University of San Francisco Reviews of Master's in Nursing

"I was selected and attended MSN CNL nursing program in 2017, and started school with USF. When I started class, I was disappointed :the instructors cancel the class all the time, sometimes one of our pharm instructor no show, and all class average exam is for his class was like 40/100, but he let us pass the class with B & higher. I went couple semesters I wasted my valuable money and time. The administrators are supper rude to cover them selves they won’t listen to our concerns, one of my clinical instructors talk about my ethnicity and with whom I am computing with is not smart idea. She didn’t grade my care plans, she saw me lower than others. But I quiet that school and went out of state and graduated with my MSN from a descent collage less than half of the price from USF. My instructors from mid west were very knowledgeable, and pour out their knowledge to us, I got a 4.0 GPA and recognized as the first one in the masters program. I got the right education and the right job at the time. Please run away from this school."

"I'm only just about to complete my first semester in the CNL program. I have very little positive things to say about it. It is disorganized, unprofessional, half the instructors are incompetent, feels more like high school than a graduate degree program. This program is not even close to being worth the extraordinary tuition. If I had to pay my tuition through personal financing or loans, I'd probably cut my losses and leave. Should have accepted my UW offer or some other more established program."

"Currently a student in the CNL- Master's Entry program. There are pros and cons to this program. The program is very expensive and can be disorganized at times which is stressful given the financial investment students are making. Some of the professors have been great, but there are some that are not very supportive. The biggest con is that the school caters to the BSN students in every aspect."

"A degree as a Clinical Nurse Leader is fairly new to the nursing profession and USF was the school that pioneered for this role. I am in the Master's Entry program so the courses are very fast-pace, which can be both a pro and con. Don't expect much of a social life if you plan on doing well in this program. The instructors are very knowledgeable and are always helpful during office hours. The quality of education is very high and after finishing a class, I feel every confident and prepared to pass the NCLEX exam. The program has a pre-fixed schedule of courses and an adviser sets up a schedule for you, which I really disliked. If you wish to make any alterations to the pre-fixed schedule, you would have to talk to your adviser."

"the ME-CNL program at USF is very competitive to gain initial admission. However, after that, it is quite easy to stay in the program so long as you put in a moderate amount of effort. The school and faculty is very supportive and want you to succeed. A major con of the graduate level program is feeling second to the BSNs. The BSN program is ingrained in stone, they have mastered exactly how to churn out successful, productive nurses. The MSN program, on the other hand, has a much more difficult time coordinating basic aspects of school such as clinical sites, skills lab, and general communication. There are some stellar professors, however, they are few and far between. Those few are given a huge class load which renders them unable to allocate the necessary time to each class."

"Some instructors were great. Others not so great. Guest speaker was not helpful but was used twice for cardiac lecture. Did not prepare me well for teh NCLEX."

"My graduate study experience at USF was amazing! The students, faculty, and university community contributed to enhancing my overall well-being as a clinical nurse leader. I am proud to be an alumni from this prestigious university!"

"The clinical rotations were not arranged far enough in advance and some students were left to fend for themselves for clinicals. I will mention that our program was not the only one to have issues with clinical placements as there are far too many nursing programs in the San Francisco Bay Area and not enough hospitals to accommodate all the students in need of placement."

"USF is a beautiful school with an environment conducive to learning. A student has free range to study individually or in groups in all areas on campus at any time of day. The library is top notch. The school of nursing at USF seems to always be struggling. As a student, you will need to be very flexible with change. Some of the professors are amazing. However, there were a few that were actually pretty mediocre. Considering the amount of money tuition is I had expected all professors to be stellar. It is really up to you to make the education what you want it to be."

"For anyone who chooses the Masters Entry Option program for nursing, your two years will pass very quickly. You will both love and hate the cohort model it uses. A Facebook group will emerge, cliques will quickly form, and people will get very irritated when you sit in "their seat." On one hand you will at some point get sick of seeing the same 30-something people all day, everyday, for two years. But on the other hand, you will become intimately close to some of these individuals and you will know more about these people than you do your kindergarten best friend. You will attend class in the same two buildings for two years: Cowell Hall and Lone Mountain. You will occasionally trek to the simulation lab where any confidence you once had in your nursing skills will be shattered into a million worst-case-scenario related pieces; months to years later you will find that those lessons are the ones that stick best. Your instructors will come to know you by first and last name, especially if you are one of the 3 males in the class. No matter how feel about group work, you will learn to get along, distribute work, and call out the slackers in a diplomatic and tactful way. You will be able to teach a class on APA-formatting. The words "evidenced based practice/EBP" will come up at least once daily. You will embrace social justice and liberal yet responsible thinking toward the distribution of healthcare resources. You will feel lost for months, until one day, in the middle of clinicals, you will feel as though everything suddenly clicks, and you will confidently hang your fluids, prime the line, and start infusing your meds into your patient. Overall, USF's CNL masters entry program is effective. It really seems to teach "design thinking": why are things done this way? Why not that way? Is this actually functional and achieving the desired outcomes? This is important for optimizing the future of healthcare, and provides tools to analyze problems systematically and troubleshoot clinical issues. The program really focuses on the future, developing leadership skills and expanding the pool of nursing knowledge for the future. This comes at the expense of strong fundamentals and clinical preparation, which can be frustrating for those who seek more bedside expertise. The condensed timeframe during the summer semesters feels insufficient to master the scope of information that is expected (i.e. all of pediatrics), and the program does not allow for any kind of more specialized experience (not a good choice for someone strongly interested in emergency medicine, critical care, pediatrics, maternity). Overall, if you enjoy systems thinking and problem solving beyond the bedside, this is a great program. It will give you the basic clinical skills you need to succeed as a bedside nurse as well, but the bulk of information necessary for patient care will likely be learned during the first year of employment rather than during nursing school."

