Thomas Sowell has written extensively on this topic, that the generally-accepted “prestigious” colleges and universities actually short-change their students in the practical quality of the education they get compared to lesser-known schools.
I can’t distill Dr. Sowell’s words as well as he could, but the gist of it is that the “prestigious” schools are anymore trading almost entirely on a by-gone reputation. They may have famous and world-class talent in the faculty, but those professors rarely if ever actually teach or interact with students. Students spend most of their time interacting only with junior staff and teacher’s aids instead of the high-caliber professors that supposedly drew them to the school. He even pokes a few sticks at his own beloved Stanford as guilty of the same stuff.
He argues that at many smaller colleges or even on-line colleges (he specifically calls out the U. of Phoenix as an example) the student actually gets a far higher quality education. Prestige alone doesn’t confer any more information and knowledge to students. In fact it is often less.
The same is generally true for nursing education. A 4 year degree nurse will enter the field far less prepared for the realities of work than a 2 year degree nurse. The amount of information crammed into the 2 year program, along with the clinical time (hands on nursing experience) produces a sharp, ready to work nurse.
The 4 year types have a superior level of theory and 'book learning', but need more time to adjust to the environment of work-a-day nursing.