MGH Institute of Health Professions

Two of the reviews here are quite untruthful and I felt the need to post a review to help anyone interested in going to the MGH IHP. First of all the school IS affiliated with MGH as it is owned entirely by Partners Healthcare which owns MGH, Brigham and Women's hospital and many other hospitals in the area. In my Cohort there were over 100 students and we all had our clinicals at MGH. We get a partners email account and access to many of their affiliated facilities. This alone opened a lot of doors for many of us, myself included. I was able to secure a job at MGH for experience, I had excellent clinical placements as did all of my classmates. Almost all of our professors are RNs, NPs, PAs, DPTs, DOTs and PhDs affiliated with the hospital as well and there is a strong focus on acquiring real life clinical skills that will help us be better providers in the future. I could add a lot more but honestly I wanted to help people who may be misled by the the two negative reviews on here. MGH was actually my second choice (BC was my first) but honestly I am glad I chose it as it has been a fantastic experience in a very supportive environment.

This institution offers no career support/career services. The current "nursing shortage" does not exist and a vast majority of graduates of the ABSN program grads did not find jobs for 9-12 months after graduation (many of the jobs were not in hospitals and not anything "ideal"). Based on information from faculty, Boston hospitals are not interested in new grads. I was advised by several clinical instructors to move out of the state in order to get a decent med/surg job at a teaching hospital and after gaining 2 years experience in a remote area I could return to Boston. I felt the institute was dishonest about there technological advancements. At our ABSN orientation, the dean stood up and told us we were paying for high class technology and state of the art services, however, none of the teachers understand how to use the technology in building 2CC. Furthermore, a classmate of mine frequently (almost every class) had to help the teachers navigate simple operations such as power point presentations. Some of the teachers care about teaching but the majority of them read off power points AND most of the classes are online. Its hard to justify the price of this school when you end up with 90% online class materials (when you take into account fully online courses and hybrids that only meet once a month). Some of the online classes are so disorganized and the frequent type-os on their online tests and correspondence were upsetting. Can't these teachers at least use spell check? It's no doubt a school affiliated with the greatest hospital in the world will undoubtably confuse people into thinking you are associated with MGH. However, the school itself is lacking in many ways. I'm disappointed to write this review but if I can warn other not to spent 60k on a program offering a bare bones curriculum which is based mostly online, then its worth it.

This program is a rip off, it's true. I was really disappointed in the program, and it's twice the cost of UMass--$50 grand! NOT WORTH IT. It's a FOR PROFIT school, like any other (eg Phoenix), and other than being founded by MGH in 1977, there is NO AFFILIATION. You'll be lucky to get a clinical rotation there. As second degree students, and from the promises made on the website and orientation meetings, one would expect respect and support. The truth is quite the opposite, and the faculty are not accountable to anyone, don't even follow their own published policy handbook. My classmates and I shared too many stories of nursing intructors (many of whom had little more eductation than our own) who were arbitrary, punitive, sarcastic and UNPROFESSIONAL. There were three or four who were good, while some were downright awful. If you want to do community or global nursing, avoid this program--there is nothing for you here. But, this is DEFINITELY the place to go if you have money to burn, and want to learn about "incivility in nursing." If you do come, prepare to suck up, be fake or keep your head way low, if you want to succeed. Share nothing with your instructors--most don't care. After graduation, they don't even pretend to care what happens to you. There are NO resources for alumni, definitely no resume help, career advice, career research materials, not a computer you can use...not even a return email.

I have experienced quite the opposite of the previous reviewers on this site. I have found the professors, administrative staff and clinical instructors to be supportive, helpful, and offer excellent educational experiences. While the program is expensive, it is comparable with other ABSN programs in the area. Furthermore, I have found that the contacts made within the Partners Healthcare system/MGH community have been invaluable. My recommendation for anyone trying to make a choice is to gather all the information presented by the schools and think about what is going to work best for you considering location, cost, length of program, etc. Best of luck!

