Faculty Burnout Is Real – and Admissions Is Part of the Problem

Burnout among nursing faculty isn’t just about pay or workload. It starts earlier – at admissions.

Most nursing programs rely on academic metrics like GPA, prerequisite completion, and standardized test scores when selecting applicants. These tools have their place. But they weren’t designed to assess whether someone has the mindset, motivation, or resilience to thrive in a high-pressure clinical education environment.

And when programs admit applicants based solely on academic indicators, they often admit candidates who may not be psychologically or emotionally prepared for what’s ahead.

The downstream impact lands squarely on faculty.

Instructors are left to patch gaps in student readiness. They rewrite lesson plans mid-semester, provide one-on-one remediation, and carry the emotional weight of supporting students who are struggling – or who never had a realistic chance of succeeding in the first place.

It’s a hidden workload that doesn’t show up in course schedules or faculty evaluations. And over time, it leads to frustration, disengagement, and turnover.

If we want to retain great faculty, we need to look upstream.
We need to improve how we choose the students they’re responsible for educating.

Level Assessments was built for this.
Our evidence-based admissions assessment goes beyond cognitive skills to measure attributes that matter most in nursing education – like grit, emotional regulation, initiative, and clinical judgment.

Programs using Level Assessments can:

• Admit applicants who are better prepared for the real demands of nursing school
• Reduce early attrition and remediation costs
• Free faculty to focus on teaching – not triage

What if the key to faculty retention isn’t just better support… but better student selection?

Learn more about how Level Assessments helps nursing programs build stronger cohorts and support the educators who guide them.