Texas's Best Nursing Schools for 2020

Alvin Community College is located in Alvin, Texas.  They offer a vocational certificate, an ADN degree and 1 year LVN-RN transition program.  The LVN-RN program takes only 10-20 students each June, whereas the ADN program takes 40 students twice yearly.

Austin Community College is located in Austin, Texas.  They offer a vocational nursing program, a traditional AD program and a career mobility program.  The career mobility program is an LVN to RN option – they also offer this program to students with other healthcare experience, such as students coming from the disciplines of: Paramedic, Dental Hygiene, Radiology, Medical Laboratory Technology, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapy Assistant, Sonography, Respiratory Therapy, and Surgical Technology

Wharton County Junior College is located in Wharton, Texas.  They offer a vocational nursing program, an ADN program and an LVN to ADN program; the LVN to ADN program is designed to be finished in one year, with students doing back-to-back semesters.

Weatherford College is located in Weatherford, Texas.  They offer both a vocational nursing program and an ADN program.  This college has been existence since 1869.  Since its inception, it has gone through a variety of name changes and organizational changes and will be continuing to expand – it will have expansions and renovations in the near future.

Collin College is located in McKinney, Texas, with a variety of other campuses.  They offer several interesting options for their nursing students.  They offer an ADN degree but they also offer the LVN bridge program and medic/paramedic fast track program, both of which allow the LVN or medic/paramedic advanced placement into the ADN program.

South Plains College is located in Levelland, Texas.  They offer a vocational nursing program, an ADN program and an LVN to RN transition program.  The LVN to RN transtion program allows the LVN advanced placement into the ADN program, if certain prerequisites are met.

North Central Texas College is located in Gainesville, Texas.  They offer a vocational nursing certificate, an ADN program and an LVN-RN transition option.  NCTC is the oldest community college in Texas and has been in operation for 92 years!  Its original name was Gainesville Junior College.

Texas State University is located in San Marcos, Texas.  The St. David’s School of Nursing is ranked #2 of the “Best Nursing Schools in the State of Texas.”  Their most recent 2016 BSN graduates had a 100% NCLEX-RN pass rate.  They offer a traditional BSN program, with 100 students being admitted yearly.

West Texas A&M University is located in Canyon, Texas.  They also a BSN program.  They also two options for RNs seeking advanced degrees: an RN to BSN program and an RN to MSN program.  They also offer an LVN to BSN degree option.

Baylor University is located in Waco, Texas.  The Louise Herrington School of Nursing offers both undergraduate and graduate options for nursing students.  They offer a traditional BSN program and a FastBacc BSN program.  The FastBacc program allows a student with a prior bachelor’s degree to earn their BSN degree in 12 months.

UTMB is located in Galveston, Texas.  They are a health system that also offers several healthcare education options, such as nursing.  They offer a BSN program, an MSN program, a DNP program, and a PhD program.  The BSN program offers the traditional BSN option and an RN to BSN option, which is an online option.

The University of Texas Health Science Center is located in Houston, Texas.  The school is a branch of University of Texas and operates a variety of teaching hospitals.  It educates healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses and dentists.  They offer several undergraduate options: a BSN degree, an RN to BSN degree and a pacesetter BSN.  The pacesetter option is when the nursing theory courses are taken during the first three semesters and the clinical experiences are offered in the fourth.  They also offer a veteran’s-BSN program, which takes into account military experience.  This program accepts 10 students per year.

Texas A&M International University is located in Laredo, Texas.  They offer a BSN program and an RN to BSN option.  With the RN to BSN option, RNs are admitted to the BSN program during the spring semester on a space available basis.

The University of Texas at Tyler is located in Tyler, Texas.  They offer several undergraduate options for their nursing students – a traditional BSN program, an RN to BSN program, and an accelerated BSN program, which is available to students with a prior bachelor’s degree.

Texas Woman’s University is located in Denton, Texas.  The majority of their students are women, although there are some men in attendance.  They offer a traditional BSN program, which is also available to second degree students, and an online RN to BSN program.  They also offer an evening/weekend program, although this is located only at their Dallas campus.

The University of Texas at Austin is located in Austin, Texas.  They have been ranked #17 in the nation for best graduate nursing program by U.S. News & World Report.  They offer a traditional BSN program and an RN to BSN program.

Stephen F Austin State University is located in Nacogdoches, Texas.  The Richard and Lucille Dewitt School of Nursing They offer a BSN degree and an online RN to BSN degree.  SFA’s first BSN students were accepted in 1981; their program prior was primarily an ADN education.  The school has since adopted a BSN curriculum.

Lamar University is located in Beaumont, Texas.  They offer a bachelor’s degree.  They also offer two interesting options for ADN-prepared RNs – an online RN to BSN program and an online RN to MSN program.  The online RN to MSN track allows the RN to eliminate 9 credit hours that would have been taken if earning the BSN and MSN separately.

The University of Texas at Arlington is located in Arlington, Texas.  They offer a traditional BSN program and an online BSN program.  The online BSN program is an accelerated program for students with a prior bachelor’s degree; it can be completed in 15 months.  They offer an online RN to BSN program.  Unique to UT is the pathways programs they have developed with neighboring community colleges – these programs allow ADN students to simultaneously complete their ADN requirements and their BSN requirements

Houston Baptist University is located in Houston, Texas.  Their School of Nursing and Health Sciences offers a BSN degree and an honors BSN degree.  Students admitted into the honors college take additional honors courses, in addition to their BSN curriculum.