I am currently an ABSN student and I cannot express how disappointed I am with this program. First off, my class has close to 100 students in it. 100! So good luck getting ANY kind of personal attention. Secondly, nothing is organized. My clinical placements have been far from educational (for community health we SAT IN A LIBRARY for 6 hours every Tuesday- WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY). Because there are so many students, they lack satisfactory clinical placements. The Most of the classes are online so keep that in mind. Also, this program is SUPER EXPENSIVE. All they view you as is a dollar sign. Their financial aid office is worthless and they make the tuition bill due too far in advance (tuition for this coming spring is due Dec 10 - before we even get our final grades for Fall semester!). And the worst thing is, after paying an arm and a leg for this program, they tell us that WE MOST LIKELY WILL NOT HAVE JOBS UPON GRADUATION. Just take my advice. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go to MGH. Go to a more reputable school, who cares if it takes you a few years to get in -- work as a CNA! If you do that, you'll most likely have a job upon graduation, unlike the rest of us. Also, you won't be an arm and a leg in debt. MGH Institute of Health Professions = Not a good choice for nursing school.

Go somewhere else. Very few people are happy with this program. Lacks good clinical instructors, are unorganized, and could care less about the students. Feedback is poor, and classes are inadequate for the level at which they should be teaching. Prior review is correct! Don't go here!!

I'm halfway through the Direct Entry Master's level Nursing program and I'm not sure I want to finish my degree at this school, even though I have a 3.8 GPA. The program in general is very disorganized and not very professionally run. There seems to be no accountability. Efforts to schedule appointments with higher level administrators to discuss the program are ignored (repeatedly, and regardless who makes the request). While the faculty are well-qualified, and are very accessible, few of them actually demonstrate good skills as classroom teachers. Their method of instruction is read off powerpoint presentations. Discussion and questions are usually not welcome. I have personally had good clinical placements, instructors and experiences -- and that is the best I can say about MGHIHP. However, unevenness of clinical placements is a big problem at this school. Of greater concern is the fact that you will not receive either a pediatric or obstetric clinical rotation during the RN portion of the program unless you have chosen the pediatric, family, or women's health nurse practitioner track. This is a shocking policy that has left many of us upset and feeling that we are not being fully trained as nurses. It is also difficult to take an interest in the classroom portion of the Maternal-Child Health class, when your school indicates that this is not an important enough part of your training to provide a clinical rotation! This is not a small matter, and prospective students should consider it carefully. Every other program in the Boston area, and all that I am familiar with elsewhere consider the pedi and ob clinical rotation a standard part of the nursing curriculum. This includes all of the other similar, Direct Entry Master's nurse practitioner programs. I think that it is instructive that MGHIHP does not publicize this policy on its website or in its information sessions. The first time most students hear about it is when they are sent for a third med/surg rotation at the beginning of their second year. I suspect that MGHIHP realizes that this is not a policy they want to become public knowledge. Even if you can swallow MGHIHP's peculiar clinical policy, this is a very expensive program that is clearly not worth the money. Its reputation is based on the fact that it originated the direct entry master's program for nurses about twenty years ago. At this point there are lots of other, university-based programs that probably have lots more to offer. Do not be mislead by the MGH part of the name. This school is an independent entity that is only loosely-affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital. MGHIHP receives no special consideration from MGH when it comes to setting up clinical placements. If you're planning to apply to a Direct Entry nursing program, look carefully at the options. There are some good ones out there. This is not it.

I took a post-graduate Certificate in Clinical Investigation while they were just working the bugs out of the online courses. I took some on-site and some online. I preferred on-site because the campus is so wonderful, right on a historic wharf on Boston Harbor in a restored granite building, well wired. The education was great, but maybe a tad "academic" for somebody seeking primarily how-to job skills. Good variety of students: mostly research nurses and study monitors, also some MD's, pharmacists, a sprinkling of career-changers like myself. Super well qualified instructors. Valuable readings. A great place that makes me proud and was key to a successful career change. The online courses were well designed already then (about 5 years ago) and are probably even better now.