A Good Nursing School

Danielsonrg · May 27, 2010

There is no such thing as a "Good nursing school"

You get out what you put in. Keep this in mind you will be caring for people who are sick, and they deserve the best treatment possible, so it's your job to do more than what is required of you during whatever school you choose.

Good luck

CuriousMe · May 27, 2010

There is no such thing as a "Good nursing school"
You get out what you put in. Keep this in mind you will be caring for people who are sick, and they deserve the best treatment possible, so it's your job to do more than what is required of you during whatever school you choose.
Good luck

So, you don't think that the nursing program itself brings anything to the table?

Absolutely, no matter the quality of the program, one can only get out of a program what they put in. But I do think that some programs will let you get more out of them.

To the OP, I would check in the state forum here on AN to see what their reputation is locally. You can also check school's site to ensure that they're certified. Some folks also like to go to their state Board of Nursing site and find out the NCLEX pass rates.....but I don't necessarily agree that it says very much about the program's quality.

elkpark · May 28, 2010

Concorde is one of the national chains of proprietary (private-for-profit) technical/vocational schools. They are not accredited by the same organizations that accredit "regular" colleges and universities, so any courses you take through them will most likely not transfer to any "regular" colleges/universities. Right now, you may be thinking that being a bedside staff nurses is all you ever want to do in nursing and you'll never want to go back to school. Many, many nurses start out thinking that -- but many, many nurses have had the experience of finding out, after a few years in the field, that they would have a much wider range of professional/career opportunities in nursing with additional education (just look casually at how many threads on this site are about people returning to school); and, if you originally graduated from a school like Concorde, that may well be a problem if/when you want to further your nursing education and career.

Also, the Concorde website says nothing about the nursing program being NLNAC accredited. That is (one of the two) national nursing school accreditations, and there are risks to attending a non-accredited (in nursing) program. Most advanced education programs in nursing require that you be a graduate of an accredited (NLNAC or CCNE) nursing program to be eligible. Also, some healthcare employers will only hire nurses who are graduates of accredited programs -- not that many, certainly not most, but why close off any career opportunities at this early a point in your journey?

Finally, these proprietary voc/tech schools tend to be much more expensive than community colleges offering the same education -- like, four or five times as expensive, for the same degree. You are basically paying for the fact that they'll take pretty much anyone who is willing to pay them, and they often don't have waiting lists (because most people don't want to pay four or five times as much for the same degree). Keep in mind that, if you are planning on paying for the program with student loans, you will have to borrow much more money and you will pay much more in interest over the life of the loans because of the additional expense of the program.

There was a recent "Frontline" episode on PBS called "College, Inc." that focused on these schools. I'd encourage you to make a point of looking at that before you sign up with Concorde -- I believe it's available for viewing on the PBS website.

Whatever the pros and cons of the proprietary tech/voc schools may be, IMHO, there's no justification at all for paying money for courses/credits that aren't going to transfer to other schools and attending an unaccredited nursing program (esp. when it's much more expensive than programs that won't create professional and educational difficulties for you later on!)