MiraCosta College nursing students’ success rate on state licensure exams helped place its Registered Nursing Program third best in California in a RegisteredNursing.org review, the college announced Feb. 2.

“MiraCosta College is a hub of accreditation and nursing career pathways that are well suited to pre-service, new, and experienced nurses,” RegisteredNursing.org stated in its release of the statewide rankings on its website. “MiraCosta makes it easy to apply life skills and experiences to a new career in patient-centered care.”

In compiling the rankings, the website looked at 127 nursing programs in the state, ranking 50 of them based on pass rates on the National Council Licensure Examination, known as the NCLEX, over the past five years, MiraCosta explained in a news release.

MiraCosta College’s student pass rates in that timeframe were 92.86 percent in 2011-12, 100 percent in 2012-13, 97.67 percent in 2013-14, 100 percent in 2014-15 and 93.62 percent in 2015-16, the college reported.

The NCLEX has been the nationwide exam for the licensing of nurses since 1994, according to the college.

“The MiraCosta College Nursing Program provides students with small classroom sizes as well as in-depth simulated training for experiential learning in the nursing laboratory,” Sandy Comstock, MiraCosta’s associate dean for nursing and allied health, said in the college’s announcement. “The nursing faculty are well qualified and always available to our students for tutoring or advisement. I believe all these factors contribute to our high rate of continued student success.”

Since 2011, MiraCosta College, which has campuses in Oceanside and Cardiff, has educated nearly 300 registered nurses, most of whom are now working in the local community, Comstock said.

“I love MiraCosta’s Nursing Program and everything it has to offer,” nursing student Em Russell said in MiraCosta’s news release. “I am a Marine Corps veteran and chose MiraCosta’s program based on its high level of success rates on the NCLEX. It was essential to me to attend a program that would give me the skills and knowledge necessary to apply myself into a nursing career.”