An online nursing organization, PracticalNursing.org, ranked Allan Hancock College’s nursing program in the top 4 percent of California’s programs, based on student pass rates for the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses.
According to the organization’s study, 97.9 percent of Hancock’s students who took the exam between 2011 and 2014 passed it—and between 2011 and 2012, 100 percent passed it. The statewide average pass rate during that period was 79 percent, and the national rate 84 percent.
“We have known for years that our pass rates were among the best in the nation,” Bonny Friedrich, director of Hancock’s nursing program, said in a press release from the college.
In 2015, all 27 Hancock students who took the exam passed as well. Numbers for 2016 are not yet firm, according to the press release.
Hancock’s nursing program provides 984 hours of clinical experience to its students over the course of three semesters, and it requires students to complete five courses prior to enrollment. The press release said more than 150 potential students apply each year for about 35 open spots in the program.
Friedrich said in the release that she attributes the students’ high pass rate to the program’s quality of instruction as well as “consistent full-time faculty” and “strong relationships with clinical facilities on the Central Coast.”
This article appears in Mar 16-23, 2017.