Hello! I’m a Highschool Senior who has already applied to the Penn State Nursing Program. I understand that the program is highly competitive and I was wondering if my application seemed decently competitive.
-My High School GPA is 4.2 weighted (I took mostly honors courses and one AP course. I am also taking Honors Physics and Anatomy and Physiology this year).
-My SAT score is 1200.
-I believe my essay is above average
-I worked a part time job this year and have 262 SSL hours.
I’m not sure if this matters but I put on my application that I was available to take summer courses if needed.
I’m really nervous about my application because I know my SAT score is not very competitive, but I hope that everything else considered makes me a decently competitive applicant.
What is your unweighted GPA? And do you have any healthcare-related activities that suggest an interest in nursing or health sciences? PSU really focuses the most on GPA.
The nursing program is a bear. Make sure it’s what you want as you’ll work your tail off and may miss out on playtime. My daughter is in there now and I was surprised to learn many sold their football tickets because they felt they had to miss the games and focus on studying. And if nursing is what you really want, you may need to grab whatever direct entry spot you can get.
My unweighted GPA is 3.76 on a 4.0 scale and I just decided I wanted to go into nursing at the end of this summer so I haven’t had the chance to do anything related to nursing or health sciences, but I plan to apply for an internship at my local hospital this summer if I’m not admitted for the summer courses.
And I know the nursing program is a lot to handle but I’m prepared to put in as much effort as I need to succeed.
Hopefully having A&P will help. Good luck with the application process. I think checking a summer start was a good idea. My daughter roughly had your stats and got it, but she also spent a year doing research at a university while in high school. I honestly think that’s what got her over the top as I know students with higher stats who didn’t get in. If you think nursing is your passion, I would also encourage to you apply to Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, and IUP in Pennsylvania. I think even Lock Haven is starting a nursing program at their larger campus.
I am a current Penn State Nursing student in my Senior year. I think you have a decently competitive application but a lot of the accepted Penn State Nursing applicants have high GPAs. The good news is that you are included in the rank. Hopefully your service hours will set you apart from the crowd. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about Penn State or the Nursing program. Let me know!
@PSUstudentnurse Thank you so much for the reply! It’s getting close to the EA decision date and I’m getting more anxious by the day. I really love the Penn State nursing program. I’ve done a lot of research on it and I think that the Hershey Medical Center experience will be so valuable to have under my belt. However, I’m worried about my SAT score. I know it’s low, and I’m actually taking the December 7th SAT as a last effort to try to raise my score. I really hope that I still have a chance of getting in with the score I have now. It’s an 1180…which I know is low, but I feel like my application as a whole might have a decent chance. What were the stats that got you into the nursing program and was there anything else on your application that you think helped you get in? I know I can’t change anything now…but I’m honestly just trying to calm my nerves by convincing myself that I have a chance of getting in (it’s bad, I check the portal at least 5 times a day and I keep telling myself that I wont get in…).
Hey! I actually just heard back yesterday that I got in to nursing at UP! I’m not sure if you also got your decision already, but my SAT was 1440 and my gpa is 3.8 weighted and 3.4 unweighted (really low ik i didn’t think i was gonna get in haha) but based on that I think you’re in good shape!
@sophia02 Congratulations on getting in! I really hope I’m in good shape to get in. Can I ask what your course rigor looked like? I should hear back in a few days anyways and I’ll post here and on the decision thread what my decision is.
Also are you considering doing the HHS housing if you admit? If you don’t know what it is, it is basically where you are housed with people who are doing majors in Health and Human Sciences.
For the classes that didn’t have AP, I took all honors except for pre-calc and gov. I took AP World, AP environmental science, AP physics, and AP US history. This year I’m also taking AP english, AP calc ab, AP bio, and AP econ. I’m for sure considering HHS if I end up going because I would want people to study with haha. Good luck!! You’re GPAs really good so I think that will help you a ton.
If I get in I would definitely consider HHS…as for courses at my HS, they offer a ton of AP courses, but I only took one. I took AP Gov sophomore year. Apart from that, I’ve taken 10 honors classes and I’m taking Hon Anatomy and Physiology this year along with Hon Physics. My classes got harder and harder as the years went on so I hope that shows something. My course rigor is not as good as others though and Penn State definitely considers that.
@sophia02 , kudos on getting admitted. @sarah2001 , we will continue to root for you! Re: the HHS special living option (or SLO), this housing block includes students from nursing, biobehavioral health, kinesiology, nutrition, etc. Great for socializing and study groups, and a location that can’t be beat as it’s central. But here’s the downside: the HHS SLO is located in one of the Pollack dorms, which is the old section of campus. Smaller dark rooms, rundown bathrooms, etc. Most freshmen seem to prefer living in the newly renovated dorms in East, which is 100% freshmen except for the RAs. East will be a longer walk to typically everything (except the stadium and renovated gym.)
All that being said, please know that most students seem to love being wherever they end up because, well, it’s college and not home. Let’s just say you can’t really make the wrong choice.
@Sophley Thank you so much for rooting for me throughout all of this. A lot of people say that College Confidential is “toxic” but all I’ve found here is supportive people trying to help parents/students throughout the college process. Although I admit it can be stressful to look at the decisions forums, I have still learned so much from people and I’m very grateful for that.
