Even with the addition of a new building, students may still find it difficult to be accepted into UNCW’s nursing program. Many have even had to apply multiple times.

There are currently more than 250 applicants a year for the 100 available spots. Although the construction of the new School of Nursing is projected to be finished the summer of 2010, the acceptance rate is not expected to increase by much.  This is because the program actually increased its acceptance rate two years ago in anticipation of gaining the new facility. 

“Approximately 65 percent of each group accepted are UNCW pre-nursing majors,” said the interim dean of the nursing program Susan Pierce, who previously spent 30 years on faculty as administrator at the School of Nursing at UNC-Chapel Hill.

With the new building, the patient-simulation and skills-development laboratories and even a distance-education classroom to and from the Jacksonville campus, one still has to wonder why the school will not be capable of fitting more students.  Another reason is the lack of faculty available to teach. 

“Unless additional resources are procured to retain and hire more faculty and additional clinical sites are developed, enrollment will be steady,” Pierce said.

One of the reasons for a lack of faculty is that many programs do not push students to continue their education to attain their masters and become teachers themselves.  Many nursing students look forward to the day that they graduate so that they can move into the profession they have been trained to do.

While current sophomores desperately want the program’s acceptance to expand, many students who have already been accepted into the program do not wish for it to extend due to the size of their current facilities. 

“Right now it’s hard to work and hard to learn,” the president of the nursing club Sara Price said. “With the new facilities you’re going to have the room to teach effectively and that makes the difference.”

Nursing students are currently taught in King Hall as well as a trailer in the parking lot in front of Wagoner cafeteria. 

“As far as the simulation room experience, there are about 60 people in there and I thought if there was a hundred it would be awful,” nursing student Sarah Blankenship said.

Many nursing students agree that it is the quality of the teaching, not the size of the class, that is the most important part of their education. 

Junior Lisa Chambers said, “They do a good job for not having a building.”

So if facilities have been lacking in the past and acceptance rates are low, why don’t students transfer?

One of the reasons students may not consider moving to a nursing program at a different school is that other universities, like ECU, have different pre-requisite requirements that UNCW students may not have taken.  Other students would rather attend UNCW’s nursing program because they will receive a baccalaureate degree and the advantages that come with it, rather than obtain an associate degree in nursing at Cape Fear Community College.

Overall, UNCW harbors a reputable nursing program and is slowly but surely increasing its facilities and acceptance rates in favor of upcoming students.