Syracuse Nursing

adam3 · Jun 22, 2017

So many views and no one is ready to help me?Weird for this nurse community.

maggie0, BSN, RN · Jun 22, 2017

Well, I'm still in the pre-nursing school stage, but I do live near Syracuse, so I can talk about the city a little bit. It is the medical hub of the area with lots of hospitals, and even though there are also plenty of nursing schools, the job market is decent. Every school I have looked into basically has a 100% job placement record. Salaries are average to slightly below average, but the cost of living in Syracuse is very low, actually. Also, if you decide to live out of town (my suggestion) there are lots of cute small towns with shockingly cheap houses for sale. Rents are okay, but it honestly makes more sense to buy around here.

I'll be honest: Syracuse is not the most beautiful or cultured city in the US, but it has great hospitals, and is located in a really nice area: lots of lakes, nature stuff, not too far from NYC. Winters are AWFUL, summers beautiful. Good luck!

adam3 · Jun 24, 2017

Thank you so much for the reply.I would like to hear from current nurse here.Thanks

saltyninja · Jun 25, 2017

So many views and no one is ready to help me?Weird for this nurse community.

I don't believe you're receiving no replies due to no one wanting to help. Rather, this is a very specific question about a very specific area and there probably aren't many individuals with the knowledge you seek browsing this particular forum. I found your post in the "General Student Discussion" section, so you may want to consider posting it in an alternate area where there may be more traffic. Best of luck!

DahliaDaisy, RN · Jun 25, 2017

I live in Syracuse and am in my second year of an ASN program. Everyone I know is getting jobs IN the specialty they prefer even before graduation. The starting salaries sound about average and the cost of living is relatively low. A place is what you make of it, because our major industries are education and medicine we have a relatively "cultural" population with pockets of pretty extreme poverty. I personally own my own theater group and there is lots of music, theater, festivals and ethnic restaurants.

If you have specific questions feel free to PM me (if you can, you need a certain amount of posts I believe) and I will try to help further, but as far as getting a job, easy peasy.

tiny_nurse · Jun 26, 2017

I graduate from one of the hospital-based schools in Syracuse this coming December. This thread is making me feel so much better about the job prospects.

adam3 · Jun 26, 2017

@DahliaDaisy....Thanks for detailed reply.No I can not send pm as yet.Can you tell hourly average pay rate as new BSN graduate there?Also can you tell about how to take cheap health insurance in New York state?I will relocate from Minnesota

Nic715 · Aug 11, 2017

I work in Syracuse. Had the job offer before I even graduated, just had to pass the test. I don't think any of my classmates had any issue securing jobs as new grads. I work at Upstate and as it's in the state system we have great benefits. Pay isn't bad. I want to say starting pay was around $46k when I started but that was a few years back and there have been several system-wide raises since then so I think it's even higher now. You also get a pretty substantial raise after your first year and smaller yearly raises after that. Also a substantial shift differential for nights. The cost of living here is pretty inexpensive compared to other cities so it is a decent starting salary for the area. If you take a look at the website for Upstste you'll see there are a ton of positions available all over the hospital. New grads are always welcome, we even had a nurse residency program for new grads and the woman who runs it is awesome!

emmjayy, BSN, RN · Aug 11, 2017

I live in the Syracuse area and attend one of the nursing programs there currently. I'm pretty sure the last two graduating classes (aka the two I've been aware of) had a 100% job placement rate, either in Syracuse or in hospitals in different areas of New York. There are definitely no lack of nursing jobs here. The city is honestly kind of terrible, I'd suggest living in Liverpool, Camillus, Fayetteville, Jamesville, or Onondaga. All of those towns are within 25 minutes or so of downtown Syracuse and are much nicer to live in than the city itself (you'll see what I mean). Liverpool is probably easiest and quickest in terms of a commute - you just hop on the highway and get dumped right down in the center of the city. The hospitals (St. Joe's, Crouse, Upstate, and the VA) are all very close together. Upstate has another location (Upstate at Community General) just a few miles west of the main campus. All of the hospitals are hiring and will take new grads from what I hear, it's really just a matter of looking around and seeing which one you like best or if they have a job in the specialty you want.

Also - I totally empathize with your frustration at not finding much on this site re: area hospitals. I had the same issue when I was looking into the nursing schools here! The Syracuse population is not well-represented on this forum :roflmao: