<p>I recently had a family member in a hospital in Pittsburgh. I asked this same question of every nurse I encountered in the hospital, since D will be studying nursing next year. I also have been asking questions of the nurses in doctor’s offices, the school nurse, our doctors, and even parents of friends who are nurses. D was trying to decide between different schools, and I was trying to get some information to assist her. </p>
<p>Every single nurse I have spoken to has said that the school doesn’t matter, except that a few nurses reported that there is a perception by the hospitals that one of our local schools does a better job at training nurses than the other local schools. (This was their subjective opinion, since I didn’t talk to the hospital employment office.) All of the nurses said that every nurse starts off at the same salary anyway. </p>
<p>I asked them about the RN to BSN route too. They all suggested that D pursue a BSN immediately if possible. While the RNs and BSNs started at the same wage in this hospital, they said that the BSNs have many more career paths available to them. </p>
<p>They said the choice of school might help a little for getting into nursing graduate schools, nursing management, or if D was weighing a career in nursing education but that it was most important to go to a school (1) with the highest NCLEX pass rate; and (2) where you’d have the most clinical hours and broadest experiences. They also said that the teacher student ratio was important. A few mentioned that having SIMs and early clinical experiences (0-4 vs. 2+2) were important too.</p>
<p>Based on D’s experiences researching schools, I’d suggest interviewing as many nurses as possible to see if you get the same answers. I also think it’s important to visit the nursing programs in person. There was a huge disparity between nursing programs at every school we visited. Some were almost premed in the number of science classes that were required. Others were more touchy-feely. Some had hospital wards set up in the nursing school, and others had only minimal SIMs. Some had unique clinical experiences to offer, such as burn units or transplant units. There may be a significant benefit to going to school in the location where you want to work someday, since you will develop contacts through your clinicals, the area will be most familiar with your nursing school, and it will be easier to interview while in school.</p>
<p>And, as qdogpa noted, the school is more than a degree. D wanted a “big school” experience, but also learned that nursing schools are a tiny school within the “big school.” Due to the lack of nursing educators and the resources needed for nursing schools, no nursing program will be as large as liberal arts, engineering or education programs. No matter where you go to school, you’ll be with the same smaller pool of classmates and in the same nursing classrooms for a few years. You may also be off-campus a lot doing clinicals. You may find that your class is >80% female. It’s very important that you find a school where you feel you “fit.”</p>