Does the prestige of a college matter for nursing school?

Actually, this is one career area where the place you obtained your RN from is not as important as the fact that you have the RN. And, it is a well known fact that community colleges and some of the Cal States turn out far better nurses (in terms of clinical hours experience) than the UCs where they are heavy on theory but not so much on clinical experience. I spent 3 days a week on the hospital floor in the CC; but my friend at the UC spent 1/2 to 1 day a week in clinicals. She actually had to take some outside nursing extension courses after she was done to get a bit more experience. Once you start staff nursing, almost no one will ask or care where you got that RN from--all they want is a competent nurse on the floor. FYI-CSULB has a really tremendous nursing program--your family does not understand the nursing career path.