Methodology

NurseWay aggregates data from public, primary sources only. We do not buy data from third-party directories or accept editorial submissions from schools.

Tuition, program length, format, and enrollment data come from IPEDS (the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). NCLEX-RN first-attempt pass rates come directly from each state's Board of Nursing — 44 states currently publish program-level data; we use the most recent available year for each program.

Accreditation status is sourced from the public directories of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). For programs that hold state-only approval, we mark accreditation accordingly.

IPEDS-derived fields (tuition, enrollment, institutional metadata) are refreshed when the next IPEDS data release becomes public, typically once per year.

NCLEX pass rates are refreshed each spring, after most state boards publish prior-year results. Some states publish twice-yearly; we update those pages on the additional cadence.

Application deadlines and prerequisites are reviewed at least once per academic year and on user-reported corrections. Deadlines are most reliable in the 90 days before the cycle they reference.

NCLEX pass rates shown on NurseWay reflect first-attempt pass rates for the most recent year for which a state Board of Nursing has published program-level data.

Pass rates are sensitive to small cohort sizes — a program graduating 12 students with one failure shows an 8-point drop in pass rate. Where cohort size is published, we display it. We do not show pass rates for programs with cohorts smaller than 10 unless we have a multi-year average.

Nationally, the first-attempt pass rate for U.S.-educated NCLEX-RN candidates has hovered between 84-90% in recent years. Programs above 90% are above average; programs below 80% may face state board scrutiny.

On listing pages (best-nursing-schools, explore, city pages), programs are sorted by NCLEX pass rate descending by default. NCLEX pass rate is the most rigorously published outcome data point in nursing education and the strongest single predictor of program quality.

We do not adjust ranking for paid placements, partnerships, or affiliate relationships. If we ever do (we don't currently), it will be labeled "Sponsored" in line with FTC disclosure guidelines.

On comparison and detail pages, the "BEST" badge is awarded purely on numerical comparison of the relevant field — lower tuition, higher NCLEX, shorter program length, etc. — with no school-level overrides.

Match scores (shown to users who complete the free intake) are computed by comparing the user's GPA, residency state, format preference, budget, and priorities against each program's published admissions thresholds and characteristics.

The score is a single 0-100 number combining: (1) acceptance plausibility based on GPA fit against the program's average accepted GPA, (2) cost fit against budget, (3) format match (online/hybrid/in-person), (4) location preference, and (5) program length fit. Each component is weighted by the priorities the user selected during intake.

Match scores are computed in real time on the user's device — they are not influenced by which schools we have partnerships with.

Six states (Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming) do not publish program-level NCLEX data. For programs in these states, we show state-level pass rates as a proxy and label them clearly.

Some private and for-profit programs report only national-average tuition rather than per-program totals. We display whatever the school reports and note when totals are estimates.

Data is only as current as its source. If a program changes tuition mid-cycle, we won't reflect that until the next IPEDS update unless the school proactively contacts us.

If you find an error — a program with the wrong NCLEX rate, outdated tuition, or a mistake in admissions data — please contact us with the program name and the authoritative source you're comparing against. We respond to data correction requests within 5 business days and update the next data release.