Where can your student actually get into nursing?

• 1167 colleges nationwide offer a bachelor's nursing program: 1153 awarded the degree in 2022-23 (federal IPEDS completions); 1 more report a nursing admit rate in the UC/CSU data or a state licensing-board program record; 13 more carry program earnings in federal outcome data but no 2022-23 degree count under these program codes.
• Largest programs by graduates in 2022-23: Western Governors University (7,786), Chamberlain University-Illinois (5,665), Capella University (5,561).
• 59 of them are in California, the one state whose public systems (the University of California and the CSU) publish an admit rate into the major.
• Hardest reported gate into the program (only the UC and the CSU publish one): University of California-Irvine — Nursing Science, Fall 2025: 7,079 applied, 57 admitted (1%).
• Highest reported admit rate into the program: San Francisco State University — 100.0% (41 applied, 41 admitted, Fall 2025).
• 7 CSU campuses report nursing on the transfer side only: freshmen enter as pre-nursing and apply into the program later.
• Highest median earnings four years after the degree: California State University-East Bay, $150,921.
• Lowest average net price with aid: Texas A&M University-Central Texas, $1,300 per year.
• Of the 43 programs nationwide with a published admission path, 15 admit freshmen directly into nursing, 25 start freshmen as pre-nursing, and 3 admit only students who already hold a bachelor's degree.
• NCLEX-RN first-time pass rates (2024/2025, California Board of Registered Nursing) run from 65.7% at Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science to 100.0% at William Jessup University.

A nursing program that reports no first-year row is not 'easy'; it is a program families should plan around the pre-nursing gate, which is often harder than the campus. Admits are not enrollees. At most UC programs students are admitted to the campus, not the major. This page as JSON → · California only (59 colleges, with the UC and CSU gates) →

Every college, one row each

Colleges with a reported gate into the program come first, hardest first; the rest are sorted by earnings, then by graduates. Degree awarded is the program the college conferred bachelor's degrees in during 2022-23, with the number of graduates (federal IPEDS completions). Program admit rate is the college system's own number for this major (UC Information Center, CSU Chancellor's Office). Net price is the average paid by aid recipients; full price is the cost of attendance. Earnings are federal College Scorecard medians four years after the degree.