Are you trying to figure out your plans for nursing school? Choosing a nursing school takes more effort than just deciding to go. It takes research. It takes knowing your goals. It takes deciding on your priorities, and accepting that some things come with consequences no matter what you decide.
As you consider beginning the journey into nursing, it is very important that you pave the way to success early. There are a lot of choices to be made, and it doesn't matter if you are a fresh new high school graduate or a 45-year old parent considering a second career - you need to consider some things up front. It's frustrating and sad to see, here on allnurses, posts from grads who can't seem to beat the NCLEX, or who have sent out hundreds of resumes, only to get no responses. If all of this time and money is being spent to begin a successful career, how can you increase your chances of meeting that success?
Here are some questions that might be helpful when you start to consider your options for school. This isn't a guaranteed map to success, but if you do take the time to consider all of these things and act on them, you will know that you have put your best effort in.
It's possible this will seem obvious to you, but for some, it comes as a big surprise to some after graduation when they can't find a job. The higher the degree, the better your job options, but the more time and money you have to invest. If you get a diploma RN, you are less likely to get the job of your dreams than an ADN, and an ADN is less likely than a BSN. It's a trade-off - do you spend more time in school to get a better shot at more jobs, or do you spend less time and money, but limit your options?
After you ask yourself these questions, and decide what is more important to you, be prepared to accept the consequences of your choice. You don't want to finish school and enter the job market feeling like it's unfair that others have had experiences you wish you did.
While accreditation is obviously something you need to look for in a school, you also need a school with a great reputation. You need to figure this out before you start applying. If you are able to move to a different area for a better school, you may decide to broaden your search and inquiry. If you can't move, this limitation might be a problem.
That said, find a school and find out: what is the school's reputation? Don't ask your neighbors. Don't ask your parents. Don't ask a guy who you know goes to the hospital a lot. None of those people will be looking at your resume in a few years. Ask the nurses. Ask the doctors. Ask the human resources people at hospitals you like. Ask the people who actually will be looking at your resume.
When someone says to you, "We love grads from XYZ school," that's the school you want to put on your list of places to apply. You should never just apply to a school that is easy to get into. Perhaps the school with the best reputation is the hardest to get into, with a year-long wait list. Would you rather wait a year to get into the program you want? Or would you rather wait a year to get a job after you graduate?
Your potential school's NCLEX pass rate is made public and probably is easy to find on the state board of nursing's website. Look this up!!! If you go to a school with a 50% pass rate, things are not necessarily looking good for your chances when it's your turn to sit for the boards. I know, I know.... "That won't happen to me!" Right? But it can. It is very possible you could be on the wrong side of that statistic.
There are people on allnurses who post that they passed the NCLEX years after they have graduated. If you get through all of school and then you can't pass the NCLEX, that time you spent in school will be meaningless. You need to consider this before you apply to schools. Don't get surprised by this after the fact!
Does the school brag about job placements of their graduates? Ask! If graduates are getting snagged before they walk the stage, this is a school you want to attend.
My own graduation is a week from today. I can't tell you how many fellow graduates have announced they've been hired. They aren't getting terrible jobs, either. They're getting hired places that are top-rated in residency programs in critical care. They're getting placements in their preferred specialties. They're landing the jobs they went into nursing to get, and they're doing it before they graduate.
This is a sign of excellence. This is a sign of a top quality program. These jobs are announced on a bulletin board in the hallway of the building nursing is in. It is so awesome to see new cards get posted on it each day!
This is an important one for your own satisfaction - will you have access to experiences that you feel have really taught you a lot? The thing is, you can get through school just fine with clinical experiences that aren't fantastic. But if good clinical experiences are important to you, you may need to consider traveling. This is especially true in more rural areas. In larger cities, there is more access to facilities that handle higher acuity cases and more complex medical care is possible. In rural areas, your access to facilities in general will be limited, and you may not experience very much at all.
Point in case, where I live, anything complicated gets shipped off to hospitals 2 hours away. We didn't see much. If intense and complex clinical experiences are important to you, you need to determine what is available in your potential programs before you apply. Send an email to department heads or advisors asking where clinicals are for each specialty. Find out of you feel like you will get what you hope to gain from your experiences.
If you want your foot in a door before you graduate, this is the time to stick it in there. Be amazing. Impress the nurses, the charge nurses, the unit managers, your professors. Take challenges head on. Volunteer for any experience you can get. Seek opportunities for learning. Go above and beyond. NETWORK. This is your opportunity to impress people you could work with in the future. You miss this opportunity, you become a name on a list just like every other person sending in a resume.
Nursing school is hard. Don't let yourself get surprised by the lack of job opportunities after graduation. You are about to invest a lot of time and money into something that you want. Imagine all of the big things in life that you would never take on without research first - buying a car, moving to a new city, buying a house... You are choosing a career, and you need to set yourself up for success. I'm not saying the above considerations will guarantee success, but you will at least be improving your chances of it. There is so much more to this than deciding that you might apply to that community college down the road.
