Shenandoah’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing: Traditional Four-Year Track is designed for students entering the program as freshmen.
Your nursing courses begin in the first semester of your freshman year, and continue throughout each semester of the curriculum. You’ll have opportunities to work in health care during summer breaks. Technology in the nursing program is integrated throughout the curriculum, and all nursing students participate in Shenandoah’s iMLearning technology program.
Our program allows you to gain the experience necessary for the provision, management and coordination of general nursing care for individuals, families, groups and communities so you may launch a career that leads to personal and professional fulfillment.
Shenandoah’s Nursing program is special because it has direct admittance. Many schools do not admit students into their nursing programs until their junior year, but at Shenandoah you know you are in the nursing program upon admittance to the university. That also means that you can start taking nursing classes earlier than other programs elsewhere. Student’s first nursing course will be in your freshmen year and your first clinical will be in your sophomore year.
Shenandoah’s first-time NCLEX pass rate is consistently above the national average pass rate.
Learn More About This Program
Nursing is extremely challenging. Nothing comes easy in this major. You will be giving up nights out, your Non-nursing friends will joke that they never see you, and you may end up a little sleep deprived. BUT I can think of no other major as rewarding as nursing. You can literally get a job anywhere in the world doing any type of nursing you want. You can go into grad school and get your doctorates or even end up teaching the classes you never thought you would pass while in school. The best part about it is though, you’ll be a forever member of the most trusted profession in the world. And while this major is challenging, you will never face those challenges alone. It may be a hard journey, but it is beyond worth it in the end.
Sarah Wohld ’15 | Nursing
As a freshman, you’ll find yourself launching head-first into a rigorous nursing curriculum. With the support of an experienced nursing faculty adviser, you’ll receive academic and professional guidance throughout your four years in the program. You will also have direct access to a full range of student-life activities on and off campus. After you’ve completed your studies, you’ll sit for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), prepared with the skills and knowledge to apply for entry-level professional nurse positions.
At Shenandoah, our role is to help you prepare for success in this challenging and satisfying health profession. As a student here, you will have opportunities to share and learn from your fellow students, faculty and practicing nurses, from within the classroom to a range of clinical environments including hospitals, medical practices and pharmacies.
Our programs are challenging, but the rewards of completing your degree and entering this critical profession are many. We are committed to providing an outstanding education to nurses at all levels—from people entering the profession with a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, to advanced practice nurses seeking doctoral-level training. Our programs are dynamic and responsive to the needs of our students and the health care industry.
Hands-on Learning Through Simulation Experiences
Role players, trained as actors in Shenandoah University’s world-renowned Shenandoah Conservatory, help make our simulation experience unique. While we use mannequins in state-of-the-art and easily reconfigured simulation spaces, our students also learn by working with acting students who role-play simulated patients.
This mutually beneficial arrangement allows nursing students to interact with real people, and provides acting students with a variety of skills, from applying moulage, or wound-mimicking makeup, to gaining a greater understanding of how portray people with a variety of ailments, after learning about symptoms from our nursing faculty, who are experts, who remain practicing nurses.
Our program also utilizes the capabilities of the Shenandoah Center for Immersive Learning, which features a role-player workforce and augments programs with 360 video and augmented and virtual reality technology.
Career and Salary Possibilities
Nursing is the fastest-growing occupation in the U.S. and the demand is expected to rise through 2020. Graduates enjoy high starting salaries and flexible schedules in terms of hours and locations. As a nurse, you’ll have numerous opportunities for specialization and career advancement.
The B.S.N. degree is the entry-level degree for many health care organizations. It prepares you to perform clinical practice in today’s high tech health care environment, using clinical reasoning and critical thinking along with a caring demeanor.
The Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing prepares you to deliver, manage and lead nursing care in a variety of health care settings and participate in personal and professional development. You will be ready to do this in many settings, such as hospitals (acute care), clinics, medical practices, health departments, hospice and the military. You can work in international care, home care, trauma care or school nursing (you may teach in vocational LPN programs) and pursue graduate studies in advanced practice nursing, nursing education and research.
Career and Salary Examples for Nursing Majors:
- Nurse with BSN:$50,000-$75,000
- Nursing Manager: $81,831
- Nurse Case Manager: $67,342
- Family Nurse Practitioner (NP): $87,866
- Clinical Nurse Manager: $77,671
- Emergency Room Nurse: $67,546
In my senior year, Shenandoah’s School of Nursing helped me land my dream job with everything from resume development to interview skills, and helped me prepare for the NCLEX with a comprehensive review program. At graduation, I felt very confident, already having a job lined up, and I felt prepared to pass my boards!”
Anne O’Hare ’18 | RN-to-BSN
Inova Fairfax Surgical Telemetry Unit
Every aspect of the nursing program has helped me be prepared for my first nursing job. From basic nursing skills, to job interviews, and how to prevent burn-out, SU’s program takes you step by step through everything you need to know! I have accepted a nursing position on the Pulmonary-Renal Unit at Valley Health’s Winchester Medical Center.
Courtney Short ’16 | Nursing
Sarah Wohld ’15 | Nursing
The Career Services Office provides a comprehensive range of services and resources to assist Shenandoah students in their career search. Services offered include resume and cover letter building, mock interviews, and professional dining etiquette workshops.
Career Services made me marketable and shine through my resume and cover letters that landed me interviews at places I’d never thought I’d ever have a chance at.”
