Would you say that Temple has a good undergraduate nursing program and if so why?

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jan 17, 2013

Also I'm curious about people's opinions of Drexel, and if you were to compare the two which would you say was better.

The Temple nursing program is a decent one, though neither better nor worse than Drexel's (or Villanova's for that matter).

I'd say that in the Phila area, both programs are perceived to be about equal. Outside of Phila, Drexel may have the edge simply because the school is more well-known (though for engineering and business rather than than nursing). Keep in mind that Temple has had a hospital and medical/nursing schools since the college was created in the late 19th century. Drexel also goes back to the late 19th century but has only had a hospital and med/nursing programs for about the last decade or so (by way of absorbing MCP-Hahnemann in the late 1990's). By the way, my (non-nursing) undergrad degree is from Temple and my masters (also not nursing) from Drexel, so I'm not biased one way or the other. Drexel is far more expensive than Temple though.

The most well-regarded nursing school is U Penn, both locally and nationally (Penn is consistently the number 1 or 2 ranked nursing program in the country). The program is highly competitive and terribly expensive, though there is almost always a lot of financial aid available. If you can't go to Penn, it really doesn't much matter which of the other nursing schools you attend since they're all about equal (Villanova grads may argue about this howver).

Murse_Kyle · Feb 9, 2013

While I agree with chuckster, there are some things that I need to clear up. Yes, Temple has a hospital. But no, Temple is not regarded as highly as Drexel. And yes, UPenn may be regarded highly on a national level but that is because they have an Ivy league name to back them up. It is true that Upenn's graduate nursing programs are by far the best in the country. However, what determines the quality of an undergraduate nursing program is the pass rate of each graduation class on the NCLEX. Drexel has a 99.6% pass rate which means that only 1 student each year out of a class of about 150 students fails their boards. This pass rate is the highest pass rate on the NCLEX in the state of Pennsylvania (higher than Penn's, Temple's, and Villanova's). In addition, the hospitals around the greater Philadelphia area absolutely love Drexel nursing grads. That is because of Drexel's cooperative education program. Drexel nursing students go on co-op which is a 6 month full time paid position within nursing. They work as nursing assistants, techs, and nurse externs. Some students at Drexel nursing choose to do the 4 year program which allows for 1 co-op opportunity. Most however choose the 5 year program which allows for 3 co-op opportunities. Because Drexel nursing grads finish up nursing school with so much job experience before they even graduate, that gives them at a competitive edge and lessens the learning curve at their first job as an RN. Also, most of these co-op positions are in Philly hospitals so many students walk across stage at graduation with a job saved for them because they had so many networking opportunities while on co-op. Most nurse managers at Philly hospitals will tell you that they snatch up Drexel grads because they just "get it" more than other nursing schools. Also, nurses that you will work with on clinical rotations will tell you that the Drexel students come better prepared to clinical than Penn students. Keep in mind that all of these nursing schools in the Philly area pretty much use the same hospitals for their clinical rotations. All-in-all, Temple is a good school but Drexel really puts out excellent nurses that stand out from all the other schools.