Accredited or not Accredited ?

[pat8585]

I read about the importance of a nursing school being accredited.

Ok...does this mean it must be accredited by the NLN?

If I go to a community college that is accredited but the program is not accredited

by NLN, am I up the creek when it comes to job hunting?

How important IS this accreditation?

Staff Update

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[Stephalump]

Oh, come on, no one "really" needs a paper diploma. Has anyone ever asked to see yours at an interview?

For $20 bucks, I'll give you a nursing blessing. When you apply for jobs, just write "Stephalump sent me," in the educational section. It's all you need, I promise.

[pat8585]

oops oops ooops

[Stephalump]

I see you deleted your post...

I think you got some good responses. Ignore anything based on us amusing ourselves.

Just keep your end goal in mind and work backwards. Look at job postings at health care facilities in your area. Some will outright say they require graduation from an accredited program. Some won't. I would still call those places and try to speak with a recruiter and see if they throw applicants from your program in a file folder of death. You will probably need to go get your BSN some day. Have you looked into it? If you have an idea of where you would go, you could talk to them about accepting your credits from unaccredited programs.

You WILL be putting yourself at a disadvantage. But sometimes you can still come out on top of you research, network, work hard, and play your cards right.

Personally? I'd drive up to an hour to attend an accredited program over one that's unaccredited. You could always just take what you can get, but when it comes to jobs, you may be stuck with that same mentality.

Also, state approved doesn't really distinguish between school awesomeness. Considering no one can actually sit for the NCLEX without graduating from an approved school, nursing programs do not open their doors without approval. Some lose it after a while, but even the worst of the worst (who's students are relatively inhireable) are "approved.". What matters is what your local hospitals think.

[athomas2340]

I think when accreditation really comes into play is when going back to school for a higher degree, they may make you start from square 1. Also, when applying for a government position. I could be wrong though...

[pat8585]

This really seems like a stupid question to me. :icon_roll Would you buy a car labeled as a LEMON from Joe Schmoe's car lot or a car from a reputable dealer?

If you are looking to get a bogus degree, give me a few thousand dollars, and I can print up your very own diploma indicating you are a nurse.

Did you REALLY ask this question?

Yes, I REALLY asked this question.

You see, i was not blessed with such extreme intelligence as you seem to have been.

I stupidly thought I would ask a question on a nursing message board run by nurses.

Man, talk about a brain fart!

[CarryThatWeight, BSN]

Yes, I REALLY asked this question.

You see, i was not blessed with such extreme intelligence as you seem to have been.

I stupidly thought I would ask a question on a nursing message board run by nurses.

Man, talk about a brain fart!

There are a lot of really rude people on this board. I apologize on their behalf, since they will not. There is a difference between state BON approval and NLN/CCNE accreditation. I didn't know that when I went to nursing school either. I don't think your question was dumb, and I hope you got some good information out of this post.

[TRINI82]

Everyone however needs to understand that every nursing program starts off without the NLN/CCNE accreditation, and must go through the process of applying for one. If every student ran from the fear of going to a school that wasn't accredited, how else would these schools have a graduating class in order to apply?? Just a thought...

[Stephalump]

Everyone however needs to understand that every nursing program starts off without the NLN/CCNE accreditation, and must go through the process of applying for one. If every student ran from the fear of going to a school that wasn't accredited, how else would these schools have a graduating class in order to apply?? Just a thought...

Someone is always willing to be a lab rat! I'm

a rat rat that prefers to come into the lab a little later in the game. Fewer rodent deaths

[TRINI82]

Someone is always willing to be a lab rat! I'm a rat rat that prefers to come into the lab a little later in the game. Fewer rodent deaths

Do as you please, I won't lose sleep :)

[pixiestudent2]

Some schools can't even get the proper accreditation for the rest of their classes (why your math and writing classes won't transfer to another school) I wouldn't gamble on the chance they would receive approval by nursing accreditation.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Someone is always willing to be a lab rat! I'm

a rat rat that prefers to come into the lab a little later in the game. Fewer rodent deaths

LOL, I'm not a lab rat either!

Sent from my Samsung Stratosphere using allnurses.com

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

I think accreditation is an important and frequently misunderstood subject worthy of this thorough discussion. Thank you OP for asking the question so that all can benefit.