Program Highlights
Hospital Partnerships
During your senior year, you’ll train at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. The hospital and its affiliates, Rochester Methodist and Saint Marys, are in Rochester, Minnesota.
Summer Program in Nottingham
Take the opportunity to study nursing in Nottingham, England! Attend classes while working in clinical settings overseas. You’ll also get to go on excursions to nearby communities, local landmarks, and even a weekend trip to London. Read an article about the experience.
Serving in the Community
Collaborate with local agencies as you practice your calling as a nurse. You’ll serve all age groups while working with regional churches, human services organizations, and community clinics.
What You’ll Learn
Your first year at Luther provides a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. You will be assigned a faculty advisor to guide you through the curriculum.
Sophomore Year
Your beginning nursing courses will emphasize the scientific and psychological foundations of nursing. These courses will prepare you for the art and science of nursing courses in subsequent years.
Junior Year
You will take an array of concentrated nursing courses. Topics include health promotion across the lifespan, pharmacology in nursing, and leadership. You will study in a variety of settings, including regional hospitals and our on-campus clinical Simulation Center. These learning experiences will help you develop communication and interpersonal skills as well as high-level nursing care for patients.
Senior Year
Your senior year will continue to immerse you in the practice of nursing, this year at Luther’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota. You will live and learn with your fellow nursing students as well as Luther students from other majors. At the same time, you will take classes and do clinical work at sites including Rochester Methodist Hospital and Saint Marys Hospital, affiliates of the Mayo Clinic; the Federal Medical Center; and a variety of community-based healthcare agencies. You will care for women, children, and adults with physical and emotional health needs. You will prepare for your future as a nurse during preceptor clinicals, where you work one-on-one with an experienced nurse.
Careers and Outcomes
As a graduate of Luther’s nursing program, you will be ready to work in a variety of healthcare settings. On average, 95% of our students find jobs within one year of graduation. In 2023, Luther nursing graduates achieved a 90% pass rate on the nursing licensing exam (NCLEX-RN).
Career Fields
- Staff nurse in various types of specialty areas such as obstetrics, surgery, medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics
- School nurse
- Public health nurse
- Industrial nurse
- Army, Navy, Air Force nurse
Employers
- Mayo Clinic
- University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (Iowa City, IA)
- Children’s Hospitals and Clinics (Twin Cities, MN)
- University of Minnesota Hospital (Minneapolis, MN)
- Mercy Medical Center (Des Moines, IA)
Your degree also provides a strong foundation for advanced nursing degrees. Those careers include:
- Nurse anesthetist
- Pediatric nurse practitioner
- College/university professor
- Family nurse practitioner
- Nurse administrator
- Psychiatric nurse practitioner
- Case manager
Support for Luther Nurses
The Luther Student Nurses Association supports nursing students through fellowship and fun. It will help you navigate the nursing major while making friends in the process. They’re here to support you!
Nursing Simulation Center
The Nursing Simulation Center (NSC) offers a highly contextualized, complex, ever-changing environment that closely mimics what nurses encounter in real life. It includes simulation manikins that emulate human patients (they even respond verbally!) in a realistic setup that includes three distinct patient rooms to approximate part of a hospital or care floor. Audio-visual equipment records simulations and allows faculty and students to highlight things that went well or find opportunities to improve.
Direct Entry Program for High School Students
High achieving high school students have the opportunity to be directly admitted into the Luther College Nursing major as first-year students.
Criteria:
- Students must achieve a minimum of a 3.3 high school GPA to be eligible.
- Once students have deposited and enrolled in Luther College, all students will need to meet specific criteria during their tenure at Luther College.
- The first 25 students who’ve been accepted into the Direct Nursing program and pay their enrollment deposit will receive an additional $1,000 scholarship (for the first year only) as part of Luther’s endowed Cross Scholarship Award program.
No deficiencies in the minimum high school course requirements of:
- Four years of English
- Three years of mathematics
- Three years of social science
- Two years of natural science (including one year of laboratory science)
