Top Rated Nursing Programs by State?

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi!

I am struggling with researching nursing schools and different prereqs. to know what classes i need to finish up before I apply in Feb.. My problem is that I can't find a list anywhere on the net that tells which schools are top rated. Seems like some national publication would print a list like this. I am open to any state, but how do I know if a school is good or bad without researching every school in the darn nation? Does anyone know of a list?

Thanks, thanks, thanks!

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I know of no such list. One of the problems is that the opinion of what constitutes a good program varies from person to person. There are no objective criteria for judging nursing programs.

Some people want a program that is academically rigorous. Others want a program that provide the most clinical practice time. Some want a program to prepare them well for graduate school. Others have no desire to attend graduate school and want their program to focus on the technical skills of entry-level positions only. Some people prefer small classes with a lot of direct student-teacher interaction. Other people prefer large programs that offer maximum flexibility.

Some people don't want to take a lot of social science classes -- and prefer hard sciences -- or prefer to take courses directly about nursing only. Other people want a "general college experience" and want to take a lot of classes in a wide range of academic disciplines to support and expand their nursing knowledge.

Some people want the fastest, easiest, cheapest route to get an RN. Some people are willing to take more time, work harder, and/or pay more for their nursing degree if it includes the special experience they seek.

So ... which program is "best" depends on what you are looking for. While there are some lists of "best" graduate schools in nursing that are based on surveys of nursing leaders -- I have never seen one list rating all of the undergraduate options.

My suggestion is for you to think through the type of program you are looking for. Identify a list of characteristics that are important to you. Then, narrow the field of your search to those areas that appeal to you geographically or financially -- or appeal to you based on some key characteristic that is very important to you. For example, if you want the classic "4-year university" experience of a "college kid," then focus on the major university BSN programs in a region of the country that appeals to you. Focus on the schools within your state if you are looking to save money with in-state tuition rates. If you want a shorter, less expensive option, focus on community colleges within your state.

When I was looking for graduate schools (twice), I wrote letters and got information from about 10 schools each time. With the internet, you could probably easily visit 20-30 websites and narrow your search considerably before going into detail on a few that appeal to you most.

Good luck to you.

llg

Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

See if you can access the NCLEX pass rates of schools you are considering through your state board of nursing website. A high pass rate was important to me when I was considering nursing schools.

I posted a link for you on the pre-nursing forum where you asked this same question.

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