Atlanta Georgia has an abundance of Nursing Programs to choose from. If you’re wanting to attend college to obtain licensing for LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) or RN (Registered Nurse), Atlanta has a nursing program for you. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of nursing schools in the Atlanta, GA area (within about 100 miles of Atlanta).
List of Atlanta Area Nursing Schools
Piedmont College
Thomas University
Southwest Georgia Technical College
University of West Georgia
West Central Technical College
North Georgia College & State University
Macon State College
LaGrange College
Kennesaw State University
Medical College of Georgia
Gordon College
Georgia Perimeter College
Georgia Highlands College
Georgia College & State University
Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University
Emory University
Dalton State College
Columbus Technical College
Columbus State University
Clayton State University

The benefits of becoming a nurse:
Nursing is a great career choice as the demand for more nurses has never been greater than it is today. You can literally pack-up, move to a different city, and be working within a few days of leaving your previous hospital. This is not true for so many professions that require endless days of job searching and hoping. Every hospital has open positions for nurses at any given time, unless it’s a small community hospital that’s fully staffed. Large hospitals never really seem to be “fully staffed.” That’s great news for us nurses. Can we say “JOB SECURITY?”

Nursing pay/salary is another benefit of being in the profession. For LPN’s salary can range from $32K-$46K per year, and RN salary can be around $50K-$70K per year. These are only rough estimates as many factors determine nursing pay. Factors such as type of license, specialty, size of hospital, night shift and weekend shift differentials, on-call pay, and years of experience can affect a nurse’s salary. If you’re willing to obtain your own health insurance and benefits, you may want to look into working through a nursing agency on a per diem basis. You can usually make 10 – 20% more pay than working directly for a hospital and have more flexiblity in your schedule as well. “Flexible” is the keyword here as you might have to travel to different hospitals in different parts of town in order to get your 40 hours a week. You may even want to travel as a nurse with a Travel Nursing Agency. This is yet another way of earning more money and having your travel and housing expenses paid for at the same time. It’s a great way to see different parts of the country and pick up some great experience along the way. In order to work for a travel nursing agency or a local per diem agency, you usually must have a minimum of one year of patient care experience as a licensed nurse in your chosen specialty.

The dirty work of nursing:
With all the great things I’ve said about nursing, there’s also some not so great things too. First of all is the process of just getting accepted to a nursing program. You have to take the required science classes in order to apply to most RN programs. You can’t just “pass” the class, you have to do good. They want to make sure you can handle the enormous load of information that they will dump on your brain in nursing lectures and the additional required studying on your own time. Nursing school is not easy and just because you’ve managed to keep a 4.0 GPA in your core curriculum doesn’t mean that you’ll do well in nursing courses. You can’t just read and remember a bunch of facts for the tests. You have to be able to retain information and then “apply” that information to real case scenarios. You have to be able to make the right decision at the right time. It’s called “critical thinking.” I must have heard that term a million times from my nursing professors. So you’ve applied, been accepted, and started nursing school. That’s great. Now take a look around at the other students in class and tell half of them goodbye. They won’t be there on graduation day for the pinning ceremony. Approximately half of all students that begin the nursing program will not make it through the entire program. Students mainly drop out or flunk out after realizing how intense the curriculum is. Others drop out after they realize they’ll have to touch blood, feces, and vomit(with gloves of course). And others get dropped for missing too many days of lecture or clinical. Schools are required to make you sit through a specific number of lecture hours and attend a specific number of clinical hours in order to be qualified to sit for your state board licensing exam. That’s why most nursing schools are so strict when it comes to attendance and tardiness. You can do it though. The best way to graduate is to decide from day one that you will have to study hard and that your social life will have to take the “back burner” for a while.

Once you’ve graduated and started working, the learning doesn’t stop. Nursing requires ongoing education throughout your career. In fact, most states require a certain number of CEU (continuing education units) be completed in order to renew your license. Nursing is also a very physically demanding job. Standing and walking around for 12 hours, bending, stooping, pushing/pulling 300lb. patients, holding your bladder for extended periods of time, and occasional CPR compressions will take a toll on your body. You will have to learn to deal with the emotional stress of nursing as well. Depending on what area of nursing you work in, you may be dealing with death on a daily basis. You have to be able to talk with patients and they’re family’s about life altering illnesses and death.

With all that said, nursing is a very rewarding career. You will have good money, steady income, job security, and emotional reward all while helping others in great need. You will possess skills and knowledge that give you immediate respect with people in your community and allow you to work in any part of the country you wish.

Good luck on your endeavor of becoming a licensed nurse in the Atlanta, GA area. Please checkout the links on the left column of this page to find nursing schools near you.

Thanks for checking us out,

The Charge Nurse