u/OrbOfConfusionGotMe

Like for example I heard it is meant to weed people out not from failing a drug test or background check but more on reading comprehension?

I heard too the school over accepts people just to milk them for tuition money to fund their construction program costs knowing some of the students didn’t have a good chance at graduating from the start. But I don’t know if that is true.

I barely passed my TEAS with an English reading score in the 60s and 70s after multiple tries. I barely understood castlebranch myself it felt like I was looking at a different language.

I saw a few people say on internet comments say all the step in castle branch are simple easy basic steps and different people online said the people over complaining about all the different steps having trouble usually get weeded out later on and don’t graduate and without Reddit guiding them they wouldn’t normally be able to complete it. Then I realized it felt it was true for me I needed Reddit to complete it.

If we have a hard time with castle branch is it a sign we no do well later?

I still don’t get where to do the flu shot. How long can we go without it? I heard we can just skip it.

For years I have seen posts in this Reddit about people complaining about nursing being a bad program. Maybe it is fun for people to vent and the nursing department is run by a small group of people. But who is actually in charge of making the canvas and schedules available? It feels unfair to criticize them.

What if they purposely delay things longer as a punishment because they feel mistreated by the students so they end work early?

If someone wouldn’t say something in real life or over your school email is it still good to say online? A lot of NOVA staff still read the Reddit even if it’s mainly students using it. I’ve had classes in the past where the professors got upset from people’s reddit posts even if they don’t know who the user is.

Should people be nicer to the nursing faculty online? It comes off as if people think it is 50 people running it and they should have no excuses when it’s really more like 5 people or less running it.

I heard at other schools if someone criticizes a nursing program online they get kicked out if it is a TikTok or instagram post. Maybe Reddit is different type of site that brings out a hidden side of people’s feelings?

When you buy anything online or watch any entertainment a feedback survey usually appears. If someone wants to improve the GMU academic or college experience should there be a way for students to have an easier way to express their thoughts? I had a few classes at GMU and other schools where they let students slowly build up extra credit by filling out course related surveys at the end of every class. Maybe if they contribute a question other are shy is they are just writing down how they are feeling it makes the school better and safer. Maybe they get a small amount of bonus points toward their final grade so there’s an incentive system and then maybe if they did so many surveys across so many classes they get a special course credit like a Gen ed communications class elective credit toward their degree. This would fix the common problem of people missing out on the random credits before graduation. The professor should then get a database of questions other students have. And it would prevent students being in a bad or violent mood on campus it seems. Is this a good idea yo make it a school wide rule? It seems it has had successful impacts in any class that used it. The one survey at the end of a course style doesn’t seem to be effective. Would it be better as optional extra credit or a mandatory class feedback system? I think this idea if it helps students is honorary. Should students have a better way to express their thoughts and feelings?

I was curious if GMU has a Redditor club? Or if not does it sound like a good idea?

Maybe it is an uncomfortable topic to think about yet out of curiosity I heard some students have had bad experiences.

People already complain the acceptance rate is too high so maybe if they began to screen peoples social media comments for hurtful posts that could help make a better student experience? Or does that feel like an overreach?

A small amount of people online can say hurtful things towards students based around their ethnicity or religion and some people think its okay because they believe they aren't insulting someone's race.

For example someone said they thought certain women who they believed to be Palestinian gave them a negative graduation experience because they complained the women were talking too much and celebrating too loudly with their friend and they specified they were both Palestinian as if it was a bad word. This is something that sounds like people are not afraid to say online but they would not say in real life.

Even if someone is not discriminated against in real life if they read something hateful online that is towards their identity it can effect their spirit and mood in person. So a lot of people would sit by themselves or stay further within whatever culture or ethnicity or group that seems similar to theirs.

This leads me to believe perhaps possibly do you think people are ever subconsciously treated poorly just for appearing to be from a certain religion or ethnicity?

And then there was a famous GMU Reddit post from months ago about a new incoming Law school student who was making fun of people of African American origin. Did that student ever face any consequences? It sounded like nothing happens usually.

