Are new grad residencies a scam to get you to sign a 2 year contract?

The question

1. AOAvery on orientationNew grad, week 7 of orientation

   I am in one right now. Sixteen weeks total, ten of them precepted with the same nurse, plus classroom days every other week and a cohort of nine of us who text constantly. That structure is not a scam, it is the reason I have not quit. My commitment is two years and I knew the clawback number before I signed.

2. Nursing Mastery

   Residency is not a regulated term, so the word on the offer letter tells you nothing and the paperwork tells you everything. Ask for four things in writing: how many weeks of orientation, how many of those weeks are precepted, the commitment length in months, and the exact clawback clause including whether it prorates. Then find the date the clock starts, your hire day or the day you come off orientation, because those are not the same day. Orientation for a new grad commonly runs 6 to 16 weeks, so a program calling itself a residency with four weeks of orientation is a title, not a program. None of that is a favor to ask, it is all written down somewhere already.

3. BFBlair reading the fine printRN, 9 months in, tele

   Residencies are not a scam. Contracts can be. Mine was two years and $8,000, and the clawback did not prorate, which means leaving at month 23 would have cost me the same as leaving at month 2. That one word is the whole negotiation, so ask for prorated repayment before you sign, in writing, because plenty of systems will do it and almost none will offer it.

4. CNCharlie after the night shiftRN, 2 years, ED nights

   I went the other way. Direct hire, no contract, and I still got 12 weeks of orientation because I asked for the number in the interview and made them put it in the offer letter. Run the math on that $2 as well, at three twelves it is about $3,700 a year before taxes, and the nights differential on top of that is yours with nothing to pay back. At the 2 year mark I moved units and nobody had to sign off on it. If the direct hire will put the same orientation weeks in writing, the contract is buying you very little.

5. PBPriya between shiftsRN, 1 year, ICU

   The residency is how I got ICU straight out of school without doing med surg first. That was worth two years to me and I would sign it again. Route it by your goal. If the residency is on the unit you actually want, the commitment is the price of skipping a detour. If it is a unit you are settling for, remember your first job is not your forever job, and two years is a long time to be settled.

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