Hi,
I am thinking about majoring in Health Sciences to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I was looking at schools and noticed a difference between a few top rated colleges which is whether they are a private institution or public. Could someone explain to me if the type of colleges(private or public) has an effect on selecting a graduate school? I am planning on going to an Ivy League for grad. Should I stick with the private universities for undergrad or consider a public school when I begin to apply for college?
The differences between public and private are similar to the differences between private and public high school. And the extent to which there are differences that matter depend upon the state system (or private school) and what you are looking for. Some state systems are good to excellent. States with flagships and those known to be excellent systems in general can have schools that have more resources than some good private schools. The older state systems are often the best. NY has a poor state system. That isn’t to say you can’t get a good education at a SUNY but it is far from the kind of experience you’d have at a private school of the same size.
I’m not sure what you mean by "I was looking at schools and noticed a difference between a few top rated colleges which is whether they are a private institution or public. "
In terms of graduate training, there is a big difference between Masters and PhD programs. For the Ivy League schools, many of the Ma schools are cash cows and not any where near as competitive as the undergraduate programs are.
In terms of whether to pursue private or public college, obviously the price can be a major consideration. Most top private schools are need blind and cover need-so if you have top credentials one of the private schools can actually be more affordable than a public one and a much different experience. Without top credentials, the private school can be very costly. Whether the experience is worth the cost depends on your finances and how important different experiences are to you. My guess is that most people on this site would say it isn’t worth the difference in cost. I would say that what state you are in makes a huge difference. If you live in a state with a good system, like California, Michigan, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, etc. then you have access to great public schools. But if you life in a state with a weak system, you just have to decide if the price you’d pay for a private school is worth paying.
I agree that for many students, one of the most significant differences is in the pricing.
Public schools almost always offer lower sticker prices, and better financial aid, to state residents. Even for out-of-state students, their sticker prices tend to be lower than private school sticker prices. However, net costs to attend the richest, most selective schools can be lower for students from low to upper middle income families.
There are other differences (although I’m not familiar with how they play out in nursing programs).
You should apply to a mix of schools, including private schools where merit awards are possible. In some states, NJ for example, the state schools offer very little value. It wouldn’t be unusual for NJ students to spend less at private schools.
While a couple Ivy schools offer nursing, it is not a profession where the “prestige” of school matters much. Many of the top grad programs will be a mix of schools, and I am guessing state schools probably have an edge, or schools like Rush University. Resources at most state schools go disproportionately to graduate students, so they are a better choice at the graduate level.
If you are a high stat student, there are many private schools with some of the top nursing programs you could attend very economically and very enjoyably.
@lostaccount How is it that you manage to work some sort of slight against the SUNY system into any discussion about public colleges?
I’d say there are easily 20 or more private universities in the Northeast, comparable in size to some of the SUNYs, that are academically stronger overall (and in other respects may offer a better undergraduate “experience”.) Most of them are much more selective, though, and have much higher sticker prices (even compared to the SUNY OOS rates). How many of them offer better nursing programs, for the money, than any of the SUNY programs? Possibilities; Georgetown, GW, Catholic U, JHU, UPenn, Villanova, Columbia, Yale, Boston College. I don’t know how many of these offer nursing programs at the undergraduate level (if that’s what the OP wants.)
…majoring in Health Sciences
I assume you mean majoring in nursing? To become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, you need an undergraduate degree (BSN) in nursing and a RN license. Columbia University offers (MDE/ETP) for students without an BSN:
Columbia, Yale and University of Pennsylvania are the only Ivy League Universities with Nurse Practitioner Programs.
A high stat student will get a great deal most likely below perhaps well below OOS costs at University of Scranton, Quinnipiac, Fairfield, St. Anselm, Sacred Heart, etc. All have very high quality nursing programs with first time pass rates at or above many other more prestigious schools. Not applying for a big merit award at a private school would be a mistake, especially if the student can’t qualify for need based aid.
Going to Scranton with a merit award over any SUNY or NJ state school among others is a no-brainer.
Public schools charge higher tuition for out of state students. And most give little or no need based aid to out of state students.
To take a step back – the fundamental difference between public and private universities is that public universities receive funding from the State, and their mission, typically, is to serve the citizens of the State through education and, often, economic development (be educating the populace, keeping talent in-state, spinning off research discoveries etc). As in-state families pay State taxes which are used, in part, to support the public university system, tuition is much lower for in-state students than for out of state students and financial aid and, sometimes, merit awards, are better for in-state students. For instance, in my home state, Indiana, in-state tuition at the flagship campus, Bloomington, is around $10,000 per year and around $33,000 for non-Indiana residents. Some universities have specific, state-mandated limits on the percentage of out of state students who can attend the flagship, in order to make sure that this state-funded institution serves the citizens of the state.
In contrast, private universities are not state institutions and do not have a difference in tuition for instate and out of state students. With tuition/room and board often $60,000-65,000 a year at many private schools, families who cannot afford to write that check for 4 years (most of us), need to look closely at financial considerations, such as the eligibility for financial aid from public and private schools, and whether a public, in state school, might offer the best “bang for the buck” for a student, depending on their interests.
In terms of graduate school admission, there are so many factors that come into play, that targeting an Ivy league grad program now, as a high school student, is pre-mature. A professional school such as law and med school, requires the highest possible gpa and test scores. Ph.D. programs look to the quality of the research and mentorship a student had as an undergrad.