It sounds like GMU values diversity as a school but a lot of students make it to graduation without being able to treat students with some basic respect some people feel they have to insert something hateful for some reason. Maybe it could be any college not just GMU?

Some say social media background checks should be normalized to combat these sentiments. What do you think?

From the GMU website it sounded as if flags under the size of 18 by 18 inches were allowed. Did some students get incorrectly kicked out at the May graduation? It sounded as if flags were allowed but many event workers didn’t measure the flags at the graduation to see if it was breaking a rule they just assumed it was too big.

Personally I think it is too much work to hold a big flag while walking across the stage however what was the origin of the controversy around it?

Sure this story is months old from May but it’s been on my mind for months coming and going so I figured I’d ask them gmu Reddit community maybe they know more.

I remember I heard the most controversy around this at the May 2026 graduation. People employed to enforce the no flag rule looked bad kicking out a graduating student and students holding a flag look bad were shamed and treated like a menace to society.

Interestingly however years ago when it was allowed to fly a flag at graduation no one cared. No negative news existed… but these same flags that were against the graduation policy to hold on the stage were fine on the graduation outfit regalia stole sash decorations.

It seems ironic. Students could not even walk across the stage with an American flag despite the mascot of the school being a Patriot. I remember someone said only a Ukrainian flag was allowed to be walked across the stage but that sounded made up as a rumor with no evidence to support that happening. So if that never happened why would someone also make that up?

Do people believe the students who flew flags were really to blame for not knowing? It sounds like the no flag rule wasn’t communicated well and anyone who did have a flag with them was written off as an indecent thug to society when for years it was okay at GMU. At a lot of other famous universities even other local ones people were allowed to fly any flag no matter any opinion.

And then maybe some people knew about no flags and they wanted to be kicked out so they got what they wanted it could seem like.

It also seemed strange the people working the event were so rude to anyone who held a flag. I remember I saw many videos of it. I guess it’s one of those jobs everyone looks bad in that situation. The whole no flag rule seemed like a bad idea that just created more negativity than its goal to reduce it by not offending anyone with any type of flag. So did the no flag rule backfire?

Was it fair to the graduating students after years of being taught to embrace their heritage and diversity only for later those who held a flag were treated like a criminal and shamed for expressing themselves and their diversity?

I also heard people tried to sue GMU for not letting them hold a flag at graduation because they were targeted based on their ethnic identity and violation of free speech. Did that actually go anywhere?

How did it end up this way?

It makes me embarrassed to associate with GMU when I think about that specific story. Anyone else curious how it got to that point?

I heard maybe people thought the flags were being flown at graduations because some thought it had to do with supporting a faction in a war or in politics. However that was never my impression or anyone I know no one had that impression.

Will flags be allowed at the 2026 or 2027 graduations or not for the far future?

So flags are only okay on graduation stole’s?

Or maybe was the no flag rule an elaborate marketing gimmick theory to promote GMU’s name to trend as in “any publicity is publicity even if it’s negative”?

I see on SIS most or all the professors assigned to the NSG nursing classes say TBA. However when I click on the bookstore button under my schedule on SIS it takes me to the nova Barnes and noble link and it reveals the instructors last names for the different course sections early but also some names don’t show up. And then some class times overlap which feels more like a placeholder than a finalized schedule. Does anyone know when the final class times get released or is it a glitch? And then tuition is due before August 10th or they drop you from the courses?

I emailed them myself the past few days and weeks and I always got a response usually instantly. However this doesn’t sound true for other student’s experiences.

I read a bunch of posts on here from what sounds to be different people they have a shared experience of when they try to contact MEC mainly by email relating to the nursing program they don’t get a response.

Do you think the reason these students don’t get responses is that it’s the summer time? Or it’s run by a small amount of people so it’s a lot of work?

It makes me curious what could be the reason behind this phenomenon? Or is calling it a phenomenon too complicated of a description. Maybe it’s more the timing someone emails? However usually even if I email at 8pm or 3am they respond within a day.

