Top Five Nursing Schools Ranked

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

In an article published today, a list compiled by College Atlas.org was released in an effort to help prospective nurses search for nursing schools which are the best fit for them. "The rankings are based on affordability, accessibility, academic quality and NCLEX passage rates." The top 5 nursing schools from that list are as follows:

1. University of Missouri, Columbia

Located in Columbia, Mo., MU's nursing school boasts an 81.5% acceptance rate, and is among the top 10% in state board exam passage rates. Tuition costs are $9,415 for in-state students.

2. University of Utah

Located in Salt Lake City, this nursing school has an 82.6% acceptance rate, is among the top 10% in state board exam passage rate. Tuition is $7,534 for in-state students.

3. University of Iowa

Located in Iowa City, this nursing school has an 78.4% acceptance rate, is among the top 10% in state board exam passage rate. Tuition is $8,061 for in-state students.

4. Southeast Missouri State University

Located in Cape Girardeau, Mo., this nursing school has an 97.2% acceptance rate, is among the top 5% in state board exam passage rate. Tuition is $6,863 for in-state students.

5. Tennessee Technological University

Located in Cookeville, Tenn., this nursing school has an 97.4% acceptance rate, is among the top 20% in state board exam passage rate. Tuition is $7,500 for in-state students.

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This same organization ranked Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, and the University of California as the top five schools in 2013.

U.S. News and World Reports last ranking was in 2011. Schools making that list were Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, University of Washington, University of California, and University of North Carolina.

To read the complete article, please go to Top Five Nursing Schools Ranked.

[Agrippa]

The methodology College Atlas used:

AffordabilityCollegeAtlas.org knows that there are two ways to look at affordability- one that ranks schools according to their in-state tuition and one that ranks schools according to their out-of-state tuition. Federal, state and institutional aid are excluded in each type since these factors vary from student to student, based on individual financial need. These lists provide a realistic look at what a typical student will pay for their education at each individual institution. The majority of students will pay under $10,000 for in-state tuition and under $15,000 for out-of state tuition at most A-List schools.

Additionally we've created the "Most Affordable" award for A-List schools with the lowest in-state and out-of-state tuition.

[h=2]Accessibility[/h]The A-Lists take into account both the acceptance rate and enrollment size of each school. Many of the A-List schools accept over 80 percent of the students who apply, with some schools approaching 100 percent. Schools with larger student enrollments gained a small benefit from the calculation due to their ability to admit and educate large numbers of students.

Additionally, we've created the "Most Accessible" award for A-List schools with the highest acceptance rates.

[h=2]Academic Quality[/h]One of the most heavy factors in the A-List calculation is the quality of education offered at each university. To assess academic standing,the calculation considers an institution's categorization and rank published in the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings. This takes into account a significant number of factors and is generally considered the gold standard for college rankings emphasizing academic quality and reputation.

http://www.collegeatlas.org/the-a-list-methodology.html

To me, this "ranking" means little. People like rankings, it sells magazine and increases view counts on their websites. It doesn't take the most discerning mind to really question the validity of such a ranking.

Affordability is this ranking's strongest suit. However it doesn't take into account tuition list price vs actual price based on how much aid the institution gives. Ei. some private schools like NYU, Yale, UPenn may have a lot of money in their endowments and may be able to provide a lot more aid, driving down total cost of attendance. Also, cost of living in the areas are not taken into consideration.

Accessibility =/= high quality education. I don't know why anyone thinks that if 80-90% of applicants get accepted that that is a good thing. That tells me that people don't want to go their, they have a huge class size, they have low standards, or a combination of those things.

Academic Quality: So the brunt of their metric for gauging this is by using another organization's methodology? They literally say they're going off of USNews report's rankings. If you actually look into the USNew's ranking methodology for Nursing it isn't really that strong either. A lot of sending out surveys for peer academic opinions.

I'd be much more interested in seeing rankings based on how much novel research they produce, how much NIH funding they get, what the student attrition rate is, how many students get jobs in nursing at 6months, 9 months, and 12 months post graduation, total cost of attendance, etc.

[Nayners22]

i thought university of penn was $21000 a semester...

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

"Academic Quality: So the brunt of their metric for gauging this is by using another organization's methodology? They literally say they're going off of USNews report's rankings. If you actually look into the USNew's ranking methodology for Nursing it isn't really that strong either. A lot of sending out surveys for peer academic opinions.

I'd be much more interested in seeing rankings based on how much novel research they produce, how much NIH funding they get, what the student attrition rate is, how many students get jobs in nursing at 6months, 9 months, and 12 months post graduation, total cost of attendance, etc."

Well said! And I would add: Take a look at what their graduates actually DO: How many get hired and turn into good nurses? How does that most important quality metric get measured?

[khalacey]

I go to UM - Columbia and the nursing school acceptance rate is definitely NOT that high. That's the whole university's acceptance rate for incoming students of all majors. Mizzou's nursing school is really competitive. The average admitted student's GPA is a 3.6, I've heard they have diversity measures (one mentioned was 1/3 from rural areas) to make sure that there's more than just rich white St. Louis girls in the program. I know a girl who only got in via wait-list with a 3.5 and over a year of CNA experience in the University Hospital.