Denver School of Nursing's job placement rate, is it accurate?

RonaldLS · Apr 28, 2015

This is saying a rate as high as 97% for the following year:

ED Gainful Employment Disclosure Template

Just seems too good to be true after seeing so many recent grads having difficulties finding work on the forums...

NightOwlPsyRN · Apr 29, 2015

I can only speak for my graduating cohort, but the majority of my peers were able to get nursing jobs. You are right in that the new grad market is competitive, but also you have to consider what areas a lot of new grads want to pursue...most of which are acute care medical (e.g. med/surg of some sort). That particular area from my experience was highly competitive, not to say that some of my peers didn't get in, about 1/2 of them got into that field. In that case, it's a matter of who you know, getting hired internally (if you were a CNA at a hospital), or getting accepted into a new grad program. Others got jobs in home health, LTC, and a select few psych.

RonaldLS · Apr 29, 2015

Thanks for the info... I'm looking forward to starting the program! Most people seem to have nothing but good things to say about their experience @ DSN

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2015

NCLEX pass rates for DSN in 2014 was 80%. In my opinion that is dismal.

As far as jobs go, Denver and the surrounding area is highly competitive, as such, a lot of new grads go into nursing homes or home health. That is no matter where you graduate. You cannot work as a nurse without passing NCLEX and personally, I wouldn't be happy with any school that didn't have at least a 90% pass rate (which I believe is the national average).

Just my two cents.

RonaldLS · May 1, 2015

NCLEX pass rates seem to be vary a lot year from year in the majority of Colorado colleges. Personally, I think that the 84% pass rate can be attributed to some extent to the candidates pool rather than the quality of instruction.

DSN is more expensive than Regis or other public school systems who are more selective with who they admit to the school. So the primary selector for those schools is GPA rather than money. The opposite applies to DSN where people with lower grades may attend if they can pay the tuition. All things considered DSN actually has a pretty good NCLEX pass rate if you include that into your judgement of a school's effectiveness of instruction.

At any rate the 9/11 GI Bill paying my tuition, and time is money since it need to graduate before it runs out. DSN will graduate me quicker than any competitor and time is my money!

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · May 1, 2015

Agree to disagree! Any nursing school focuses on NCLEX prep, and pass rates really are everything!

Regis by the way is 33k a year for a 4 year program.

Personally, I wouldn't go to a school with such a low pass rate, but its up to you. Best of luck!

agriggs · May 2, 2015

Thanks for the info... I'm looking forward to starting the program! Most people seem to have nothing but good things to say about their experience @ DSN

I just started in April and I LOVE IT! You will too :)

MntEMStoBSN · May 4, 2015

@scaredsilly, I am just wondering where this statistic came from as I have seen lots of different numbers for pass rates on multiple sites for DSN.

As I have understood it as well, DSN gives all the numbers of the estimated cost upfront where as Regis and CU Denver does not. I could be wrong but and have not seen while searching through the sites.

klone, MSN, RN · May 4, 2015

As I have understood it as well, DSN gives all the numbers of the estimated cost upfront where as Regis and CU Denver does not. I could be wrong but and have not seen while searching through the sites.

I found these after about a minute of searching the respective sites.

Tuition and Fees

http://www.ucdenver.edu/student-services/resources/CostsAndFinancing/tuition/undergrad/Pages/Nursing.aspx

klone, MSN, RN · May 4, 2015

@scaredsilly, I am just wondering where this statistic came from as I have seen lots of different numbers for pass rates on multiple sites for DSN..

I think the best place to look is the Colorado BoN's website, where they have list of all the pass rates for the last several years. For 2012, 2013, 2014:

DSoN: 94%, 87%, 80%

Regis: 95%, 78%, 91% (worth mentioning is their ABSN is 98, 95,94)

CU: 95%, 92%, 93%

For the last 10 years, CU's pass rate has always been above 90%, the lowest being 92%.

Based on that, I would say that CU is the best bet over DSoN and Regis, both for cost as well as pass rates.

On the other hand, DSoN's pass rate is all over the board, ranging from 61% to 94%, but the average appears to be in the 80s.

DORA Division of Professions and Occupations - Professional Nursing Education

scaredsilly, BSN, RN · May 4, 2015

Klone is correct, and Regis did take a hit in 2013. It was right before my senior year and I was freaked out by it, but I was committed to the program and couldn't make the switch.

The reason I went for Regis (where the pass rates were higher up until 2013) is the seamless progression. After completing pre-reqs, you are automatically in the nursing program if your grades are high enough. No wait list. CU almost always has a waitlist!

Another thing to look at is where they are contracted for clinicals. Some schools don't do many hospitals as clinical sites, and I have heard (but am not sure) that some make you find your own clinicals.