Hello!
I am a senior in high school in the midst of college decisions, and I’ve found myself in a little bit of a dilemma. As a California resident, affordable direct entry programs are difficult to come by; however, I’ve gotten into a couple. The schools that I am considering are Dominican U. of CA, Illinois State U., UMBC, and hopefully SeattleU, if I get into that one. However, the price for all four of these schools, even after a scholarship, ranges from at least $30K a year.
That being said, I have gotten into Fresno State U for pre-nursing, as I applied there just in case. This school is becoming increasingly interesting to me. It has the extracurriculars I’m looking for, it has a large student body, is very diverse, and the total cost will only come to about $18K/year, which is a great price compared to the other schools that I’ve gotten into. The only catch? It’s a 2+2 program. I’m wondering if it’s worth it to forego the direct entry nursing schools that I’ve already worked hard to get into for a school that has mostly everything I want in a school, but that I will have to redo the application process for, two years along the road, in order to get into Nursing? What if I don’t get into Nursing at Fresno–what then? Affordability is a little bit of an issue, but should I try to just focus on the direct entry schools?
Advice and personal experience is welcome and much appreciated. Thank you so much!
Hi there! I am currently a freshman at Grand Canyon University and I was in the same dilemma as you my senior year. I got into my dream school - Texas Christian University - as well as several other direct entry schools, but the problem was the price tag. I would’ve been able to go but I would have been in a lot of debt for my undergrad, and for nursing (where it mostly matters that you passed the NCLEX), my parents decided it wasn’t worth it. I was heartbroken and so stressed out because I thought that I should’ve applied to more schools etc. etc. Now that I am here, I am learning to be grateful. I took and passed 7 AP tests in high school that got me out of 5 different pre-req classes (math, stats, English 1, English 2, and psychology) so I am on track to apply to be in the nursing program spring of my sophomore year (when you usually do it summer or fall following sophomore year) AND my school has a fast track program, so I would be graduating Spring 2021 instead of the expected Spring 2022, which probably wouldn’t have happened at the other schools. At my school, you have two chances to apply to the program before you either go somewhere else or change majors. A “competitive GPA” is 3.7 and HESI score of around 90%. I got a 4.0 first semester and I currently have a 4.0 this semester, so I am not too worried about getting in. I think that you have to look at yourself as a student to really decide this, will you be willing to put in the work in order to get good grades? I know the cal states are really impacted, so you might have to work even harder; however, if you are committed to the major/job you should. I have always taken school very seriously so I knew I’d be okay, and it is even more important to me now; we are going to school to help save people’s lives in the future, study like it. If you’re willing to do that, I say go for it. Saving money is huge and if you think you’ll be happier, I see nothing wrong in that decision.
If you’re considering the 2+2 route you could probably take the pre-requisites at a community college and then apply to several CSU Nursing programs as a transfer. It looks like fresno city college might be a good option for that.
My D got into the pre-nursing programs at CSULB and CSUCI and they each cautioned that she’d need to later apply to get into the nursing program and that later acceptance rate would be less than 10%. Her letters of acceptance actually stated that. Not sure if Fresno State’s is similarly competitive.
I think you really have to check into each program with your list of key questions / criteria. Some 2+2 could be very doable to be later admitted into the program and some direct entry could have very difficult progression requirements.
@Banker1 Thank you! The advice about some direct entry progression requirements being harder than 2+2 ones was really interesting! Did your daughter ended up going to a 2+2 program or direct entry program?
Would another possibility be to do a two year ADN/RN program at a community college, then apply to an RN->BSN program at a four year school?
I’m saying it’s good to weigh everything (benefits and risks) about the programs you’re considering. My D was admitted to 15 programs and accepted SDSU Nursing which is direct entry. To maintain her scholarship she needs to stay full time with a minimum 3.5 GPA. She likes that required classes are reserved for nursing students by the nursing adviser but not a lot of programs listed as direct entry have that benefit. She also likes that her AP/DE classes got her out of many requirements freeing up time to be in the honors program.
She also got into Winona State pre-Nursing where it’s relatively easy to later get into the program. And also Ohio State pre-Nursing which has a later 40% acceptance rate to get into their program.