ROCHESTER, N.Y. – More than 800 prospective students have applied to the nursing program at Nazareth University for the fall semester. That’s the largest number of first-year applications ever for the program.

Ivana Peirce always knew she wanted to help people.

“As a child, I dressed up as a nurse for 7 Halloweens in a row,” Peirce says jokingly but by this Halloween, it won’t be make believe.  She and about 40 others will graduate from the nursing program at Nazareth, a program hundreds of others are now trying to get into.

“I think part of it, for our program, has been people learning that it is a smaller program, personalized attention, we’re a direct entry program which is unusual, they can come here as freshman, they have a seat in the program as soon as they are accepted,” explains Bonnie Walden, Chair of the Nazareth Nursing Program.

That is unique but St. John Fisher, SUNY Brockport, Roberts Wesleyan and the University of Rochester are all seeing a record number of applications in their nursing programs too.

“I think post pandemic, folks have said wow, that sounds like a great opportunity to serve the public,” Walden says.  

That, and if you can make it through, you’re basically guaranteed a job on the end. By 2030, New York State is expected to be 40,000 registered nurses short of what it will need to care for our aging population.  So, health systems, nursing homes and medical offices are desperately vying for recent graduates. 

“They’re getting job offers in October and they’re not graduating until May, I mean that far in advance,” Walden says.

Almost all of the seniors at Nazareth have job offers. “I went on like 9 interviews, got all the options I could and then chose whatever I felt drawn to,” Peirce says of how she handled her decision.  In the end, she ended up accepting a position at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. “They’re not allowed to have more than 5 patients at a time which is really great because, especially with the shortage, nurses are expected to take on a lot of patients which can be scary especially for a new nurse,” she says. 

Zack Lovejoy is staying in Rochester, benefiting from an internship opportunity he took at Strong Hospital. “I shadowed a couple of different units and then, I eventually fell in love with surgical ICU and so, I was lucky enough to get a spot there and direct entry there when I graduate,” Lovejoy says.

Because there is such fierce competition for these grads, many health systems offer free continuing education and help paying off student loan debt, “Strong does have a program right now that if you accept a 3-year contract there they’ll pay $11,000 toward your student loans so that’s really attractive,” Lovejoy says. 

All of the local colleges and universities with nursing programs are looking to see if they can be expanded in order to accommodate the increase in interest in this profession. 

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