Nursing

Use Your Heart, Head, and Hands

Whether you are just beginning college or building upon your nursing diploma or associate degree, earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) will allow you to stand out in the job market and pursue a graduate degree in nursing. And earning your BSN in one of the longest-running programs at Vermont’s oldest college will help you stand out even more. Transfer students can also bring course credits into all three program options.

Why Pursue a BSN in Nursing at Castleton?

• Funding and job offers: Many of our clinical affiliates offer tuition assistance to our students in order to hire them right after graduation. 
• High pass rates: Our students passed the NCLEX at a rate of 87%, which is consistent with the national pass rate.
• Top clinical affiliates: Gain clinical experience with top medical centers across the region, including Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, University of Vermont Medical Center (UVM-MC) in Burlington, VT, Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) in Bennington, VT, and others.
• More experience: In the Castleton BSN program, you will complete 800 hours of clinical experience — more hours than any other nursing program in Vermont.
• Flexibility: Current RNs can complete the RN-to-BSN pathway online, while they continue to work. Professors also provide office hours in-person and virtually. 
• More opportunity: According to a 2019 survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 82% of employers “expressed a strong preference for a bachelor’s degree.”        
• Professors who care: Castleton’s relationship-based approach means you have direct access to your professors through in-person or virtual office hours. And because of our small size, your professors will know who you are and care about your unique path and interests.
• Convenient locations: Our nursing programs are offered at our Castleton and Bennington campuses in southern Vermont.

Request more information about Castleton's Bachelor of Science in Nursing →

What Careers Can I Pursue With a BSN?

A BSN is quickly becoming a new minimum requirement for many nursing jobs. The Institute of Medicine has stated that 80% of RNs across the globe should hold BSN-level qualifications by 2020. Some states now require RNs to complete a BSN within 10 years of licensure. 

A bachelor’s degree in nursing makes you stand out from candidates who hold a diploma or associate’s degree, helps you earn higher salaries, positions you for leadership roles and greater responsibility, and allows you to pursue graduate degrees. With a BSN and a graduate degree, you can become a nurse practitioner (NP) or build a career in medical education, public health, research, informatics, healthcare policy, and/or healthcare leadership. The Castleton BSN will qualify you to pursue a nursing graduate degree such as a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DPN). Castleton also offers an online MSN with Clinical Nurse Leader and Nursing Educator concentrations.

ALUMNI PROFILE: Find out how PK Scheerle, RN ‘80, went from Castleton to Harvard Business School and founded her own nursing agency.

What You’ll Learn

The Castleton University Nursing program prepares you to think and act like a professional registered nurse (RN), which means exercising strong clinical judgment and clinical reasoning skills. Our nursing courses have been carefully designed to provide you with learning experiences in the classroom, in our nursing simulation centers, and in clinical experiences off-campus at several of our clinical affiliate sites in Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. By the end of the program, you will have acquired 800 hours of clinical experience.

Sample Courses

• Adult Health Nursing 
• Care, Caring, and Caregiving
• Critical Health Care Nursing
• Evidence-Based Nursing Informatics
• Medical Ethics
• Pediatric Health Nursing
• Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing
• Public Health Nursing
• Women's and Reproductive Health
• Worldviews and Global Health

View our nursing courses →

Meet Our Nursing Faculty

You will have direct access to professors who are doctorally trained nurses, leading nurse educators, advanced practice nurses, and experienced clinical nurse leaders. Through in-person or virtual office hours, you will work closely with faculty who care deeply about your success.

Meet our nursing faculty → 

FACULTY PROFILE: See how Helen Papeika's love of teaching led her to Bennington

Simulation Centers

Castleton’s Simulation Centers at both our Castleton and Bennington campuses give you a hands-on way to learn procedures, activities, and valuable patient interaction skills by “practicing on plastic” patients in a room designed to look like a hospital ward. Your simulated learning experience will begin in the spring semester of your first year, helping you to apply your classroom learning right away. 

Learn more about our Simulation Centers →

Clinical Affiliates

Gain clinical experience with top medical centers across the region, including Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in  Lebanon, NH; University of Vermont Medical Center (UVM-MC) in Burlington, VT; Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) in Bennington, VT; and others. Your clinical experience will begin in the spring semester of your sophomore year and include 800 hours — more hours than any other nursing program in Vermont. Many of our clinical affiliates offer tuition assistance for students who agree to work for them after graduation! 

Learn more about our clinical affiliates →

Financial Aid for Nursing Students

Eight out of 10 Castleton students receive a scholarship and Castleton offers some scholarships specifically for nursing students. Castleton is also the third-most affordable college in Vermont and almost every student receives some form of financial aid.

Learn more about nursing scholarships →

Admissions Requirements

First-year students need no prior nursing experience but must have B- grades or above in high school math and science courses. Transfer students must have completed their science courses within 10 years prior to admission or they can take a standardized exam to demonstrate their knowledge base.

Learn about nursing program admissions →

Accreditation

The baccalaureate degree in nursing program at Castleton University is approved by the Vermont Board of Nursing and accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education; 655 K Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, D.C., 20001; (202) 887-6791. The program is also approved by the Vermont State Board of Nursing.