Did your school's reputation affect getting hired?

futureeastcoastNP · Jun 25, 2014

Going to an online school doesn't seem to matter. It's the well known for-profit/diploma mill type schools that affect things. Employers know places like Kaplan and Walden have very low admissions standards and many people are biased against hiring their graduates.

One does not have to go to an ivy league level school to get a job. Just go to a reputable, not for profit school.

Frontier has been around for decades and is ranked as one of the top NP programs. You will do fine with a degree from there, and you will learn a lot which is even more important.

I wish you luck!

zmansc, ASN, RN · Jun 25, 2014

I'm currently attending Frontier. One of the many reasons I choose it was because it has a very strong national reputation as well as several very well respected providers in town are alumni, therefore, it's reputation in my local community is excellent. Since starting school I have access to the internal job posting site, which seems to be flush with job postings.

Having said all that, I will suggest irregardless of where you go to school you start to network now. Networking within the provider community will be far more important than your schools reputation in getting you both your first job and jobs after that.

Good Luck with wherever you end up!

lhflanurseNP, APRN · Jun 25, 2014

Still in school until December but, locally, the docs look at what clinical experience through rotations the student underwent and how much time was actually spent face to face with patients. Some of the traditional schools only require clinical hours while other require patient hours.

Adenium · Jun 26, 2014

I graduated from a local state school in May that certainly has a decent reputation, but in all the interviews I went on people were most interested in 1) my clinical rotations and 2) my nursing experience. They want to know if you've had some exposure to primary or cardiac or geriatric or whatever their specialty is. They might ask what preceptor you rotated with, and it helps if they know them too. The one person who cared about my undergrad degree had the same alma mater, and it was an MD.....they seem to put more stock in that kind of thing. It was the first thing out of his mouth in the interview!

So if you go for an online school, just make sure you'll be able to line up preceptors in all the required areas, and then get some backups because, you know, Murphy's law and all. If there's a particular area you want to work in, make sure you get a rotation there and if you can't at least do a shadow. The job I took was with an organization I shadowed with - I was meant to rotate there and it was changed last minute, but I made sure to reach out anyway.

zmansc, ASN, RN · Jun 27, 2014

Excellent advice about finding preceptors (and backups) and reaching out and networking too Adenium.

laRN1 · Jun 28, 2014

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Yes, number one priority for me is to learn so I can be the best I can be out there with my patients. It makes me breathe easier that the school name matters minimally. I think I will go for it and attend Frontier!! I'm excited about applying this winter to start in the spring.

Adenium · Jun 28, 2014

Good luck to you. Keep that feeling of excitement that you have in anticipation - you'll need to recall it later to carry you through. You can do it!

reddgirl · Jun 28, 2014

I think you will be fine. I have a colleague that is a graduate of Frontier and her job recommended that school to her. She's a WHNP.

allnurses Guide · Jun 29, 2014

Frontier is an excellent school. Others have given you great advice about networking. I would also add that if you can, try and do as many clinical/patient hours as possible-even over and above what's required. Doing so gives you more knowledge, more experience, and helped me to feel more comfortable as a new grad.

As far as going to a big name school, my school's name did open some doors for me. There are several traditional NP programs in my area-all good-but employers seemed to like that I had attended Boston College. I don't think it was any better than Simmons, MGH, Northeastern, Regis, or other schools in the area, but some were impressed by it. I would hope that employers would be more impressed by the individual sitting in front of them then by the name of the school, but whatever. Frontier is a good choice. Good luck with your program!

BlueDevil, DNP · Jun 29, 2014

Make sure your state accepts a degree from Frontier, some don't. I had a friend that graduated from Frontier and they did not ever tell her that her degree would not be acceptable in her home state of NC. Last I heard, she is still not practicing as a NP because she won't move.

zmansc, ASN, RN · Jun 29, 2014

Frontier has numerous graduates working in NC, and is the only (to my knowledge) out of state online program that is allowed to operate in NC. What exactly do you mean by "NC doesn't accept a degree from Frontier"?