Top Undergraduate Nursing Schools

Creighton University

• Known for excellence in the health sciences, Creighton University offers bachelors degrees in nursing at both the main campus in Omaha and a branch campus in Hastings, Nebraska. While the program can be completed in four years, a five-year plan is available for students who would benefit from lighter course-loads. Students who are interested in using their nursing skills in the military may choose to join Creighton's Army ROTC program or the Air Force ROTC program at the nearby University of Nebraska-Omaha. In the last semester of the program, students participate in a 10-credit senior preceptorship where they work in a clinical setting under the supervision of an experienced nurse. Students in the nursing program at the Hastings campus follow the same curriculum, but the program has a special focus on the medical needs of rural communities.

  Creighton University School of Nursing
  2500 California Plaza
  Omaha, NE 68178
  402-280-2000
  creighton.edu/nursing/

Fairfield University

• Students in the School of Nursing at Fairfield University, a Catholic college in Connecticut, benefit from a variety of clinical experiences and top-notch technologies along with small class sizes. Student nurses get hands-on training at the Learning Resource Center, where they can practice using real hospital equipment on a mannequin that simulates various medical scenarios. Fairfield also offers a variety of study abroad programs. Some nursing students spend the summer taking general education classes in Italy through the popular Florence program, while others spend a spring break or summer session in Nicaragua learning Spanish and completing cross-cultural clinical experiences. Nursing majors desiring a longer study-abroad experience can spend the spring semester of their junior year studying at the National University of Galway in Ireland and still stay on track to graduate in four years.

  Fairfield University
  School of Nursing
  1073 North Benson Road
  Fairfield, CT 06824
  203-254-4000
  fairfield.edu/son/index.html

Oklahoma Baptist University

• At Oklahoma Baptist University, nursing is considered "a Christian ministry and a professional practice." To this end, students take two religious studies courses and attend weekly chapel services where they worship alongside their faculty and peers. Students also have opportunities to gain practical nursing experience and share their faith through medical mission trips, such as a January Term trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, where they provide medical care to the residents of local villages and get to learn about working with patients from other cultures. Students who are interested in parish nursing, an emerging sub-field that integrates Christian religious practices with nursing and health promotion, can earn a minor in Faith Community Nursing. The minor program requires 15 credits in coursework such as Psychology of Religion and a three-credit practicum at a local Baptist parish.

  Oklahoma Baptist University
  School of Nursing
  500 West University
  Shawnee, OK 74804
  405-275-2850
  okbu.edu/academics/nursing/index.html