Apply Early and Apply Often

College Majors Nursing Major
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  1. Many direct entry nursing programs fill up in the first 3 months of the fall. Be sure to have your applications ready early, and have them well organized so that your guidance counselor can easily add what is needed without long delays. There is at least one popular nursing program that will not accept any applications after October. That also means starting the essays early, so there is time to refine and edit them.
  2. At some colleges, you are more likely to receive aid if you apply early. Some colleges have a limited budget for merit aid, and it is often handed out to people who apply in the first few months.
  3. Remember that at many colleges, the nursing program is the hardest major for admittance. That means that the average stats for admission to that college are not applicable. As a result, a student should apply to more colleges than they would for many other majors. Look for at least one college that can serve as both an admissions and a financial safety.
  4. Run the cost calculator provided for each college, but realize it is an estimate. The more detailed the questions, the likely it is that the estimate will be accurate. Also, look for qualifications on each college's website for merit aid. Some colleges emphasize need-based aid (which are usually the colleges with highly competitive admissions), while most other colleges emphasize merit-based aid (including the colleges that are seeking higher standardized average test scores so they appear more prestigious).
  5. Most nursing students will do better on the ACT than the SAT, because the ACT is more science-oriented and less math-oriented. It is good to take both, and then for whichever test had a better result, that they one a second time. Colleges will pick whichever score is better for admissions and merit aid.
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@charliesch
Thanks for the helpful post. Do the programs that you are referring to state it in their websites that you need to apply early for their nursing school? My D is looking at some of our state schools that are direct entry and I think she has a good chance according to stats but they say nothing about admissions. When clicking on the admission tab they refer you to the general admission page with the school’s dates and nothing about applying earlier than other programs. She is planning to apply early action but that’s Nov. 1. Now you got me wondering.

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I know of one university that specifically states on their website that nursing students must apply by a certain date. Most do not say that. However, there certainly are other colleges that tell people who apply in January that their nursing class is full.

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Applying early is important if rolling admission colleges, plus if there is both early action and regular action, it is recommended to apply by early action deadline. Otherwise, class may be full

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My daughter just did her very first one - East Stroudsburg. She appears to meet the requirements, exceeds GPA and meets ACT requirement as well as the HS courses. So cross your fingers!

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@toomanyteens Hopefully your daughter will hear back very quickly from East Stroudsburg, as did my daughter’s friend last year.

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@kidzncatz they sent her a postcard with a code for a free application and 2 week admission decision so Oct 1 is the day