According to Nursing Schools Almanac (NSA), Wesleyan College’s nursing program moved up four spots in the past year to rank as the 16th Best Prelicensure Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program in Georgia for 2021. The research team at NSA collected data on more than 3,000 nursing schools and campuses throughout the United States and only 35% of schools made the list. Each school was evaluated on three dimensions:

• The institution’s academic prestige and perceived value

• The breadth and depth of nursing programs offered

• Student success, particularly on the NCLEX licensure examination

Aspiring registered nurses in the United States must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) before they may commence practice. Thus, student performance on the NCLEX-RN exam provides an excellent benchmark for comparing the relative quality of bachelor’s degree programs. The research team at Nursing Schools Almanac calculated Wesleyan’s first-time NCLEX pass rate at 88.8% from an average of 27 students graduated per year. The data analyzed was from 2015 through 2020.

Sirena Fritz, nursing program director and associate professor of nursing, said, “We are proud to be included among the exceptional schools that ranked above Wesleyan. Most of those programs offer more courses of study than only the bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree. Our relatively new program has been graduating nurses of the highest caliber with BSN degrees since 2015. Approximately 85% of these nurses work in the Middle Georgia area.”