonder if having an accredited BSN degree was more important than I was being told.
Turns out, it is. After questioning the head of the nursing program about this several times, she--to her credit--finally honestly admitted to me that she was unable to get a recent graduate into anesthesia school due to BJU's lack of CCNE or NLN accreditation. I was told to look at schools in close proximety to BJU, because those should be fine (same old story...). So I did. Hence the 2 out of 20 schools I contacted, as I stated in my story. If you don't believe me, contact the schools yourself. Ask them if they will accept non-accredited BSN degrees from a nationally-not regionally-accredited university.
Neither I nor anyone else (that I know of) is claiming that BJU graduates will never get to attend graduate school. They do. We know that. We're thrilled for them. What we are trying to say is that the TRACS national accreditation, and in my case, the lack of accreditation for the nursing program, is not acceptable to many schools across the country. It carries a huge risk for potential, past, and current BJU students who wish to transfer or further their education.
I remember hearing after I graduated in 99' that the military wouldn't accept my degree. However, I didn't hear even that much from BJU. Back then they were doing freshmen orientation just to tell everyone how wonderful life was because they weren't accredited. They used the good 'ole "now the government can't interfere with the fine education we offer, and force us to lower our standards to fit their lousy standards" bit. Needless to say, I bought it hook, line, and $40G's. I advise anyone who holds a degree from BJ to hurry up and at least attempt to enroll in a real college. Your degree becomes more worthless by the day. Thanks for sharing Erika!
Thank you for sharing Erika. I absolutely agree that honesty would be the best policy. Again BJU would not need to be negative, but just letting you know that students might have issues, or letting you know that there are different types of accreditation go a long way to not burning students.