Maybe it’s a busy season too over 100 students right?

Not sure if this is just a GMU handshake job site thing or other schools. So far I’ve only heard of this happening to GMU handshake accounts is that often a lot of job messages just are not real or it seems the recruiters send out messages that indicate they didn’t actually read someone’s profile or skills. So they invite them to apply for a job that doesn’t match or requires years of specific experience or is in some far away remote location no where near Virginia.

Or they talk about high unrealistic salaries that don’t actually exist as maybe attention grabbing bait.

And some of these handshake recruiters do this without fear of penalty or losing their job. So are they likely using ai generated messages?

In the past years ago the handshake recruiter messages used to make sense before ai got popular in 2023. I noticed this kind of started in 2026 the most.

That’s my handshake job experience.

Then for the events section posted on handshake like career fairs , job or club events it’s another experience… usually lists a small amount of people attending but usually a big chunk of people attending an event often don’t really attend the school or any similar school. Maybe it just means it was advertised somewhere else?

So if there’s a career fair advertised as for GMU students sometimes do you think it’s unfair people from other schools not even alumni sometimes attend?

Even if some events don’t say GMU students only. Maybe that isn’t the solution to have it only for GMU students anyways? However I did notice more places start to check for GMU student ID than in the past.

Some recruiters at in person events realistically only have time to talk or have meaningful conversations to around 10 people when 100s attend.

That’s my experience after going to many career fairs at gmu or else where. Anyone else notice how packed GMU career fairs got in the past few years too?

It used to be barely anyone going maybe a decade ago to now 1000s of students are stuffed in a room.

Is there a better system or solution to manage career fairs than people just waiting in lines like the old fashion way? Online zoom career fairs during Covid were the best everyone had a chance.

Or is it really most things are more first come first serve for an event in person without it being clearly stated?

However so many people show up 15 or 30 minutes early to be first in line. Will it start to become similar to a rare Pokémon card drop where people sit outside a store for hours early?

Are any of these events actually useful to attend? I hear most people don’t get jobs from career fairs but also many people do as well. So a mixed bag.

Or for any college health program similar to nursing?

Classes start in 3-4 weeks and not sure if it’s actually worth the effort trying to review now.

I see all the different semesters class topics are listed online for all the years.

However then I hear many say you’ll likely have to do a lot of outside research basically teaching yourself the concepts and you won’t have enough time to review when classes start as everything moves too fast to fully comprehend?

I have seen a lot of negative GMU posts likely more than any other year. But it’s the summer. Classes start in August I don’t know what people are complaining about so soon. Was it a bad orientation experience?

People complain about GMU but it’s actually one of the few real accredited colleges in northern Virginia. There’s a lot of other scam schools that actually deserve the criticism.

It seems to it boiling down to people criticize the school for not giving out the true college experience because it’s a commuter school yet what does that mean? There’s over 6,000 colleges and universities across America. Which one holds the model experience that provides the most happiness and success?

Me personally I was always so busy with classes, studying and homework no matter what college I went to I would never have the time to complain or notice anything bad. It surprises me people have the time.

Whenever I visited GMU for years after Covid I noticed they really cleaned up the school, nice fancy classrooms were built. The campus looks clean. People were friendly and dressed nice.

I was actually impressed by GMU it felt like I was visiting another highly ranked schools such as Batman university in Turkey or Colgate university in New York. Maybe colleges like that they hold the real college experience?

And maybe to me GMU felt like it had come a long way in a positive direction, it feels like UMD or UVA now.

I think the most important college experience is getting a degree to get a job at the end as a bare minimum. And GMU has a good history of providing successful students who finds jobs it sounds like.

Is most of the negative criticism just coming from freshmen from high school who are under 18 - 21 and young? I think a lot of people forget some students that go to GMU can also be under 18 sometimes but it’s rare.

Should complaints about the school experience be taken seriously if someone never visited at least 1 club?

