The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

I am graduating in December with my BSN from UW-Milwaukee. I would think long and hard about deciding to come here for your education. It is not a great program. Yes, it is cheaper than private but you will get what you pay for (many times, it will feel like even less). The simulation labs are so run down they are almost not functional. There are literal holes in the walls, lack of basic modern supplies. So if you want to learn how to operate irrelevant medical equipment from the 1970's, this is the place. Their accreditation is also questionable. There are always rumors circulating that they are under review or probation and might not get their accreditation renewed, which would a degree from them useless. But these are rumors so I have no clue as to their validity and have been unable to find any concrete information on this. However, the fact that the administration never addresses these rumors is a little concerning. There is a general suspicion that they are keeping the students in the dark.

The leadership is not great. They have this very authoritarian style. I think they are trying to "prepare students for the real world", but they are horribly misguided. This translates into telling students that missing a class due to a death in the family is "unacceptable", changing your schedule last minute and expecting you to accommodate them without question, and literally closing doors in students faces. This is especially frustrating to adult students (such as myself). Most of my classmates are returning students who have been in the working world, functioning as professionals in other fields, for years before starting this program. They actually told us that something would "go on our permanent record" like some villain in an 80s teen movie. They have this same style with the clinical instructors, so the good ones leave for other schools/positions.

Their clinical placements are tenuous and you can end up driving up to an hour away for your site. You will have classes where you are not provided a syllabus until the class is like 6 or more weeks in. Some classes are given these strange names and then have no content, so they just assign you tons of frivolous papers to write and have "guest speakers" to fill time.

With all that being said, I am graduating with straight A's and am glad to be done. I will be an RN after all and that was the goal. But it UWM made it a very painful process and I will still have a lot of debt. If I had a time machine, I would make a different choice.

Good luck! I hope your BSN experience is better than mine was!