Christian nursing schools' curriculum very religious, or no?

[babychickens]

It's that time- time for me to start choosing an RN-BSN program. There are some really great choices and a part of what is factoring into my decision is the reputation of the school. My area is very saturated with new grads, thus the competition is steep. Having been in the field in a non-nursing capacity for a few years, I have learned I am employable as a new-grad so long as I am enrolled in and working on my BSN. Having said that, there are sure to be hundreds of others who are doing the same thing, so again there must be differentiating factors. Through the grapevine I have heard which colleges are well thought of and seen their students be hired more by my desired hospitals.

So my question is, if one of those colleges happened to be Christian and I'm not particularly religious, will I be doing a disservice to myself and the classes? Are they really that Christian? After reading the class descriptions it feels like they are pretty faith-based. But are they really?? Who has gone to a Christian nursing school? I'd especially love to hear from people who have experienced both types of nursing schools, which may end up being my case.

[klp2006, BSN, RN]

I went to a very Catholic University. I did 2.5 yrs of the BSN and then dropped it for a Business Degree. Catholic and Christian colleges vary, greatly. Some are Faith based by name only. Some are vocal about it but not super deep about it. Some are VERY VERY traditional. Mine fell in the later category. As for science and nursing, everything was factual based on the reality of sciences. The only real area that faith came into it was in morality/ethics. Bioethics, for instance, was taught from a pro-life point of view with a real world application on how to deal with moral dilemma's in a secular work place. Some schools/courses may open class with a prayer. It does't hurt you so who cares if they do. By attending the school you may have to at least placate their beliefs and rules. I know some schools don't even allow alcohol to be seen on you off campus (NOPE! That's where I would draw the line, but again, I'm Catholic ;-)

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I went to a Catholic university (I'm not Catholic nor religious.). The academics weren't religious, they taught everything the same way any other school would teach it including evolution in biology. There were visual reminders that you are at a religious school: statues of saints around campus, small crucifixes in the classrooms, school logo has a cross in it. There were class prayers very occasionally, I just sat there quietly for that not really participating. The sisters blessed our hands before our first clinical. This was sweet for lack of a better descriptive word; the equivalent to a white coat ceremony. Our graduation speaker was a priest. And we were required to take a Theology class. I dreaded it, but it ended up being a history of Catholicism from an outside view and was a good class. So, Catholicism was there, but the school didn't push it on us like Catholic primary and high schools do.

[CoolKidsRN]

I attended a small Methodist university for nursing school. I am not Christian and had a great experience. Also to note, I did not have to attend church or take any religious courses as part of the curriculum, etc. You may consider researching the school and/or making a campus decision. Good luck!

[babychickens]

Thank you all for the feedback. I will be attending an upcoming open house of sorts, but just wanted to get some thoughts. As many of you know, schools put their best foot forward.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I attended a Jesuit university. The nursing school was the least religious out of anywhere. Our maternity professor asked everyone to keep an open mind when discussing abortion, before I was accepted into a special community health program that involved doing 1/2 of my community clinical in rural Nicaragua, I was asked if I had any religious objections to teaching about birth control (and would not have been chosen to participate in the program if I had answered yes) and I solicited condom donations from Planned Parenthood (in my Jesuit university's name, ha) to bring to Nicaragua with us. There were never classroom prayers in my university though there were crucifixes in most classrooms. It was at least my sophomore year by the time I noticed them. I was required to take Theology and Philosophy courses as a part of my core curriculum and the administration sometimes used the school's Catholic identity to defend bigoted decisions (like they canceled a dance that the GLBT leadership council was putting on at the last minute because they said it wasn't in line with "Catholic values" to have such an event, protesting this decision is one of my favorite memories from college) but other than that, it was a regular university. They did have masses to go along with big events but I never attended them, not even the graduation one.