A Check-Up of Women in Academic Nursing

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing reports that in the 2010-11 academic year, nursing schools received 255,671 applications, up 5.6 percent from the previous year. More than 101,000 students were accepted into nursing programs.

Total enrollments in bachelor’s degree programs in nursing was 259,100, an increase of 8.5 percent in one year. In the 2010-2011 academic year there were 94,480 students enrolled in master’s degree programs and 14,000 students were in nursing doctoral programs.

Women make up 93.4 percent of all nurses in the U.S. labor force. But more men are entering nursing programs in higher education. In the 2010-academic year, men were 11.4 percent of all students in bachelor’s degree programs in nursing and 9.9 percent of all students in master’s level nursing degree programs.