Jeff Chuang ’16 | Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Classes
Our Nursing program has small classes, and focuses on Ethics and Genomics which is the future of nursing. We also offer Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief courses which is very rare. Many schools have one skills lab, whereas our students complete three. We don’t just teach skills, we give a reasoning behind the skills, and then perform them in real world simulations.
You’ll learn to:
- analyze knowledge associated with professional nursing practice and membership within the nursing profession
- demonstrate skill in the delivery, management and leadership of professional nursing care
- demonstrate values consistent with the ethical delivery of professional nursing care
- exemplify unique meanings associated with professional nursing
- actively and intellectually engage in professional nursing experiences
Courtney Short ’16 | Nursing
Learning support services are available to all students in every course at Shenandoah. Free peer tutoring with a student who has previously succeeded in the course is available for any course across the university. The Writing Center is available for every stage of the writing process from thesis development to proofreading and bibliography assistance. The Math Enrichment Center is available for math and science assistance. Professors and Academic Advisors across the university also have office hours and open door policies to ensure Shenandoah students succeed academically.
Learning Support Services at Shenandoah
I think tutoring is a very beneficial resource because it helped me understand the material more, so I could do well on my exams!”
Maria Shellenberger ’18 | Nursing
The best thing you can do for yourself is to take advantage of the FREE tutoring services here at Shenandoah. The tutors here were able to make even the most complicated and challenging material, fun and easy to understand.
Aaron Seagle ’17 | Nursing
Faculty
We have a low faculty-student ratio with small classes and clinical groups so you’ll receive personal attention from faculty. The result is a close-knit, collaborative community of nursing students, faculty and clinical preceptors.
There’s a special bond between Shenandoah University students and their professors. You’ll enjoy close relationships with faculty members who will mentor you in and out of the classroom. This remains a hallmark of our nursing education.
Shenandoah’s experienced and practicing faculty take every opportunity to provide you with the academic foundation you’ll need to meet the standards and rising expectations for practice in the nursing profession. They provide an environment where you can be inquisitive, grow and excel.
Shenandoah’s nursing faculty have had a positive influence in my life. They have allowed me to think outside the box, work to my full potential and help me grow as a person. My professor of pathophysiology and instructor for health assessment, Selena Truban, has inspired me to be the person I want to be. She is able to juggle being a professor, a mom, a daughter and a grad student at JMU for her Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree. To be able to balance all of that and still look composed amazes me every day.
Clelia Wilson ’20 | Nursing Major with a Spanish Minor
I would have to say the relationships and connections I built with professors and classmates was the most memorable part of my program. Being such a small school, you have the opportunity to develop close relationships with your peers and create lifelong friendships. When you are surrounded by faculty that want to see you succeed as well as friends and classmates who support you throughout your college and post grad life, you can’t help but feel grateful for the strenuous program that brought you together.
Kelsey Van Sickler ’14 | Nursing
Application Information
Shenandoah University works on rolling admissions and accepts applications throughout the year. Applications are reviewed individually and holistically.
Submit your application, review required admissions materials, and find our admissions standards.
Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS)
Freshmen must complete the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) by the end of the freshman year and must achieve a minimum overall score of 65 percent (may be subject to change) to continue in the nursing program. Candidates may retake the exam only once.
Registration deadline is one week prior to each exam.
Space is limited to 7 seats in Winchester and 6 in Northern Virginia. No late registrations accepted. Students must arrive no later than 8:45 am to check-in. Please be prompt, students arriving LATE will NOT be permitted to test.
BSN-Level TEAS testing will be offered at:
Health & Life Sciences Building
1460 University Drive
Winchester, Va. 22601
Scholar Plaza, Loudoun
44160 Scholar Plaza, Suite 100
Leesburg, VA 20176
Academic Enrichment Center
Disability support services are available to students with documented disabilities. To arrange for such services, at least two weeks prior to the test date , contact the Academic Enrichment Center, at 540 -665 – 4928.
Call the Shenandoah University’s Eleanor Wade Custer School of Nursing at 540-678-4374, if you have questions about the TEAS exam.
Study Abroad
Make studying abroad the highlight of your college experience! Whether you go for a year, a semester, or just a few weeks, you will never forget learning in another culture! The Center for International Programs is here to help you plan your study abroad experience. Start your planning early to ensure the courses you complete abroad count toward your degree and you graduate on time.
Global Experiential Learning (GEL) Program
The Global Experiential Learning (GEL) Program offers Shenandoah students a short-term, faculty-led, study-abroad experience for academic credit. These short-term, credit-bearing, faculty-led programs are offered winter break, spring break, and during the summer. If a course is not within your major, it might be used as an elective.
It is very hard to pick a favorite part of my GEL trip to Uganda since we did so many new and amazing activities. If I had to pick just one, however, I would choose administering fluoride treatments to the 233 students at Nyaka Primary School in Uganda. Many of the students will never receive any other dental treatments and so it was a joy to do something that will hopefully protect the children’s teeth. I hope that are our actions will make a difference in the lives of these children. I know that taking the time to serve in this way made a difference in mine. It was such a beautiful country and I love how simple their lifestyle was. Even though I am glad to be home, part of my heart will always be in the small African country of Uganda.
Heather Lilley ’18 | Nursing
Study Abroad
Shenandoah University is a member of the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), a global network of 300 universities. This partnership allows students to study for a full semester or year at other member campuses abroad. By working closely with their academic advisors and the study abroad advisor, students can take classes taught in English abroad while receiving Shenandoah credit.
Shenandoah University also maintains direct partnerships with several universities around the world. These relationships allow students from SU to study abroad as exchange students and students from these universities to study at SU. All partner universities offer courses taught in English.
