Acceptance rates for nursing schools?

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Oct 12, 2019

Every school from community colleges to major universities have different acceptance thresholds each semester. A school may have accepted a student with a 3.12 GPA one semester and the next semester have the lowest accepted student of 3.23 GPA. It just depends on the applications that they get for a particular semester. Some schools have a smaller class size which will push up the acceptance GPA for the program. It is supply and demand. If there are fewer seats, the higher the GPAs need to be to get in.

Professor X, MSN, RN · Oct 15, 2019

Affordable nursing schools have a lower acceptance rate because more people apply. This would apply to state universities and community colleges as well. "Podunk University" has a perfectly good nursing program for a reasonable price. 200 people apply because they know they can afford it, but there are only 40 spots available. So they have an acceptance rate of 20%. "Fancy Schmancy Uni" also has 40 spots available but people like me don't bother to apply because we can't afford the University name. They get 60 applicants. So they have an acceptance rate of 67%.

Rather than acceptance rates, look at attrition rates (what percentage started and actually finished the nursing program) and NCLEX pass rates. Some spendy colleges figure they "owe" it to you to pass you along because you paid so much, even though you didn't really learn or perform up to a desired standard. When it comes time to take the NCLEX a diploma from a less-than-rigorous program doesn't help. The colleges with the highest attrition (highest failure rate) have the highest NCLEX pass rates.

Barbiegirl1229 · Oct 15, 2019

Interesting! Thank you for your thoughts.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Oct 16, 2019

If you are going to look for a nursing job in your local area, ask the nursing managers which schools they hire from the most and which schools they refuse to hire from. One of the most important thing to look at is the NCLEX pass rate for the schools on your state's BON website. No matter how much or how little money you spend on your education, if the school has a low NCLEX pass rate, you wasted your money.

verene, MSN · Oct 19, 2019

This is can be true, ever program has their own standards of what they are looking for, which can influence who applies (I specifically ruled out a local public university because I thought their entrance requirements were ridiculous), also geographic location, cost, and reputation can also be factors in terms of how many applicants a school receives. Geographic location can also play a role in class size and number of applicants as schools may be limited to clinical placements, or be highly competitive due to having a well-known hospital in their clinical roster.

Also look at attrition rates, better to go to a school who admits 50 students/years and graduates all of them, then one who admits 200/years and only graduates 50.

Also # accepted per year is a meaningless value with out knowing how many applied - a school that accepts 25/100 applicants is much less selective than a program which accepts 50/1000 applicants.

Finally those "higher" ranked programs may take a more holistic look at applicants opposed to a community college which may only look at pre-req scores. This can factor into who makes up the class. A person accepted a community college may have no life experience but a higher pre-req gpa, while a person with a slightly lower gpa but 10 years relevant work experience, interesting life story, and clearly articulated career goals, may not be accepted at the community college but will be accepted by the "Ivy" program. This means you should tailor the programs you are applying to not only to your current circumstances (location, ability to move, affordability, etc) but also to career goals (offering specialties, values, networking opportunities) and your own background (are you are good fit for the kind of student the school wants? Is the school a good fit for you?) when applying.