OK to get all degrees from one school and teach?

elkpark · Jun 7, 2007

I started out in a different discipline, one with a longer, stronger history in academia, and it was a "given" that you would not be allowed to take all your degrees from the same university. Nor would you be allowed to begin your teaching career at a school you had attended (although you could return to a previous school later in your career). However, that is a "classic" standard and lots of those kinds of standards seem to be falling by the wayside these days.

Also, nursing is not as "hard-line" about many academic standards as other disciplines are (one of the many reasons we don't get taken particularly seriously by the rest of academia). The university school of nursing in which I teach has quite a few faculty who took their BSNs and/or MSNs at that same school and have never taught anywhere else. A lot of my friends/colleagues and I refer to this practice as "educational incest," but the school doesn't seem to mind.

In the end, it probably comes down to how desperate a particular school is for qualified faculty. A school that can afford to pick and choose from a large field of candidates may well consider multiple degrees from a single school unacceptable; a school that has a hard time filling positions probably won't have a problem with it.

vickynurse · Jun 24, 2007

Will I really be at a disadvantage by obtaining all my education from the same university?

Actually, I've always heard that it is best to have degrees from universities in different STATES. As in, it's ok to have two degrees from one state if they are from different institutions, but the third degree should be from another state. I think this is not necessarily applied at present due to the shortage of faculty. I've never worked at an NLN accreditated school, but have heard that they look at faculty background when considering accreditation. Maybe someone knows more about this.

Good luck to you in your education. Perhaps a online program will meet your needs. I have no idea how they work into this mix.

Lisa CCU RN, RN · Jul 3, 2007

Huh? Are you guys kidding? I have NEVER heard of this!

So, if I want to teach, I need to get my degrees at different schools in different states?

When did this start?

vickynurse · Jul 3, 2007

Huh? Are you guys kidding? I have NEVER heard of this!
So, if I want to teach, I need to get my degrees at different schools in different states?
When did this start?

The NLN looks at faculty background when accrediting schools, therefore those schools prefer to hire faculty from a variety of academic backgrounds. Schools which are not NLN accredited may not be as concerned. The idea is that this creates a broader background and way of looking at things.

You may want to be in conversation with directors of nursing programs in your area to see what they find desirable. The shortage of faculty may have a greater impact in their decision.

When I was in grad school in El Paso (in the 80's), we had faculty who would come there to teach while they worked on their doctorates in New Mexico, a few miles away. Guess it boils down to what type of environment you want to teach in, BSN vs ADN, LPN, NLN...

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 3, 2007

As a previous poster has said .... it depends on how desperate the school is and how much they care about their reputation within academia. The better schools will want to avoid "educational/intellectual incest" by having faculty from a variety of different schools. That promotes the influx of new ideas and new perspectives into the program, which is necessary to keep the school from becoming stagnant.

However, most schools have at least a couple of faculty members who are graduates of their programs. So, timing plays a big part, too. If you are applying for a job at a time when the school is feeling as if it already has too many of its own graduates on the faculty and that they "need new genes in the gene pool," then you will probably not be offered a tenure track job. However, that same school might offer you a tenure track job a few years later if their faculty has become more diverse.

Also, schools are often "more picky" about their tenure track faculty positions than they are in their non-tenure track positions.

A lot of factors come into play when hiring faculty. Educational diversity within the faculty is one factor -- but certainly not the only one.

Lisa CCU RN, RN · Jul 3, 2007

As a previous poster has said .... it depends on how desperate the school is and how much they care about their reputation within academia. The better schools will want to avoid "educational/intellectual incest" by having faculty from a variety of different schools. That promotes the influx of new ideas and new perspectives into the program, which is necessary to keep the school from becoming stagnant.
However, most schools have at least a couple of faculty members who are graduates of their programs. So, timing plays a big part, too. If you are applying for a job at a time when the school is feeling as if it already has too many of its own graduates on the faculty and that they "need new genes in the gene pool," then you will probably not be offered a tenure track job. However, that same school might offer you a tenure track job a few years later if their faculty has become more diverse.
Also, schools are often "more picky" about their tenure track faculty positions than they are in their non-tenure track positions.
A lot of factors come into play when hiring faculty. Educational diversity within the faculty is one factor -- but certainly not the only one.

I didn't realize that was an issue, but I suppose it makes sense.

justme1972 · Jul 3, 2007

I have heard that too, but at the same time, I have never heard of someone being denied a job because they got all 3 degrees from the same school.

There are alot of reasons why people are not relocatable, and they shouldn't be penalized for getting their degrees from the same college, especially if the program is what you are looking for.

puggymae · Jul 11, 2007

I am 14 years into my present faculty position as an Associate Professor. Not only did I get all three of my nursing degrees from the same college, I now teach there. (I had already been there so many years as a student they just kept me!)

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 11, 2007

I have heard that too, but at the same time, I have never heard of someone being denied a job because they got all 3 degrees from the same school.
There are alot of reasons why people are not relocatable, and they shouldn't be penalized for getting their degrees from the same college, especially if the program is what you are looking for.

When I was graduating with my PhD from a highly ranked university, the school enacted a moratorium on hiring its own graduates for tenure track positions. It had hired a few of its own graduates in recent years and felt it needed "new blood" from the outside. We were all told that there was virtually no chance we would be hired there. They were looking to hire from the outside for a couple of years.

After a few years, the faculty had become "re-balanced" and they did hire a few of my classmates for tenure track positions -- but it was only a couple.