Applications to US nursing schools rise as students want to ‘join the frontline’

Enrollment in bachelor's, master's and doctoral nursing programs increased 5.6% in 2020 while nurses retire or leave over burnout

Nurses around the US are getting burned out by the Covid-19 crisis and quitting, yet applications to nursing schools are rising, driven by what educators say are young people who see the global emergency as an opportunity and a challenge.

Among them is University of Connecticut sophomore Brianna Monte, a 19-year-old from Mahopac, New York, who had been considering majoring in education but decided on nursing after watching nurses care for her 84-year-grandmother, who was diagnosed last year with Covid-19 and also had cancer.