A Review of Nursing Schools in the Nashville, Tennessee Area

     Before I even moved to Tennessee, I wanted to get an idea of what my options were as far as nursing school. How much was it going to be? Would I have to drive very far? Does the school have a good nursing program?

     I decided to write this post on my experience with the different nursing schools in the Nashville area. I visited most of them, did extensive online research, or called them frequently with questions--so I feel like I got a pretty good representation of each school.

     Let's start off with the associate's degree programs. First of all, know that getting an associate's degree in nursing still lets you take the NCLEX and become an RN. You may have to take roughly a year of pre-requisites and then two years of the actual nursing coursework. This may be great for some people, but when you are looking for a job, those nurses with a bachelor's degree will be more desirable and you may have more difficulty getting a job. Also, nursing is becoming more and more competitive and demanding. There has been mention of associate nursing programs being done away with--meaning those nurses who have an A.D.N. would have to go back to school and complete their bachelors in order to still be an RN.

Nashville State

   When I did look into Nashville State, the one thing that caught my attention was the price. For the two years of the program it was only $10,000 (tuition, books, vaccinations, NCLEX exam, etc)! That is a great price! You do have to go to a mandatory meeting prior to applying to the program, so keep that in mind. The meeting was very informative and I'm glad they make students attend.

Cost: $10,000

Location: 7 miles west of Nashville

Admission: Based on interview, GPA, and TEAS V score

Accepts: 50 students, once a year

Reputation: Good

How Easy to Get Information: Good. The website is pretty organized and clear. Faculty seemed easy to contact

 

Volunteer State Community College

     VSCC is where I did a year of my pre-requisites. The school is very inexpensive, which is great. I never had a problem with staff and my advisors were always very knowledgeable and helpful. This program is linked to Tennessee State University. Most of the classes are taught on the Vol State campus, but about half of the classes are taught by TSU faculty. Just like Nashville State, you must attend an information session before you can apply.

Cost: $20,000 (an estimate for all two years, including books and fees, no aid--not including the year of pre-reqs needed)

Location: 26 miles north of Nashville

Admission: Based on GPA (website says between 3.1 and 4.0 to be competitive) and DN-A2 Assessment (an entrance exam)

Accepts: 24? Could not find a number on their website--this is just what I heard from a fellow student

Reputation: Fair

How Easy to Get Information: Bad. There is hardly any info on the VSCC website. Most info is on TSU's website, which is not user friendly. Could not find a lot of important information


Belmont University

   Moving on to the bachelor's degree! So there are two ways you can get accepted to a four year nursing school. First, you can do your two years of pre-requisites and then apply to the nursing program to complete the final two years of actual nursing specific coursework. The other option is a freshman admission nursing program. You apply to the nursing program at the beginning of starting school and continue to stay in the program as long as you maintain a certain GPA. Belmont is a freshman admission program.
   
     Now, I am going to be kind of opinionated here....I don't really like the freshman admission programs because they are less competitive. They aren't doing an interview to see if you will make a good nurse and they aren't making you take an entrance exam. I'm sure some students love that, but in my opinion nursing students NEED to go through all those hoops to make sure they are competent, personable, and will make good nurses. I think it allows some people who should NOT be nurses become nurses. There needs to be more scrutiny for people wanting to become healthcare professionals!


Cost: $115,120 (estimate for all 4 years, not living on campus and with no aid)

Location: 2.6 miles south of downtown Nashville

Admission: GPA and ACT score (minimum of 22) / SAT score (minimum of 1050)

Accepts: Unknown. I looked all over the internet and their website and couldn't find a number. I have just heard by ear that it is quite a lot since they accept freshman

Reputation: Good

How Easy to get Information: Fair. The website is pretty good. Calling was more difficult and I had such a hard time getting a lot of specific questions answered (mostly about scholarships)

Warning: Belmont might have been an option for me, but they are NOT transfer friendly. They do not offer ANY scholarships to transfer students (written on their website and told to me in person). So unless you get federal aid, you will be paying the full amount for tuition. Belmont is a very freshman oriented school


Lipscomb University 

     I am very biased against Lipscomb because I had a bad experience with them. Initially I was very excited to go to school there--the campus was beautiful, clean, and they have a brand new nursing building! However, I had difficulty getting answers on the phone. I drove down there one day asking to just meet with a random advisor. They would not allow me to see anyone except one specific lady who dealt strictly with transfer nursing students. Now I already knew who this lady was....I had emailed and called her MANY times, and she never responded to me.
 