Consider your options, consider the consequences. Decide what consequences you are willing to accept, and which ones you are not. If you don't do this soul searching ahead of time, you may find yourself very frustrated in a few years.
With that, I say, best wishes, and good luck! I hope that you find success in all you do!
My number 8 and 9 should cover that. Credits often don't transfer from schools because they aren't regionally accredited. If you ever see an ITT tech commercial, look for the text that says "credits earned are unlikely to transfer". That's because they lack regional accreditation. Beware that the CCNE does accredit non-regionally accredited schools (Aspen, for example). If I had my druthers, all the states would get together and unanimously declare that only schools that meet all the requirements I've previously posted may have graduates sit for the NCLEX. These for-profit schools are making the path to nursing way too available, which drives down wages for all of us. Would the LCME or ABA accredit Devry or University of Phoenix to operate a medical or law school? No! It's almost unfathomable to me that CCNE and ACEN will accredit for-profit schools. It really drives down the value of my degree when they allow schools with a 100% acceptance rate to offer nursing degrees.
Agree with this 100%. What they do is take advantage of people who are uneducated and don't have a lot of money. They promise them the world. Then when they graduate one of 3 things happens: They can't pass the NCLEX, can't find a job, and have huge student loan debt. It makes me sad. These schools need to be shut down. It also "dumbs down" the profession by letting people think that anyone can do the job. No, not everyone can. It takes a lot of hard work and some smarts to do the job of nursing. You need to apply yourself and do well in school. There should be standards in this profession. Nurses are in charge of people's lives. That is not something everyone can do. But with all of these for profit schools popping up and promising that everyone can be a nurse, it drives down the wages and professionalism of nurses in general.
7. Is this school authorized to operate a nursing education program by the state board of nursing? (for initial licensure programs)8. Is this school accredited by one of the six regional accreditation organizations?
9. Is the nursing program accredited by the ACEN or CCNE?
10. Is this school a non-profit institution?
The answer should be 'yes' to all of the above, and these should really be the first-round disqualifiers for any prospective nursing student.
Totally agree!
The nursing program I went to is a for-profit, BUT they worked hard and have earned regional accreditation. Also, they planned ahead for those of us who graduated before they reached that goal and made matriculation agreements with two local, well respected private colleges so those of us who wanted to get our BSN could. Now they have the same accreditation as every state and private college in my state, that hard to get regional accreditation. Now ADN graduates can go to the RN to BSN program of there choice just like the graduates of the community colleges. Also my for-profit alma mater is well respected and does have standards as far as admissions go. Not all for-profits are of the devil, some actually are good schools. And it was a bear to get through. I still have nightmares of my microbiology class, and those darn HESI tests.
Yes, many, many, MANY for-profit programs are geared to take your money and give you a worthless degree. The program I went to is not one of them and has, last I checked, a 95% NCLEX pass rate and has now started a RN to BSN program.
WildcatfanRN, proud graduate of Galen College of Nursing one of those evil for-profit schools
I really appreciate you writing this article. I can't stress the importance enough. Luckily I suppose I fell into a good program in undergrad, but everyone isn't so fortunate.
Recently, for an assignment, I had to attend a BON meeting. It was pretty interesting. The first half of the meeting focused on the board reprimanding or changing approval status on several nursing programs. Each program present was there for either inadequate clinical experiences or low NCLEX pass rates (below 80%). One of the programs had something like 60% pass rate, but was called out by a board member by citing 92% pass rate on their website! One school had a pass rate below 40%!!!!!
I left the meeting feeling so upset for those poor students who wasted their time and money on programs that did not prepare them for the board exam...not to mention safe clinical practice. I guess the point is to be very careful where you choose to invest so much of your precious time and hard-earned money.
The nursing program I went to is a for-profit, BUT they worked hard and have earned regional accreditation. Also, they planned ahead for those of us who graduated before they reached that goal and made matriculation agreements with two local, well respected private colleges so those of us who wanted to get our BSN could. Now they have the same accreditation as every state and private college in my state, that hard to get regional accreditation. Now ADN graduates can go to the RN to BSN program of there choice just like the graduates of the community colleges. Also my for-profit alma mater is well respected and does have standards as far as admissions go. Not all for-profits are of the devil, some actually are good schools. And it was a bear to get through. I still have nightmares of my microbiology class, and those darn HESI tests.Yes, many, many, MANY for-profit programs are geared to take your money and give you a worthless degree. The program I went to is not one of them and has, last I checked, a 95% NCLEX pass rate and has now started a RN to BSN program.
WildcatfanRN, proud graduate of Galen College of Nursing one of those evil for-profit schools
Let's revise the "for-profit" to "publicly-traded commercial" schools then.
