Simmons University Rankings Based on Salary

Avoid like the plague, unless you enjoy getting sucked into $10K per semester tuition that will hook you with easier stuff and then, once in debt up to your eyeballs, will throw “advanced” courses at you taught largely by uninformed adjuncts, or by regular faculty via prerecorded lectures that often contradict the books they assign and then said regular faculty can’t be bothered to communicate with you outside of class. I can’t tell you how many classes I took where exams were a disaster and they then went... Read More back and had to throw out *wrong* versions of questions or badly-worded ones, or ones that caused much of the class to get an unacceptable test grade that resulted in failing the course. They tout their “graduation rate” and include on-campus students. Ask them what their online rate is, or speak to anyone who has been through this program in the last several years. I don’t doubt that some of their faculty are decent professionals and probably accomplished RNs. They forget that most program students are NOT going on to DNPs and therefore are not going to publish in journals (you’ll write lots of papers that will never again been seen, and their “class assistants” will apply a grading rubric that wasn’t even well thought out when it was given to them). Simmons Nursing’s biggest problem is that NO ONE there from top to bottom has any idea how to run a quality higher educational program that actually wants students to succeed, and they’re certainly not concerned about best interests of students as they change curricula and classes and testing software at will and then throw you to the wolves with it all. Classmates and I figured out this is probably by design, so you’re on the hook for additional mountains of student debt as you retake the higher-level classes. Small school with big ambitions and NO ability to find a stable, accomplished faculty that actually wants its MSNs to succeed and helps them. You can’t dissent or raise too many questions, either, because then they’ll call students together as they did last year and dress you all down for high treason against the “reputation” of the program. What reputation? Have you looked at the program rankings? I think the university president or their accrediting board needs to dig a little deeper into all of this- but they probably won’t as long as this cash cow keeps this small school awash in incoming funds. My excitement at first starting Simmons has been beaten out of me now. I found my own preceptor, thankfully. I feel taken for a major ride. My friends and colleagues in similar programs elsewhere have none of the combat stories that I do, and that makes me wonder why I paid them so much to have any at all.

I feel pulled to leave a review to hopefully provide a more dynamic view of this school. I am enrolled in the online MSW program. I have had such a wonderful experience and will be graduating soon. I want to validate some of the experiences noted in other reviews, and at the same time remind those reading that often folks who had bad experiences leave reviews and there are thousands of good experiences not mentioned. The admission process was so welcoming and warming, Simmons has a ton of departments each... Read More step of the way provided to ensure each student feels supported. I have an advisor AND a student success specialist I talk with every few weeks to make sure I am doing well. My classes are SO interesting and I've loved each professor. The courses place a strong emphasis on social justice and systems of privilege and oppression. I've had professors who own private practices, and others that do macro work advocating for policy change. My internship has been an extremely enriching educational opportunity. I know tens of people who have graduated from this program and are now successful LICSW or LCSW. Having classmates all over the US provides a rich and dynamic perspective. The only downside I have noticed so far is at times the courses are offered are at annoying times for me. This is small potatoes.