{"id":1726,"date":"2021-10-12T11:25:35","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T16:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/?page_id=1726"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:24:18","slug":"prospective-students-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/prospective-students-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Choose the St. Olaf Nursing Program?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection><p><em><strong>History and Background<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts institution committed to an educational philosophy consistent with membership in Phi Beta Kappa.\u00a0 The college is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with a tradition of service exemplified in its baccalaureate nursing program, initially established in 1952 with the first students graduated in 1956.<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota Intercollegiate Nursing Consortium (MINC) was established as a collaborative nursing program of the College of St. Catherine, Gustavus Adolphus College, and St. Olaf College.\u00a0 In 1992, the College of St. Catherine withdrew from the consortium and MINC continued with the two remaining member colleges.\u00a0 In 2014, the Board of Regents of St. Olaf College approved the dissolution of MINC following graduation of the Class of 2015.\u00a0 The re-establishment of an independent nursing program began with the Class of 2016.<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota Board of Nursing granted continuing approval to the baccalaureate degree nursing program at St. Olaf College on August 5, 2021.\u00a0 Accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education was initially granted on October 21, 2015, and continued on October 7, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Why Choose the St. Olaf Nursing Program?<br \/><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>We are dedicated to our students and committed to preparing them for a successful, professional career in the nursing field.\u00a0 There are many reasons to choose the St. Olaf Nursing Program!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>100% first attempt pass rate of graduates on the NCLEX-RN for two years in a row.\u00a0 The Class of 2023 and the Class of 2024.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Located in the small, beautiful college town of Northfield, Minnesota.<\/li>\n<li>The residential college experience while preparing as a professional nurse allows for a fun, balanced college life with participation in extracurricular activities offered by the college.<\/li>\n<li>We are a small program that fosters a personal connection between students and professors.<\/li>\n<li>Professors are nurse educators who teach across the curriculum &#8211; classroom, skills lab, simulation, and clinical experiences.<\/li>\n<li>New simulation center in 2019 &#8211; you can read more about the learning space <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/news\/st-olaf-opens-new-high-tech-space-for-nursing-program\">here.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Cadaver labs in science courses.<\/li>\n<li>Research opportunities.<\/li>\n<li>A variety of opportunities for clinical experiences, internships, and networking at healthcare agencies across the Twin Cities, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and rural hospitals and clinics.<\/li>\n<li>Our graduates, &#8220;Ole Nurses&#8221;, are sought after and quickly become leaders in the healthcare field.<\/li>\n<li>Many graduates, after working summer internships after their junior year in the major, secure positions that are waiting for them upon graduation.<\/li>\n<li>100% of our graduates who are seeking jobs have offers of employment prior to graduation.<\/li>\n<li>The St. Olaf Nursing Program meets the requirements of all 50 states to be eligible for licensure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>Why Bachelor of Arts and not Bachelor of Science?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A Bachelor of Arts simply offers you more of the arts, not less of the sciences.\u00a0 You are still taking all of the required courses of a Bachelor of Science degree.\u00a0 With the addition of the arts, you are preparing yourself to be a nurse who can think deeply and critically about the complex needs of the patients a nurse serves.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Questions?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Please ask.\u00a0 As a graduate of the nursing program at St. Olaf, a faculty member, and now department chair, I know the program well.\u00a0 Email me at <a href=\"mailto:huehn@stolaf.edu\">huehn@stolaf.edu<\/a>.\u00a0 If you would like to schedule a virtual meeting or phone call, include your available dates and times (please identify the time zone you are in) in your email to me and we will schedule an appointment.<\/p>\n<p>Best wishes on your important journey to find a college fit!<\/p>\n<p>With healthy regards,<\/p>\n<p><em>Dr. Susan Huehn, PhD, MSN, RN<\/em><br \/><em>Nursing Department Chair<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2023 Median Pay for Registered Nurses<\/strong><br \/>$86,070 annually &amp; $41.38 per hour<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Job Outlook 2022-32<\/strong><br \/>6% (faster than average)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Source:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/ooh\/healthcare\/registered-nurses.htm\">https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/ooh\/healthcare\/registered-nurses.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- begin-migrated-from-panel-builder --><!-- end-migrated-from-panel-builder --><\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>History and Background St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts institution committed to an educational philosophy consistent with membership in Phi Beta Kappa.\u00a0 The college is affiliated with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2095,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1726","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2095"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1726"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2459,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1726\/revisions\/2459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}