College of Saint Benedicts & Saint John’s University Nursing School Review

A wonderful and unique partnership it is, the college of Saint Benedicts (CSB)- for Women and Saint Johns’ University (SJU)- for men, two distinct yet parallel colleges. The college and the university are deeply rooted into the catholic faith; the base of their foundation. The two schools offer liberal arts programs and are ranked among the top liberal colleges in the United States. Peculiar though, the two in one schools offers the same academic programs yet retain their individual identities in matters of campuses, traditions and other extra curriculum programs.

Department of Nursing at CSB/SJU

The department of nursing offers only one fully accredited and approved four-year baccalaureate program. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and the Minnesota Board of Nursing has accredited and approved the program and has been offered in the schools for about thirty years. The program is taken by female and male students from the respective schools hence, it is a co-ed program.

The Nursing Major

Is it the only nursing program from the CSB/SJU and runs for a period of four years. The program takes the form of a full time program and students are expected to take courses from both the College of St Benedicts and St Johns’ University. The curriculum of the program is highly inclined to nursing courses with a view of the catholic Benedictine setting. Each nursing course has this element and students are expected to base their nursing practice from those teachings.

The program takes a holistic approach to nursing and most of the liberal arts courses focus on training nurses who will cater for patients of all ages. During the freshman year, students take liberal arts and general education credits. These run for three consecutive semesters until the fall of the sophomore year.

Starting from the fall of second year, students start on the nursing majors which run for five consecutive semesters. 55 nursing major credits must be completed for eligibility to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree.  The program prepares student for state licensure exam in their pursuit to become registered nurses.

As part of the program completion norm, students are sent- out on a short- study abroad experience. In this case, students can either travel to S. Africa, Ecuador or Mexico to complete the study abroad experience.

 

Transfer and Early Admission Information

Students from other colleges and universities are welcome to apply for the transfer of credits to college of St. Benedict / St. John University. However, the transfer policy decides the number of students to take on a competitive basis. Students wishing to transfer their credits to the nursing program should be aware that they will only be accepted if there is available space left. Priority to admission is given to students who have completed pre-requisite courses at the school.

There is also a chance for students to apply for an early admission into the nursing program using the most recent ACT or SAT scores at the time of application. Students who get enrolled via this route must pass exceptionally well to be allowed in the liberal and general education course at first-year level to be allowed to progress into the major.

Contact:
College of Saint Benedicts
37 South College Avenue,
St. Joseph, MN 56374

Or

Saint John’s University
2850 Abbey Plaza,
Collegeville, MN 56321