School Reputation

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 11, 2015

A lot of that comes down to local reputation- what schools' students have made a good impression during clinicals? Which students have not?

Jules A, MSN · Oct 11, 2015

A lot of that comes down to local reputation- what schools' students have made a good impression during clinicals? Which students have not?

Excellent point and in my anecdotal experience I don't think the undergraduate program reputation is all that important. Grad school names seem more important but again this could also be the result of reputations. Good luck.

oldsockventriloquist · Oct 12, 2015

A lot of that comes down to local reputation- what schools' students have made a good impression during clinicals? Which students have not?

What happens if you're applying for a job in another state?

NOADLS · Oct 12, 2015

What happens if you're applying for a job in another state?

Then it comes down to that specific school's reputation in that state.

Miss Infermiera2b, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2015

Around here, it's mostly that they hire from schools that they know produce good nurses, so again, local reputation. On top of that, they might also look at a school's NCLEX pass rate, which is a good marker of how successful the program is.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2015

What list are they usually using for nursing school reputation?

Having lived in three different states, based on my limited experience I can tell you that employers prefer candidates who attended schools with good local reputations.

For instance, you've probably never heard of Sonoma State University (California), Southern Nazarene University (Oklahoma) or Tarleton State University (Texas). They'll never end up on U.S. News' top 50 list, or even the top 100 list. However, nursing graduates of these schools are desirable in the local healthcare communities where they usually end up working.

You must realize something...nursing is nothing like law or business, where a top 25 name on the degree is almost imperative for doors to open. As long as the nursing program you attend has a good local reputation, you'll be fine.

Finally, some recruiters frown down upon nursing programs at investor-owned schools (read: Kaplan, University of Phoenix, Chamberlain, Walden, Carrington, Everest, South Univ, ITT Technical Institute).

odaat · Oct 12, 2015

Does western governors have a good reputation or are they considered to be similar to say, university of Phoenix? I've been looking into them lately so I'm curious as it wouldn't be a local school!

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Oct 12, 2015

All of the new hires in the last 3 groups (except for me) were local graduates. I came from out of state (3.5 hrs away) and was hired. I had another job offer in NC (from Indiana), so it seems the "reputation" was not a factor in either case. Neither hospitals would have known my school's reputation (good or bad) and was not a factor in their decision, my resume (and being a male applying for NICU) is what got me the offers and job.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Oct 12, 2015

Does western governors have a good reputation or are they considered to be similar to say, university of Phoenix? I've been looking into them lately so I'm curious as it wouldn't be a local school!

It's early days with WGU in my part of the country. Thus far, despite very small enrollments, their NCLEX results have been dismal.

Commuter is absolutely correct.... local reputation is the most important characteristic for recruiters. This is not only based upon NCLEX results, but also upon ongoing interaction with students & faculty of the program(s) during their clinical rotations.

elkpark · Oct 12, 2015

I've never heard of "CollegeAtlas." Most people in academia and in healthcare do not take the US News listing v. seriously (for a number of reasons I'm too lazy to explain -- there's discussion of that elsewhere on this site, if you're really interested). Despite the numbers (millions of nurses), nursing is a pretty small "club." Hospital nursing and HR departments know which of the local programs turn out good, solid graduates and which don't. Apart from that, there are plenty of nursing programs that have good reputations nationally (and they are not all expensive, private, "big name" schools -- many of them are state schools that are quite reasonable in cost), and there are schools that have lousy reputations nationally (primarily, the proprietary (for-profit) schools). Other than that (the huge number of schools "in the middle"), it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Certainly, there are big differences in the quality of education you will receive at different schools, but it won't necessarily make a lot of difference in terms of hireability.

Best wishes for your journey!

jtmarcy12, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2015

They do have access to information about your school