Does it matter which nursing school you attend?

How important is the nursing school you attend? It’s a question nurses ask themselves before, during and long after their nursing school experiences…particularly when applying for a coveted job!

That big question has been a topic of conversation all over the web as of late, including on allnurses.com, where member roxy2013 started a thread asking how much hospitals take into consideration which nursing school you graduated from in the interview process. The question sparked a plethora of responses from other posters, and it got us wondering what our readers think about the debate.

“In this job market, I absolutely believe if matters where you go to school,” wrote Stephalump. “The ‘best’ place in some areas could be a rinky-dink community college that the hospitals love or an Ivy League four year university. It really just depends. At my clinical site almost EVERY nurse I’ve worked with/met has graduated from my school or sister schools. I honestly didn’t expect that, but apparently the area thinks we’re putting out good nurses, so they keep hiring us.” Other posters agreed with this sentiment, though some think there are more important things you can use to set yourself apart in an interview.