NSC or USN???

MikeyJ, RN · May 28, 2007

Any advice on which school to attend? The letter has not arrived yet, but I was informed that I have been accepted to NSC for Fall 2007 and I have a USN interview coming up. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Just on cost alone I would attend NSC. There are many things to think of: USN has not had a graduating class yet, thus there is no pass rates for the boards yet. NSC had pitiful pass rates and were put on "watch"; however, I think their board rates are in the low 80's or high 70's now. But that is expected of a new school. I have heard from a few students that NSC is a pretty good school, and my clincal instructor at UNLV was actually hired on to design NSC's med-surg curriculum. She told us that NSC is actually a good school.

But once again, I would go to NSC based on cost alone.

pogi · May 29, 2007

thanks so much for the advice! i think USN is appealing b/c it is an 18month program. but finishing in feb 2009 vs. may 2009 at NSC- there's not a huge difference! thanks again!

Nakia · May 31, 2007

No USN hasn't graduated the first class yet, but I know people in the program and they love it. USN is a pass/fail nursing school. If you take a test and score below a 90% you get two chances to remediate. That's where the teacher takes everyone who failed aside, give them extra lesson and you study more and retake a revised test. That mean anything you don't understand the first time you get a chance to study to make sure you understand the material. When you graduate, everyone will graduate with a 4.0. So it's not competitive and all the students get together to help each other. It's set up so you have your classroom time and learn your skills, and after you have learned about an area and gone over a skill for an are, you have clinicals. Then you go on to the next area with the textbook info and skills, then you do your clinical. So 4-8 weeks of in class learning and 3 weeks of clinical. I think the first class will have no problem at all passing the NCLEX. They all take an ATI test which if you pass then there is a 99% chance you'll pass the NCLEX. I took the ATI and passed and I passed the NCLEX.

HikingNinja, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Jun 5, 2007

If you are not a Nevada resident, I think whichever school you feel more comfortable with. I'm sure USN will get national accreditation. The out of state tuition at NSC is only a little less than you would be paying at the private USN school. NSC and USN use the same format. Three test attempts using ATI tests and their last pass rate is currently in the high 80's so NSC is definitely improving. I am a Nevada resident and just got my "unofficial" acceptance to NSC too for their accelerated program this Fall. I'll be going there due to cost. You may want to look at Touro too, they charge a bit less in tuition than USN and are still taking students. It's a 16 month program. Good luck and maybe I'll see you at NSC this Fall.

Dee

daughterss · Oct 30, 2008

I noticed you were in the threads and should almost be finished with USN, so what has been your overall experience? Are there 56-80 students in one class? How is that working?

Also, do you need additional credits outside the 56 or is that it? And on the TEAS test, what does your score need to be, do you know?

Sorry for all the questions, just interested in hearing from someone that has first-hand experience.

daughterss · Oct 30, 2008

I noticed you were in the threads and should almost be finished with USN, so what has been your overall experience? Are there 56-80 students in one class? How is that working?

Also, do you need additional credits outside the 56 or is that it? And on the TEAS test, what does your score need to be, do you know?

Sorry for all the questions, just interested in hearing from someone that has first-hand experience.

This e-mail is directed to pogi and whoever else is in USN's program.

pogi · Oct 31, 2008

I graduate in March 2009. So far, my education at USN has been great. My class will be the 3rd to graduate from the school, so yes, there have been some changes in the program along the way, but nothing unmanageable. My class started with about 92-96 students and we are now down to about 76. The new class has about the same. I scored in the 99th percentile on the the TEAS, but USN did not make it mandatory until recently. They now accept students on a point system based on program-specific GPA (pre-reqs), TEAS score, and interview. I love the block system because we only concentrate on one subject at a time. For example, for Med-Surg we are in lecture for one month (M-F, 8am-3pm) and THEN go to clinical for one month (3 12-hour shifts/week). We have great technology at school and a ton of resources. It is up to the individual student how well he or she performs because although the school does not consider the program accelerated, it is only 18 months long. It is very intense and you cannot afford to procrastinate on anything. As far as the credit requirements, the website lists the required pre-reqs. I believe those are all you need to apply. Please let me know if you have any more questions. I will ask the Professors what is a desirable TEAS score and get back to you.

daughterss · Oct 31, 2008

Congratulations to you! So what has been USN's pass rate for the previous students on the NCLEX? And if you don't mind me asking, are you paying out of pocket? Have you been able to get enough financial aid to cover the expense or have had to take out additional loans? Is Financial aid helpful? Sorry for all the questions. I just figured you would have first knowledge.

NVhike · Oct 31, 2008

congratulations to you! so what has been usn's pass rate for the previous students on the nclex? and if you don't mind me asking, are you paying out of pocket? have you been able to get enough financial aid to cover the expense or have had to take out additional loans? is financial aid helpful? sorry for all the questions. i just figured you would have first knowledge.

hi.... before you set your mind in any school, please look at both links. usn has been around longer than the newer private schools in southern nevada and is known to be a pharmacy school for years.

usn's nursing program is fairly new compared to nsc. however, if you're going to spend that much dough $$$$ in this economy, well, nsc might be a better bet... nsc and usn are both "provisional schools" , but the difference in the cost might just persuade you more to go for nsc... it's probably just harder to get in, since it's lower cost (more applicants) . . . . 1st link shows all the nursing schools:

http://www.nursingboard.state.nv.us/edu/apprschl.htm

this 2nd link shows you how the schools did on the first time nclex tests for 2006-2007, these are the latest figures so far, i think page 10 clearly shows the percentage for each school, the list doesn't include how usn did (i'm not sure if that's good or bad, but the list doesn't show other newer private schools results either) :

http://www.nursingboard.state.nv.us/annual%20reports/annual%20report%2006-07.pdf

whichever you choose, goodluck.... kris.