Since the NCLEX Is required and is the defacto test of competency for new BSN grads does which school you attend really impact career opportunities? Or would a potential employer only care that you passed the exam and demonstrated the competency. With the costs varying from possible free ride to $60+ with some merit aid I am wondering if the higher cost school’s reputation has any real world value from a career perspective. I get that there are certainly learning differences but do employers (hospitals, doctors, clinics…) care, if you have the certification? My youngest daughter is considering Nursing and I am trying to get up to speed.
Don’t pay $250K for a BSN degree. The starting salaries will not be any higher if you have an expensive degree.
Apply to multiple colleges so you can compare net costs. The net price calculator for each college is one initial screening mechanism.
Do everything you can to bring up your SAT or ACT scores, because much merit aid is based upon them. Many private colleges offer 50% off of tuition merit aid for their top applicants. The ACT has more science and less math, so it is usually better for for most nursing applicants.
I think most new RNs start at hospitals, and most hospitals know which nursing programs in their region did a good job of preparing graduates that they hired in the recent past. Therefore, the quality of the program matters - but that does not necessarily correlate with the overall prestige of the university. Some lesser know colleges have excellent nursing programs.
I read that some employers prefer to interview BSN grads who have a GPA over a certain level.
Thanks for the advice. DD is near top of class and does well on testing so that will be well covered. More wondering if there was any significant difference in, for example a Branch campus of U Texas vs Texas Tech nursing vs. Baylor. I get the difference in environment and the overall university but will it matter to employers if GPA is similar and NCLEX is passed. For us one is a likely full ride one is significant money but not full ride and one is $30k+ in loans.
I live in NC but when I graduated nursing school (later in life career) in florida the base pay was $19.31. Trust me when I say this… it does not matter if you go to an expensive school or a local 4 year school as you will get the same starting salary in the hospital (if you choose to start your career there first). Better to go to the collage without all the debt.
Thanks for the feedback Nurse001 and Charliesch
We are looking at the NCLEX pass rates as the most important consideration overall…Ex: Univ. Nev. Reno…Not known as a good school but the nursing school gets good pass rates so we will consider.
Many colleges manipulate their NCLEX pass rates by limiting who can take the test. Many colleges will not allow a student to take the test until after they do very well on the practice tests. Some colleges will make a student re-take test prep classes or do an extra semester before they can take the test. Therefore, a very high pass rate may actually be a bad thing - because they are not allowing some students to take the test.
In response to the original question, I believe many health systems like to hire graduates from colleges that have provided well-prepared employees in the past. Therefore, the actual quality of the nursing program matters more than the prestige of the college as a whole.
My daughter is a nurse practitioner. I don’t get the sense that the school she attended affected her employers in deciding to hire or not hire her versus others. The two differences between schools that might matter:
- Where will the nursing students do their clinical work (and where can they get part-time jobs)? Because she was in school in the Boston area, she did clinicals at two Harvard teaching hospitals, the Tufts and BU teaching hospitals. Plus, nursing homes etc. And she had a part-time job at a Harvard teaching hospital.
- Is there direct entry into a nurse practitioner program? That may or may not be of interest but all my D had to do was maintain a B+ average (I think) and was automatically admitted to the NP program. For her, a very good choice as she loves the science/diagnostic part of the job as well as the people part of the job.
Thank you for this. Would you mind saying which school she attended? My daughter is very interested in Simmons and we’re impressed by the Boston hospitals the Simmons students get their clinical experience, but wonder whether Simmons has a national reputation, and frankly whether it matters.
My son graduated from nursing school last year. He went to a local LAC and did well. He worked as a CNA for a year during school and realized he just wasn’t making enough money so he went back to being a server and was hired thru the university to be a Nurse Mentor his senior year. He applied to a huge well-known children’s hospital out of state and was hired before he even graduated nursing school. He said they didn’t ask him questions about his school or grades. They were interested in him passing the NCLEX.
He currently works with nurses who attended very prestigious universities , some that went to state school and some who went to a LAC. They all have the same job and same pay. In his opinion, he does not think it matters where you go to nursing school.