We may need to draw more general attention to the clinical focus as a distinction among other graduate programs. They still have the old stereotype in mind when they think of a nurse. A few years ago, there was a nursing overage, and students chose other majors, fearing a lack of jobs upon graduation. Our school needs to be proactive in communicating the variety of opportunities in nursing. We need to work harder-develop new strategies for the applicant pool of people we want to attract.
Most students work at least part time.
If we can get our BSN graduates to pursue graduate studies on a part-time basis, taking core courses, we may be able to get them through the doctoral program at an earlier age. Possibly, all BSN students could be required to take the GRE, rather than the MAT, since the GRE would be the appropriate test for BSN students to continue with the DSN program at a later date. We should be making a concerted effort to move Undergrads and RN-BSN as well as MSN students toward the doctoral program. We should encourage our brightest BSN students to continue core courses in the graduate program as non degree seeking at first until they decide on a clinical specialty area. The Graduate Curriculum committee plans to evaluate all graduate courses in terms of appropriate teaching strategies, schedules, use of technology in teaching, etc.