<p>My daughter has been accepted to the following nursing programs, and is trying to decide where to go. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.</p>
<p>UVM
URI
Quinnipiac
Northeastern</p>
<p>Still waiting to hear from UConn</p>
<p>If any of them aren’t direct entry, cross them off the list.</p>
<p>They’re all direct entry.</p>
<p>^^^^
Ignore this spammer.</p>
<p>^^^
Please ignore my previous message. It was directed to a post that has since been removed.</p>
<p>I am not familiar with all the schools but Northeastern is right in Boston and more urban, UVM has a broad reaching medical school (a doctor friend in Maine has interns from UVM and my father went to UVM medical school over 50 years ago. </p>
<p>Part of the decision may be the type and size of school.</p>
<p>That being said, I went to Nursing school 30 years ago in S.F. and because there were so many hospitals, we did our practicums all over the place. I would imagine Northeastern works out of many hospitals in Boston so may give her a broader experience. You might check which hospitals they do their practicums at.</p>
<p>Burlington is a great college town and the people are really into the outdoors and skiing which may be a great place to feel apart of.</p>
<p>uvm is a great school with a very good nursing program. Many of the nurses at Yale-new Haven are UVM grads. URI is also a good program but I heard that it is now a suitcase school. I also question the hospital for the clinicals. Not many great teaching hospitals in the area. Northeastern is by far the choice for practical experience. They place students in Mass General, Brigham and Womans and Schriners. All of which are great places to learn. Boston is a great college town and unlike BU they are in the city but they have tried to create a “campus” feel by creating many quad areas. All hospitals are easily within reach of the “T” (subway on and underground). The cost of Northeastern is crazy high and the cost of living on and off campus is as well. I don’t remember what they said about the mid-year (it is a five-year program with Co-ops in the middle year) whether you pay tuition during that time. This program is highly respected in the Northeast. Not sure if you’d have the same name recognition throughout the rest of the country.</p>
<p>Check the board pass rates. Last time I checked, Northeastern’s was only 85%.</p>
<p>A pass rate of 85% is pretty good. It’s not the best, but pretty much anything from there and above is perfectly acceptable.</p>
<p>I would shoot for a school with a pass rate of 86-90% (the National average) or better.</p>
<p>URI is 94.26% - VERY good.</p>
<p>I’m not sure on the rest of the schools.</p>
<p>I suggest North Eastern b/c of the fact that they are urban and therefore by default are bound to have tons of hospitals for experience.</p>
<p>I’m a nursing student at UConn and I LOVE it. The reason I didn’t go to Northeastern was mainly because of the high cost and it is also a 5 year program. Although it is great to get the clinical experience in Boston hospitals, a new graduate RN still has no “real” nursing experience no matter where he or she did clinical. Ultimately every new RN is on the same level and will have to go through extensive training once he or she finds a job.</p>
<p>^ That is not always the care (re: “real” nursing experience). At my school, starting in the spring of your sophomore year, you can start working at the hospital as a student nurse aide, and if you do it enough/for long enough, you can pretty much become an LPN (not licensed, but you can have the same duties as one).</p>
<p>I worked through the registry as an aide at the same hospitals I did practicums at so was already familiar with their routine. Very good experience.</p>
<p>I don’t know how it is now but when I graduated, I was mentored for 6 weeks by an experienced nurse where she and I would function as one nurse. By the end of the 6 wks, I was expected to take the entire assignment by myself and she acted as a consult. I would imagine the Coop experience would give some of that as I can’t imagine hospitals today spending the money to guarentee such a thorough orientation as I had.</p>
<p>I think my daughter is leaning towards Northeastern. Although I agree with Erin7649 that most new RN graduates don’t have “real” nursing experience, the Coop program at NEU does actually allow “real” experience. We were concerned that some of the more rural schools would not offer the same clinical experiences either. While visiting UConn, we were told that the nearest large hospital was in Hartford, some 50 miles away, so that many clinicals were actually done in day cares and nursing homes. My daughter is hoping for more hospital experince, and we are hoping that she’ll be able to get that in Boston. The cost of NEU is an issue, but we are OOS for UConn, so that was no bargain either. As for the 5 year program, NEU is now offering a 4 year option as well.<br>
Nothing is final yet, these are just her latest thoughts. This is so stressful!</p>
<p>Where can I find the latest board pass rates?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>^ Google State NCLEX pass rates and it should give you the website.</p>
<p>My daughter has FINALLY decided on Northeastern vs. UConn, Drexel, UMass & UNH. We live in Mass so we were also OOS for UConn. My daughter really wanted a city and co-op experience so that left it to NEU & Drexel and cost was a big consideration expecially because Drexel gave her a higher scholarship but when all was said we felt that NEU would be a better fit. </p>
<p>Also, I believe the passing rate has gone up over the last couple years and is in the 90% range.</p>
<p>2009 NCLEX rate for NEU was 94%. You can find a list of MA colleges at [url=<a href=“http://www.mass.gov%5DMass.Gov%5B/url”>http://www.mass.gov]Mass.Gov[/url</a>]</p>