Ironically GMU actually was founded as a commuter school in the 1950s it didn’t get any on campus housing until the 1970s before most young people attending today and their parents were even born.

However this commuter school description later became a generational hate of GMU that has been going on online since the dawn of Facebook and Reddit in the early 2000s that is still seemingly passed down for some reason.

There’s club fairs, degree specific clubs, the get connected website. Instagram and Facebook pages. To me a lot of the criticism of GMU doesn’t make sense when someone looks at it calmly and logically.

What can GMU do to improve or is it already great?

The canvas shell used to show an old book list from last semester. However when the new list releases what books do we get is it all on the list or just a few?

From what I remember there were multiple buying options such as the Elsevier bundle, nova all access etc. Would we likely need any physical books or can it all be ebooks?

I have heard bad things such as it is disorganized or outdated things not sure if it’s true. And also good things. However what would students mean by that?

Is it really the fault of the college, professor or student’s effort?

I remember there were a lot of crisis number signs in the MEC building I do not remember that being there from years ago. I heard a certain event that happened to a student triggered the signs.

What should students expect? And what class or professor did most students disappear in?

I was reading old posts it sounds like people working a job while going to school was a reason people failed too instead of a hard class or bad professor.

I see in SiS nursing has now been updated as the official degree plan for all students in that program. I heard no one actually has to sign up for classes you just automatically get signed up for them is that true and when does it likely happen a week before classes in the middle of August or earlier?

Is it like that for all 4 semesters?

And all students in all classes are grouped by last name?

The deadline for the flu shot in the DISA system is due August 1. However it’s likely impossible to meet that deadline after asking my local pharmacy they said as the flu shot doesn’t become available until mid August in most places. I remember in other programs years before the deadline was closer to mid August before class and people could get it super early August before. Was this just an oversight or miscalculated deadline? I remember some people said flu shots are offered late July to meet the deadline but I haven’t heard of any place that does it.

Based on the nova nursing division website it gave a link to an excel sheet that said in the past 5 years 80-145 students made it to the end of their program and passed the NCLEX. Does that mean on their first try?

How many people seemed to be at the orientation it looked like hundreds. I would guess maybe 150 but it seemed to be more.

Given around 300 people apply each semester. And maybe there were around 150 at the orientation does that mean the acceptance rate is around 50% for nursing?

So if 150 are accepted every year is that a good or bad sign only 80-145 make it to the end?

I was reading some old nursing advice story posts on here from a semester 1/level 1 nursing students from last year in 2025 and the years before that was very detailed. Some people had negative experiences and positive experiences I read over the years.

I noticed a lot of people leave good advice stories when they start the program but years later they get too busy. I was curious if there were any updates?

It seems most advice posts are about semesters 1 and 2 while semesters 3 and 4 are more rare to find. Maybe many are too busy, or moved on to focus on work by then or worse maybe they stopped posting because they withdrew from the program. I heard maybe a quarter do not make it for whatever reason. Not sure if it’s true.

So below a grade of 80 gets someone kicked out of the program even in their 4th final semester or are there retakes?

Is it true all the exams and quizzes are in person on the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor on a school computer? I couldn’t find much information how exams or quizzes are done it seems it changes every year.

I guess everyone’s individual experiences will be different and we will all experience the answers to these questions ourselves at some point in the future.

I am sure a lot of other students might be curious or stressed out wondering what to expect.

Maybe sharing any advice or tips helps.

Thank you.

After registering for the in person MEC symposium I got to a page saying the registration was confirmed and I would be emailed with details. However, I never got any confirmation details, which seemed like a glitch at the time. The only email I later got was a note a day later that the in person session was at full capacity and students should instead sign up for the online version.

Does that message mean if we didn’t get a in person session confirmation email it means it is full and we have to register for the online zoom version instead? Or was that email more for people who didn’t sign up yet?

Or will confirmation details come closer to the in person day? Not trying to miss a deadline you know, did anyone else experience this and know what to do? I was going to email them to ask but it’s after hours and maybe the community knows better on here.

Thanks.