There are plenty of "for-profit" price colleges out there that are accredited by the nursing accreditation and are approved by the BON and consistently have quality graduates; posters are NOT talking about THOSE schools; like a poster stated:if the school that you are looking to pursue nursing was from a commercial during Jerry Springer (or even Maury I might add or any court show for that matter), the odds are stacked against you to get a quality education (credits don't transfer), pass the NCLEX (how many times a retake, which the percentages of passing go DOWN after the first retake), and getting a job-chances are slim.
The nursing program I went to is a for-profit, BUT they worked hard and have earned regional accreditation. Also, they planned ahead for those of us who graduated before they reached that goal and made matriculation agreements with two local, well respected private colleges so those of us who wanted to get our BSN could. Now they have the same accreditation as every state and private college in my state, that hard to get regional accreditation. Now ADN graduates can go to the RN to BSN program of there choice just like the graduates of the community colleges. Also my for-profit alma mater is well respected and does have standards as far as admissions go. Not all for-profits are of the devil, some actually are good schools. And it was a bear to get through. I still have nightmares of my microbiology class, and those darn HESI tests.Yes, many, many, MANY for-profit programs are geared to take your money and give you a worthless degree. The program I went to is not one of them and has, last I checked, a 95% NCLEX pass rate and has now started a RN to BSN program.
WildcatfanRN, proud graduate of Galen College of Nursing one of those evil for-profit schools
I was reading this thinking it really stinks that those schools make yours look bad.
I really appreciate you writing this article. I can't stress the importance enough. Luckily I suppose I fell into a good program in undergrad, but everyone isn't so fortunate.Recently, for an assignment, I had to attend a BON meeting. It was pretty interesting. The first half of the meeting focused on the board reprimanding or changing approval status on several nursing programs. Each program present was there for either inadequate clinical experiences or low NCLEX pass rates (below 80%). One of the programs had something like 60% pass rate, but was called out by a board member by citing 92% pass rate on their website! One school had a pass rate below 40%!!!!!
I left the meeting feeling so upset for those poor students who wasted their time and money on programs that did not prepare them for the board exam...not to mention safe clinical practice. I guess the point is to be very careful where you choose to invest so much of your precious time and hard-earned money.
This seriously makes me want to cry. All of these students are trusting transparency in the school's reporting. How can these schools justify teaching ethics with a straight face?
Word gets out fast, at least in my state when schools have a poor nclex pass rate especially when the board posts schools on probation in the magazine they send to every nurse and cna in the state. My alma mater does advertise quite a bit. And you get no argument from me about checking out the school your looking at on the BON website, do not rely on the schools website alone.
Yes, #7 happens! There is a school in Indy that is NOT accredited and yet tells prospective students it will be soon. Yeah, no. It's been telling students that for 10 years. And now, with less than a 30% pass rate for the NCLEX, there is no way it will be. Yes, places hire RNs from that school, but rarely and never the primo jobs everyone wants. It also costs more than other schools. I got my BSN from a private university and spent less than those who attend the non-accredited school do for an ADN. They only see the promise of a quick graduation (18 months vs. 4 years) and not the long range outlook.
So, one question that MUST be asked, is "Are you accredited now?" Do not accept an answer of "No, but we're working on it. We'll be accredited by the time you graduate."
Yes, #7 happens! There is a school in Indy that is NOT accredited and yet tells prospective students it will be soon. Yeah, no. It's been telling students that for 10 years. And now, with less than a 30% pass rate for the NCLEX, there is no way it will be. Yes, places hire RNs from that school, but rarely and never the primo jobs everyone wants. It also costs more than other schools. I got my BSN from a private university and spent less than those who attend the non-accredited school do for an ADN. They only see the promise of a quick graduation (18 months vs. 4 years) and not the long range outlook.So, one question that MUST be asked, is "Are you accredited now?" Do not accept an answer of "No, but we're working on it. We'll be accredited by the time you graduate."
Not to be crass to anyone, but..... I hope that no one would actually fall for, "we'll be accredited by the time you graduate..." That is horrible. ?
Not to be crass to anyone, but..... I hope that no one would actually fall for, "we'll be accredited by the time you graduate..." That is horrible.
Unfortunately, yes, they do. When those applying to the BSN program of my university were put on a wait list, some went to the non-accredited school, as they promised "Guaranteed acceptance". They "graduated" earlier than I, however they cannot find positions anywhere in the area.
Toya2xcel, BSN, RN
41 Posts
Wow! These are good tips! I just applied to my first choice school for the Fall 2014 Nursing program and I wont find out if I got in until the end of next month. Honestly, it was my first choice because of location and I never even considered these tips before applying. When I looked on the Board of Nursing site it says so far this year the school I applied to has a 77% NCLEX pass rate and another school that is not too far away from me has a 95% NCLEX pass rate. If I dont make it into this school, then I will def be applying to the other one next semester. Thanks!