WGU and other pass fail programs will become more and more of a problem as we expect nurses to assume more of the role we once expected from MDs.
comment from a nurse about WGU:
I am a Registered Nurse. I got the degree that made me eligible for the NCLEX exam at a traditional brick and mortar college, and one of the oldest nursing programs in the country. Nursing courses are all pass/fail. The NCLEX exam is pass/fail. Some schools grade by a literal pass or fail ‘grade’. Most schools have minimum grades to ‘pass’, which effectively makes the course pass/fail. All clinical work is pass/fail. If you have ever been treated by a nurse, both their degree and NCLEX exam were pass/fail. So yes, you would like to be treated by a nurse who went to a pass/fail school, or you wont be treated by a nurse at all.
I am not defending WGU or commenting on the rigor of their coursework, nor can I speak to anything outside nursing education. I can say they must have satisfactory NCLEX exam pass rates, above at least 80%, or they would have already lost their license to teach nursing courses. All colleges that teach nursing courses teach to the NCLEX exam, they are supposed to. Nursing education is designed to teach to a minimum knowledge set, which you are then expected to demonstrate by taking an adaptive test, the same adaptive test all nursing candidates take anywhere in the country.