How relevant are the US News & World Report rankings for NP programs?

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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Specializes in ABMT.

I'm trying to research the NP programs near me; I live in NC and I'll probably stay here for grad school, for a variety of reasons. I thought a good place to start would be the US News & World report grad school rankings. I'm finding this less than helpful. It looks like the ratings for graduate-level nursing programs are obtained by surveying faculty members at neighboring schools about the quality of other programs:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/about/07hea_meth.php

Huh? Did I read that correctly? Down toward the end: "Nursing specialty rankings are based solely on ratings by educators at peer schools."

So, how valuable do you think these rankings are for NP programs? How else can I research the reputation of the schools in my state?

many thanks,

Rebecca

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I used to work for U.S. News, and I wouldn't take these rankings seriously. These features are designed to sell advertising more than anything else, and usually it's compiled by some young intern who doesn't know anything about the topic.

:typing

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

LOL! I was just going to point out that they mean nothing except money to the publisher of US new and world report. *NO* credibility whatsoever! But schools brag about them like they actually mean something. I think maybe they ought to send anonymous surveys out to ex students. Let em see how they REALLY rank.

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Does anyone know of other groups that rank nursing schools besides US News?

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Specializes in ABMT.

Hey, thanks you guys. So, yes, like lindyhopper said, who else ranks schools?

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Specializes in public health, heme/onc, research.

no one else really ranks schools. the nih list the research funding awarded for nursing schools, but the info is from 2003 and 2004. you can see it at http://ninr.nih.gov/ninr/research/dea.html, scroll down to Rankings of Schools of Nursing for NIH Funding. i guess the other thing to check would be the fnp exam pass rate for your school. im not sure where you could find that online. IMO you should make a list of qualities that you're looking for in a program and go from there.

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