Factors to Consider While You Narrow Down Your School of Nursing Choices

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With many baby boomers retiring, there is a large nurse shortage growing by the day. The demand for nurses will create over a million new jobs, and is already lifting nursing wages. Studying nursing online allows you to improve your career and salary with flexible hours that work around your current schedule.

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Nailing down the final few nursing schools you’d seriously consider can be a daunting task at first glance. Here are some tips and considerations when you’re overwhelmed with nursing school catalogs and glossy marketing brochures.

Once you start requesting information from nursing schools, batten down the hatches because the mail is gonna roll in like a tidal wave. You’re now marked as a prospective student. The glossy brochures all look SO appealing-- how in the world will you ever make a final decision?

Get beyond the glossy advertising veneer: remember that most colleges, including schools of nursing, are in business to sell their degree programs and that involves careful marketing, therefore the slick brochures with the great (and staged) photos of happy smiling nursing students. You’ll need to dig much deeper than that.

Gather Information About a SON That Matters

If you’re advised to generally disregard the glossy brochures then what kinds of information on a school will help you narrow down your options?

• Type of school will automatically help: Does it offer the nursing degree you’re targeting?
• Curriculum: Really evaluate the curriculum as well as the individual courses offered. What required courses are included? What types of clinical experiences are offered and where? Any option for distance courses?
• Faculty: Check out the faculty bios. You want top educated nursing instructors that are engaged and enthusiastic about teaching nursing.

School of Nursing Accreditation

Accreditation by a nursing accrediting agency is pretty important. Accreditation is voluntary, not mandatory, and based on sets of standards. A school of nursing that chooses to become accredited is willingly engaging in a process that ultimately and cleanly can vouch for its standard of excellence across multiple criteria.

Accreditation standards usually encompass:

• School mission and administration of the program
• Faculty evaluation
• Curriculum evaluation
• Program resources
• Program success and recurring improvements

You’ll find out in this guide what 2 leading agencies handle most of the general nursing school accreditations and what specific sets of criteria they hold programs to.

Popular School Ranking Lists

While hot, trendy, and popular annual school ranking lists are not quite as potent as you might believe when it comes down to making the final decision on a nursing school. However, find out how you can actually use these lists as decision-making tools.

 

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