If you’re going to spend a considerable amount of money on nursing school you’re more 
than likely very curious about the quality of different schools or nursing programs. After all, you want to make sure you’ll be spending your tuition dollars on a quality program. And, while there are many Web sites that “rank” colleges and universities, including nursing schools, the two to which you’ll probably want to pay the most attention are the rankings detailed by U.S. News & World Report and the National Institutes of Health. But even these well-regarded ranking entities have some controversy about them. U.S. News, for example, offers potential students searching for college, graduate and professional schools the well known America’s Best Colleges report. And it also offers a ranking list for nursing programs called Best Nursing Graduate Schools. The magazine compiles these rankings based on peer review as well as how students do on standardized tests, tuition fees, how many alumni donate to their alma mater, and so on. Yet you should be a bit wary of the peer review factor mentioned above.
The main weakness regarding peer review is the fact that it’s human nature to praise one’s friends and downplay those for whom one has less-than-warm feelings. Hence faculty may rate Nursing School Rankings: Which Ones Can You Believe? If you’re going to spend a considerable amount of money on nursing school (the average cost for a bachelor of science degree in nu) you’re more than likely very curious about the quality of different schools or nursing programs. After all, you want to make sure you’ll be spending your tuition dollars on a quality program. And, while there are many Web sites that “rank” colleges and universities, including nursing schools, the two to which you’ll probably want to pay the most attention are the rankings detailed by U.S. News & World Report and the National Institutes of Health. But even these well-regarded ranking entities have some controversy about them. U.S. News, for example, offers potential students searching for college, graduate and professional schools the well known America’s Best Colleges report. And it also offers a ranking list for nursing programs called Best Nursing Graduate Schools. The magazine compiles these rankings based on peer review as well as how students do on standardized tests, tuition fees, how many alumni donate to their alma mater, and so on. Yet you should be a bit wary of the peer review factor mentioned above. The main weakness regarding peer review is the fact that it’s human nature to praise one’s friends and downplay those for whom one has less-than-warm feelings. Hence faculty may rate the programs where their friends teach higher than programs they don’t know. For a nice compendium on the rankings “controversy” check out this overview from the University of Illinois.The article has several links to articles both pro and con regarding U.S. News-type of rankings.
A better bet regarding nursing school rankings may be the rankings from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH provides funding to hospitals and schools and each year publishes its own nursing school rankings, which do reflect the schools that received the most NIH-funding. The NIH gives its funds based upon an un-biased peer-review process. the programs where their friends teach higher than programs they don’t know. For a nice compendium on the rankings “controversy” check out this overview from the University of Illinois.The article has several links to articles both pro and con regarding U.S. News-type of rankings. A better bet regarding nursing school rankings may be the rankings from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH provides funding to hospitals and schools and each year publishes its own nursing school rankings, which do reflect the schools that received the most NIH-funding. The NIH gives its funds based upon an un-biased peer-review process.
