How do I pick a school???

[Kimberly_1999]

Good Morning to all! I have been online for awhile now looking at different nursing programs at different Universities in my area. I have had a couple of them send me information and applications to apply at thier school. My question is...

How do I pick which one would be the best for me? How did you pick which school to go to, and what are some of the questions I should be asking these schools to help in my decision?

Thanks so much for any information you can give me to help in my decision. :)

[renerian, BSN, RN]

For me I had to go only with cost as my finances restricted where I could go.

renerian

[PennyLane, RN]

I visited the two schools I was interested in when they had Open Houses. Call them up to see if any are holding open houses soon. When you're there, you can usually bring your transcript and get advice on which program is best for you and when to apply.

Things I asked: What pre-reqs I needed, where to take them, what kind of references to get. You'll also want to know how many hours/week are in clinicals, the student:teacher ratio in clinicals, where their clinical sites are, what % of students pass their exam after the program ends (for an RN), how many students enrolled in the program. Oh, and one very minor point: COST. Of the two I'm applying to, one is 4X as expensive as the other one, but the program seems soooo much nicer. Ack. tough decision.

You'll also want to get a tour of the facilites, if possible.

Hope that helps.

Melanie

[catch33er]

In addition to going to open houses, I found it helpful to contact faculty and visit the school at other times - when they're not "on". You can usually make appointments and talk more one-on-one than in the large open house atmosphere. Sometimes when you do it this way you can sit in on classes and get a chance to meet more students currently in the program.

Good luck!