Are there too many nursing programs out there?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Do you guys think that there's a lot of nursing programs out there?

I mean, somehow I feel that the US is producing way too many nurses and there will be a surplus of nurses in the end.

I just don't want to go to nursing school and be out there and jobless. I've seen some new grads that are not getting the experience that they want. Many of them want to work for a hospital to get the experience, but a hospital can't take them all. A lot of them are stuck with temp/PRN/contract jobs.

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Specializes in ICU.

There's a surplus of nurses NOW. Employment rates for new grads in many states (California comes to mind in particular) are dismal. Yet the media keeps up the myth of a nursing shortage...

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Yes there is a lot of new grads now, however when I graduated in 2010 it was at the height of the recession....when I went on interviews I was 1:100+ fighting for that job.

What new grads get stuck on is getting hired with a hospital, you need to expand your horizons when looking for that 1st job.

My 1st job was a nursing home, took that experience and got hired into a pediatric LTC, took that experience and got hired into a pediatric hospital on the med/surg floor took that experience and now I am in the same hospital in the children's emergency department.

You may not get the job you want as soon as you graduated. Trust me, I was miserable at the SNF but I was able to use each job as a stepping stone to get the job that I wanted

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Yes, way too many. But the fact that the hospital I work at has so many agency nurses (not enough of their own staff) gives me hope that I will find a job after I graduate. I guess it all depends on the area.

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IMO, there are too many nursing programs "out there," and esp. too many low-quality nursing programs. I would love to see higher standards and more rigorous policing of nursing programs.

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There are too many programs graduating too many new nurses, and this has been the case for years. If you happen to live in an area that is saturated with nurses you can expect heavy competition for new grad spots, and you must be willing to take anything you can find. Being "stuck" in the temp/PRN job is at least a job; once experience starts to add up things can become a bit easier. But right out of school? Not easy.

Now, if you happen to live in a more rural/less populated area, you might still find employment as a new grad without difficulty. Mostly, you have to know what your job prospects are before investing time/money in a nursing program. If you're satisfied with the options, then go for it :)

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.

I think blaming anything on the nursing programs is ridiculous. You don't see any other major blaming their lack of job prospects on the schools do you? I think nursing students need to take personal responsibility and investigate job opportunities prior to starting school.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Yes there is a lot of new grads now, however when I graduated in 2010 it was at the height of the recession....when I went on interviews I was 1:100+ fighting for that job.

What new grads get stuck on is getting hired with a hospital, you need to expand your horizons when looking for that 1st job.

My 1st job was a nursing home, took that experience and got hired into a pediatric LTC, took that experience and got hired into a pediatric hospital on the med/surg floor took that experience and now I am in the same hospital in the children's emergency department.

You may not get the job you want as soon as you graduated. Trust me, I was miserable at the SNF but I was able to use each job as a stepping stone to get the job that I wanted

This.

I live in an area where there hasn't been a nursing shortage in decades; I was an LPN prior to completing my BSN program and found two jobs, and had two jobs throughout most of my career; my experience was in the community, but with complex pts , making me an asset for hospital jobs; while I still work outside the hospital; I have gotten leadership positions, as well as a current interest from hospitals, due to that experience; it will be a matter of time where I'll be in a hospital, until them I will continue to enjoy nursing, since nursing is everywhere. :yes:

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You don't see any other major blaming their lack of job prospects on the schools do you?

Yes, there's a lot of that going on and that's why people keep bashing on psych majors, arts, etc. because there's thousands of them with no good job outlook.

Yeah, some of these people took these majors because it's interesting and want to study it and there's actually no defined "career" for psychology, bio sciences, etc, unlike nursing, pharmacy, medicine.

I think nursing is different because it's a professional degree, like medicine and engineering. You actually go to school to learn and study a skill. In other degrees, you study and not a whole lot of skills.

I've never met someone who just wanted to study nursing just to study them and never use that skill. They probably exist in very small quantities.

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Specializes in Public Health.

Doesn't really matter what you hoped for. If you don't make it happen, you can't blame anyone else. We are all adults, no one is promised a job because they want one.

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Sorry but you're way off on this one. I'm a Radiography Technologist & we have been feeling the burn of the newbie surplus for years. Add the fact that there are a lot fewer radiology positions available in a hospital. In a large hospital there's, at the most, 5 techs in adult rad, 2-3 in pedi rad, 2 in adult ED 2 in pedi ED& 1 assigned to portables. That's 13 people & even fewer for CT, MR, SONO & NUC MED. Now consider multiple schools pumping out 50 techs every summer, in my city it's around 150 techs per year & that's only counting the accredited schools.

Anyways, that's part of the reason I've decided to pursue my BSN, the other part requires an entire post so I'll save that for another day. Lol

*this was supposed to be a reply to SionainnRN

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
Sorry but you're way off on this one. I'm a Radiography Technologist & we have been feeling the burn of the newbie surplus for years. Add the fact that there are a lot fewer radiology positions available in a hospital. In a large hospital there's, at the most, 5 techs in adult rad, 2-3 in pedi rad, 2 in adult ED 2 in pedi ED& 1 assigned to portables. That's 13 people & even fewer for CT, MR, SONO & NUC MED. Now consider multiple schools pumping out 50 techs every summer, in my city it's around 150 techs per year & that's only counting the accredited schools.

Anyways, that's part of the reason I've decided to pursue my BSN, the other part requires an entire post so I'll save that for another day. Lol

*this was supposed to be a reply to SionainnRN

What does that have to do with my post? I think the onus is on the student to make sure their major has job opportunities for when they graduate. It's not the colleges fault if graduates can't find jobs. That's not a guarantee with a college degree. If I majored in art history and couldn't get a job in art history, it's not the colleges fault, it's mine.

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