     I literally just wanted to talk to any advisor to ask them some simple questions, but they were adamant I could only talk to this one lady. I thought, "Ok, whatever, I'll just talk to that lady, I don't care any more." So I went to her office to find she was not yet there for the day....at 10 a.m. Ok.....I waited about 30 minutes till she arrived only for her to get irritated with me for not making an appointment. She also would not answer any of my questions until she had all my transcripts approved by the school. GEE LADY I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU LIKE 3 QUESTIONS! They weren't even related to anything for which she would need my transcript.

   I emailed her several times after that to make a subsequent appointment--but surprise, she never responded. By then the application deadline had passed, so it was pointless to deal with them. I wrote a strongly worded letter to the school about my horrible experience, for which they apologized...but I doubt they did or said anything to the transfer advisor.


Cost: $112,000 (estimate for 4 years, no aid, not living on campus)

Location: 4.5 miles south of downtown Nashville

Admission:  GPA, Interview, school specific exam, short essay, 3 reference letters

Accepts: For some reason the number 20 something is in my head...But I don't remember and can't find it on their website. I am pretty sure it is a small amount

Reputation: Good

How Easy to get Information: Bad. Website is fair but like I said above, the school did an awful job of helping me

Concession: The school did seem to have a good number of scholarships. Specifically for me, they offered transfer scholarships based on GPA. I have a 4.0, so I would have received an $8,000 merit scholarship as well as a $2,500 scholarship due to transferring from a Tennessee community college


Tennessee Tech University

    I had a very good experience with TTU. The school was very transfer friendly and inexpensive. I drove up there to talk to someone and they were very friendly and helpful. I actually applied here and was accepted to the nursing program. I would have considered it more had it not been so far from Nashville. I was also concerned with where we would do our clinicals since Cookeville is in a more remote location.

     Note, TTU is pretty good about scholarships. They do offer a community college transfer scholarship for $3,000 a semester. The recipient must complete 75 hours of community service a semester.

Cost: $32,068 (estimate for 4 years, no aid, not living on campus)

Location: 80 miles east of Nashville

Admission: Based mainly on GPA, essay, and healthcare-related community service (Note: when I applied all I needed to do was a simple online application where I entered the above information. No test and no interview. An interview may be needed if you are a borderline applicant. This may change at any given time however...I wouldn't be surprised if they start requiring an entrance exam)

Accepts: 50? In the student handbook they said 44 students graduated in 2008, so I'm guessing there are roughly 50 or more spots. I could be horribly wrong though

Reputation: Good

How Easy to get Information: Calling the school itself was great...it was harder to get ahold of the nursing department. The website was great and applying was even easier!

Here is a link to a video of a SON information session. It had information that was helpful to me back when I applied. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C88K6tH26rc


Middle Tennessee State University

     I thought I'd close with the school I'm personally going to! When I first visited MTSU, I was not impressed. My advisor was like most SON advisors...she tried to scare me away and tell me I probably wouldn't get in because so few people who apply get in. That was pretty irritating, but almost EVERY school I've visited has done that to me. Once I got in, it was a totally different ball game. They were very respectful and kind. There is a lady who works there who just handles the applicants and eases the process into the program. She is an angel! I may have to call her 2 or 3 times in a row to get ahold of her, but that is what you have to do with all nursing departments. Keep calling and bugging them! The sad truth is they don't need you...so you need to show them you aren't giving up.

     Although I haven't started the program yet, the transition so far has been great. They are great with transfers (yay!). My amazing advisor was able to substitute some of my courses from Texas to MTSU, saving me from taking two extra summer classes!

     Clinicals are also done at some great hospitals in the Nashville area, including Vanderbilt and St. Thomas (where I did volunteer work). The cost has also turned out to be very cheap for me. I was given the Transfer Promise Scholarship for $3,000 a year. Tuition per year is about $8,000. So the cost of 5 semesters of nursing school is VERY inexpensive! It is about the same as that of a community college.

Cost: $32,000 (estimate for all 4 years tuition, no aid, not living on campus)

Location: 38 miles south of Nashville

Admission: Point system of GPA, interview, and HESI entrance exam

Accepts: 64 per semester

Reputation: Good

How Easy to get Information: Overall had a great experience. Website makes it very clear on how to apply to the program and what you need to do and who to contact