I took a quick look at the Penn nursing outcomes posted a few pages ago, and based on that I’d say that many Penn nurses probably get “better” first job offers, at least better than my daughter is seeing at her directional state college. At my daughter’s college most nurses end up starting on general medical/surgical floors, not in ICU, surgery, maternity or some of the other specializations. But starting salary for all new nurses is fixed, at least at all the hospitals my daughter applied to.
So what is a better floor worth? I have no idea, my daughter would never have been accepted into Penn, so for us the cheapest college with a good nursing program was the answer.