by BusinessGrad

I work at a college in Indiana while I am finishing up my nursing pre-reqs. This morning I noticed the most recent graduating class picture hanging in the nursing faculty offices. Out of fifty students, ten of them were men (aka 20%). I was scanning through previous years stored upstairs because I was curious, and I have to say it is remarkable how many more men have graduated in the past five years compared to the pictures from just fifteen years ago.

So, a three part question:

1)How many men were/are in your class?
2)Do you think the ratio for men/women will ever near 50/50, and if so, how long do you suspect this will take?
3)If this trend is universal, as I suspect it may be, what do you think this means for nursing as a whole? Will this mean a drastic change in the way nursing is viewed or practiced, or do you think it will remain the exact same discipline, but with more gender equality and nothing else?

If this needs moved to the student section, please feel free to do so. I posted it here because I thought it would be interesting to see the results of nurses who graduated a few years prior, in addition to current nursing students. Have a good day everybody.

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

1. My class graduated 88 and 5 were men.

2. I don't know if it will ever be 50/50 to be honest. Anyone that had studied anything about nursing history knows that nursing was 100% male at one time. The US military excluded males from nursing at one time, because the men were needed as soldiers, so this is when women got the stronghold on the nursing profession. It is starting to turn around again, and I for one (as a female) would love to see more men in nursing. Men bring a different perspective as well as tend to be less emotional than women when a problem arises (no offense to my fellow ladies but you know what I mean).

3. I don't know what the future holds, but I do hope that more men in nursing will bring more RESPECT to nursing. I think that nursing gets looked down upon by many because it is still thought of a "woman's job". No one would think that way if they had the slightest idea of what we learn to becomes RNs - all the medical information we need to know; disease processes, meds, symptoms, treatments etc.. and how to SAVE LIVES.

As far as inequaility for men - all I have to say is that all the men in my nursing class got hired before graduation because they were men. They were flat out told that they were hired because the hospitals are trying to raise the percentage of male nurses they hire. The rest of us are still unemployed, and I graduated at the top of my class. It is a good time to be a male in nursing I think, although I do think there are many "old school" female nurses who treat you guys like dirt for no reason other than they have issues with men. Don't let it get to you - the rest of us want you by our side as co-workers.

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

1. We graduated 47, and there were 6 guys (including me). About 12%.

2. 50/50? Probably not. Although, interesting to note, many medical schools are reporting 50/50 male/female entrance ratios and some even a majority of female students. However, I attribute this to aggressive equality programs on the part of women (to which I give kudos, btw), which I don't believe will ever be equaled by men despite the ongoing efforts to recruit more men into nursing.

3. My pipe dream is that as more women go into medicine, more men will go into nursing. But like I said in #2, probably won't happen, at least not in my lifetime. I do agree with tuttle, as more men go into nursing, I would hope that respect for the profession (and for men in the profession) will follow.

Mike in Michigan

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

My class graduated 25, 3 of us guys .... 12%-ish ??? As far as the rest of the op questions, I have no idea and it doesn't really matter ... people are people, gender is pretty irrelevant, in the scheme of things

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

I am about to start my 2nd year for my RN (testing for LPN next week). I think there will be about 35 people in the class next semester and unless a male returns from last year I will be the only male in the class.

It's been that way since the 2nd semester. We started with 4 (out of a class of 46) and by the end of the semester I was the only one left. It's not easy - I still get approached as if i'm a doctor often on the floor during clinicals (i guess any male in white scrubs MUST be a doctor!).

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

1)How many men were/are in your class?

- 8.5% (5 men, 54 women) in my class, but that was low for our school, it's usually around 15%. Right now in California 18% of enrolled nursing students are male

2)Do you think the ratio for men/women will ever near 50/50, and if so, how long do you suspect this will take?

- I think a lot will have to change first about how the public views nursing as a profession. People don't generally know what RN's really do, and I think a lot more men would be attracted to the profession if they did know. I hope to see it at 20-25% in my lifetime.

3)If this trend is universal, as I suspect it may be, what do you think this means for nursing as a whole? Will this mean a drastic change in the way nursing is viewed or practiced, or do you think it will remain the exact same discipline, but with more gender equality and nothing else?

- In a way I hope it will change a lot of things for the better, and that I think nursing will have to grow a lot to make gender equality happen.[/quote]

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

I am currently Halfway done with my RN program and out of 33 students in my class I am the only male left (we had 3 men including myself at the start).

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

My class started with 100 people and about 10 were male, we ended with 45 and 1 was male.

I don't know that we will ever reach a 50/50 ratio of male and female nurses, but I think it would be a good thing if it were, it would be more fair.

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

I was from an Accelerated BSN RN this past year. This was a second degree to all of us.
And it was
65 total=
8 men about 12.5% all made it to the end

Re: Percent of Men in Graduating Class?

Our Direct Entry MSN program (second degree for everyone) is about 25% male.

We also have a 4-year BSN program (admitting students direct from high school). The BSN program is about 6% male. Not many high school guys are that secure in themselves to enter nursing school at age 18.