So, at this point in time, for a high school student whose interests will likely evolve over the next few years, sort out the money question with your family – ask your parents to get this year’s tax forms and run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) on the websites of a few schools you might be interested in, in order to get a sense how much the schools expect your family to pay (Expected Family Contribution, or EFC), and whether that is an amount your family can actually afford. Many families are surprised to discover that, while they think they can afford, perhaps $10,000 a year, the school looks at their assets and income and determines the EFC is much much more. That gap between EFC and what families can actually manage, means a student needs to find more affordable options, by looking at in-state tuition rates or looking for schools where their gpa and test scores puts them in the top of the class so that the school would likely give them merit award (keeping in mind that the Ivy league does not give merit awards).
Good luck, and keep researching.
@tk21769 You note that the schools listed are much more selective and more expensive but still seem to make a comparison. There is no comparison between SUNY and those schools. There are other less known privates that SUNY would compare better against on price and quality of education.
SUNY Stony Brook is a good school and I could send my D there if she wanted for less full pay OOS than I could to most of those schools net price. No, I am not full pay at privates.
OP: biggest thing for you is what @Jamrock411 noted. You need a BSN in undergrad to set yourself up for.a nurse practitioner program.
Both of my state schools offered way, way less than the private school more than a thousand miles away… Eh.
@usualhopeful to be fair, many other NYers I’ve talked to say that besides the four good ones (Buffalo, Geneseo, Stony Brook, Bing), none of the SUNY schools are at all very good. And I agree, in all honesty. It’s in the same vein as NJ public schools in that only 3 or 4 are any good (Rutgers, TCNJ, Rowan) and those are the only ones that are worth attending if you’re from OOS.
@LBad96 I guess I think having 3-4 publics worth attending OOS is pretty good.
@LBad96 what do you mean that none of the SUNY colleges (excluding Buffalo, Binghamton, Geneseo, Stony Brook) are any good? Many of these schools have nicer campuses than the four “big” ones- new dorms, new gyms, libraries, academic buildings, etc. Many of these smaller colleges have internship opportunities all over the world. I know students who recently graduated from some of these smaller SUNY campuses and landed jobs immediately in their chosen field. These schools are very good for those going into licensed professions such as PT (3+3 programs are available), teaching, speech, etc. Classes are small, the teachers are licensed in their field, there are opportunities to attend professional conferences, etc.
I know five kids who are graduating this year from the smaller SUNY schools and have teaching jobs lined up already. Another girl I know will be working for a diabetes organization.
To say that none of these schools are any good is an exaggeration.
Haha, yeah. I meant Nursing. I wanted to say Nursing but I wasn’t 100% sure at that time if that was the title of the major…Thank you though!
Yes, Thank you for the advice. My older sister ,just recently, went to Columbia to get her BSN, and she is now taking a few years off to gain experience at a hospital so she can go back and continue her education to become a Nurse Anethesist.
The more importatnt question is, if you want to be a nurse practitioner, why would you go to an Ivy League graduate school?
Your MSN at Penn, Yale, or Columbia is going to cost you around $140,000 in today’s dollars, most of which will be financed by loans. By contrast, if you went to a public flagship university in your state, you may end up paying around $80,000 total. Your salary as a PNP is going to be around the same - enough to comfortably repay $60-80K, but not enough to repay $120-140K. The jobs you are eligible and able to get as a PNP will not be significantly different if you attend an Ivy vs. a good public flagship university.
New York does not have a poor state university system - many of the state universities in NY are good to great. And private schools range all over the map - are you really trying to say that a degree from Binghamton or Stony Brook or Geneseo wouldn’t be as good as an education from Daemon College, Berkeley College (the one in NYC), Touro College, College of New Rochelle, DeVry…etc.? There are a lot of private colleges. They are all over the map.
Just because the people who live there say it doesn’t mean it’s actually true. I can think of a couple of other great SUNY campuses - SUNY Purchase, for example, which is great for getting people into the arts and entertainment industries; or SUNY New Paltz, which attracts a lot of high-achieving kids from the city because of its proximity. Those four might be the four with the most name recognition but that doesn’t mean they’re the only good ones.
It also depends on what we mean by good. CC is a place inhabited by people seeking the hyperelite, so if we’re talking about competing for top jobs after graduation of course SUNY Fredonia or Oswego don’t compare. But if we’re talking about being able to find a job and settle down with a middle-class lifestyle, then most of the four-year SUNY campuses will suffice for that. (And you can go to a top graduate school from pretty much anywhere).
…Columbia doesn’t offer a standalone BSN program. They’re a graduate school of nursing only. They used to have a combined BS/MSN program, which is a three-year full-time program. I suppose theoretically someone could take time off after completing the RN/BS portion of the program. Is that what your sister was in?
They’ve recently changed their BS/MSN to a master’s direct entry program - it’s a 15-month MSN that focuses on clinical care coordination and no longer qualifies a graduate to be a nurse practitioner. You’re simply a regular RN with a master’s degree. From there, a student can choose to go into their DNP program if they want to be an NP - the MDE/DNP program is about 4 years, with the last year being a paid residency program.
@juillet okay, New Paltz is indeed good. I forgot to mention that. But the rest are all average and below.
@LBad96 what is your opinion of SUNY Oswego’s 3+3 DPT program? The students complete 3 years at Oswego and then move on to SUNY Upstate Medical Center where they complete their degree. In my opinion that SUNY program is far from " average" to " below average."