"The University of San Francisco (USF) has a 2-year fast paced MSN Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) program designed for students who hold a bachelor's degrees in areas of study outside of nursing and are seeking new careers as registered nurses (RN).This program was my foot into the world of Nursing, as I was unable to get into a Nursing program as an undergraduate. USF's program has my gratitude for having such a program that allowed me to pursue my life long dream; I've always wanted to be a Nurse. As an undergardaute, I was unable to pursue the Nursing program because it was so impacted, but I never gave up on my dream of becoming a Nurse. I took some time off (about 5 years to raise my child with special needs) and once I felt I was ready to go back to school I found USF's Master's of Science, Clinical Nurse Leader (MSN-CNL) program. This program not only allows me to purse my Nursing for licensure as a RN, but also integrating graduate-level study that prepares me for positions as clinical nurse leaders; impacting the Nursing world at a systems level. The MSN-CNL program was hard, time-consuming, self-absorbing, emotional, intense, STRESSFUL and FAST-paced. Of course, they provide with all this information during orientation but it does not come into reality until you have entered your first summer semester. There will be times where you will need to further explore and learn the material taught in lecture, but your thoroughness in learning a topic/system will fully prepare you for your HESI and NCLEX-RN exam. Start practicing questions NOW for your HESI, as it is never too early to start understanding the way the questions are written. As mentioned above, I am the mother of a child with special needs and completing this degree was a long time dream I've always had; I did struggle,yet I am a proud USF graduate! USF's MSN-CNL program has wonderful, understanding clinical staff and instructors who are there to work with you and look forward to your success. Although I did apply to many Nursing programs, I am grateful to have completed the MSN-CNL program, as the CNL certification really gave me insight as to how I, as a Nurse, can impact the patient population. I learned that Nursing IS NOT just bedside care, this program gives you the confident to feel important and powerful in a system of healthcare that is goign through changes for improving the lives of their patients. Good Luck, and remember to never give up on a dream."

"Being part of a small program, you come to know your classmates and faculty very well, contributing to a strong sense of unity and class identity. In the world of nursing, collaboration and communication is everything (aside from basic competencies), and the intimate level of familiarity and forced group work common to this program appropriately imitate the challenges present in a professional collaborative environment. While you come to know all the components and participants of your program on a first name basis, the program begins to feel quite insular from all other aspects of campus, though I doubt this is uncommon amongst most graduate programs. Additionally, the school of nursing and health sciences is likely staffed at a minimum for administration and is very inefficient. With patience and some prodding, everything tends to work out, but not without a few panic attacks along the way. The curriculum heavily stresses advancement of the nursing profession as much as it emphasizes development of clinical competencies, which is both a positive and a negative - it speaks to the overarching goal of developing leaders who are capable or operating far beyond their current skills, but also leaves the student feeling a bit underskilled in the interim. Overall, it's an expensive program in an even more expensive city that is rigorous and can feel disorganized at times, but worth it if you can find the money and can set aside 2 years to push through."

"USF Nursing provides a well-rounded graduate education with an emphasis in psychosocial patient interaction improvement, social justice, patient advocation, and community health. It thrives in the San Francisco Bay Area as a school dedicated to educating student nurses to perform to the top of their potential while creating a sense of friendship and community through the student experience."

"The University of San Francisco nursing school prides itself on diversity and social justice while providing a top tier education. The faculty have a vast wealth of professional experience which appropriately augments their lessons and all have been very supportive of the individual student experience. The entry level MSN is accelerated. The work is abundant, but manageable. The only potential drawbacks are that this school is expensive, and administratively disorganized at times. They will bend over backwards for you if you fall into specific demographics as well in an effort to promote their values regarding diversity and social justice as previously stated. The atmosphere is also liberal and sometimes radical liberal, though faculty do not impress their personal opinions onto students."