University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s College of Nursing Undergraduate Program continues as Wisconsin’s largest producer of BSNs. The College achieved this significant program growth while maintaining its legacy of nursing excellence. Students continue to achieve a 95 percent pass rate on NCLEX for first-time test takers, the highest of any UW System school.
The Traditional Option had 130 qualified applicants for 72 openings in spring 2012. A holistic admission process is used to select students who are the best fit for the Undergraduate Program.
New for this option is the Nurse Scholar Program for academically able high school students. Students with exceptional ACT scores and ranking in upper levels of their graduating class may be invited to apply for direct admission to the College as freshmen. This means they will not compete for placement in the clinical program, as long as they maintain a 3.3 grade-point average through their pre-nursing courses. There are currently 11 students who will receive the invitation to be nurse scholars.
The ACCELerated bachelors to BSN option gives students with a bachelor’s degree in another field the opportunity to earn a BSN in one calendar year. The option continues to experience great outcomes and demand. The spring 2012 cohort had 110 qualified applicants for 30 openings. The program maintains partnerships for clinical experiences in a variety of states and continues to seek new clinical partnerships in additional states. Fall 2012 will mark the first international clinical placement with a student at Landstuhl Air Force Base in Germany.
College of nursing's traditional option graduating class appeared on Good Morning America's special segment of "Your Three Words" that aired on New Year's Day 2012, where they expressed themselves as "69 new nurses!"
The BSN completion option is comprised of the BSN@Home throughout the state of Wisconsin, Soar Ahead-Janesville and Sail Ahead-Lakeshore. This option is the cost-effective online program for ADN and Diploma RNs to complete their BSNs. There is no wait list for these programs, which serve students in every corner of the state.
The BSN completion option is favored by working RNs because of year-round classes and an individualized BSN class
completion schedule for each RN. Also, advisers use technology, such as Skype, to minimize travel for students and no travel is required to the Oshkosh campus. A surge in enrollment reflects the documented high student satisfaction with this option with more than 90 RNs starting their BSN completion program this academic year.