Your Guide To Select An Online Nursing School

By Julie Harvard

Nursing is a booming career field with tremendous career opportunities. Throughout the years, the field of nursing has brought millions and millions of people above the average paying jobs. The nursing career opportunities arise like the golden sun everyday and await all degree holders of nursing. With the high demand in nursing jobs, schools that offer nursing programs are growing rapid. And to ease the students to earn the nursing degree, more and more online nursing degree programs are available to enable the students to earn their nursing degree from anywhere and at their own pace.

Too many choices in online nursing degree programs may sometimes make it hard to decide which one to choose. Here are a few factors to consider when selecting an online nursing school:

1. The Online Nursing School Is Accredited

When an online school is accredited, it means that it has passed or surpassed a set of nationally recognized standards for its teaching process. The accreditation of an online nursing school is optional, but it is important to secure for your brighter future in your nursing career path. Many employers are more opt to hire nurses from an accredited online nursing school. Another important factor to consider pursuing your nursing degree from an accredited online nursing school is credit transferability when you want to continue your education in the future.

2. The Lecturer-to-Students Ratio

Teacher-to-students ratio is important when it comes to the personal attention spent by each lecturer to his/her online students. You can check with the admission department on the average number of online students to a lecturer. With the lower teacher-to-students ratio, the more personal attention you receive from your lecturer. Most online nursing degrees will require some hours of physical class, labs & clinical works, so you will have a better opportunity to ask questions and learn more.

3. The Average NCLEX-RN Pass Rate

Students who graduate from nursing school are required to undergo an examination called NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure EXamination-Registered Nurse) before receiving licensure as a registered nurse in the United States. You can check out the nursing schools' average NCLEX-RN pass rate; it will be a good indicator to show whether the online nursing programs offered by that nursing school are inline with the state requirement in order to become a certified nurse. Of course, you will want to compare pass rates for the last decade to get a more comprehensive picture.

4. Clinical Assignment

Most online nursing programs will require you to complete your clinical assignment in a hospital. If you have transportation difficulties or you are working while earning your online nursing degree, you may not be flexible enough to travel long distances. Thus, in selecting your online nursing school, you might want to consider a online nursing school which can enable you to complete your clinical assignment at hospital near your home.

In Summary

The best way to make that final decision about an online nursing school is to know what you want. But you should also realize that you should be looking at the details of the online nursing program of your selected nursing school as hard as the school will be looking at your application for enrollment.

Jullie Harvard is the author of www.studykiosk.com. This site featured over 1,000 online degrees and you can get more information on Online Nursing Degree at this site.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Julie_Harvard