I am thinking about being a nurse practitioner one day. I am in high school, and want to go to a public state school in Minnesota. I am smart and feel that I could cut the nursing program, but have heard that nursing school is VERY selective. I’m not as worried about how hard the program is but how hard it is to get into it. It seems to me that A LOT of people want to become nurses. Could it take me 5+ years to finish my BNS/RN degree, because it will take me so long to get into the program? Any suggestions for schools in Minnesota? Any tips for a student like me to do well in this situation? Would any of you recommend becoming nurses right now? Is NP school just as hard to get into?
You might want to review some of the other threads on this Nursing Board as many of your questions are addressed in them. It would take multiple pages to answer all of your concerns. In general admission to 4 year BSN Programs is selective to varying degrees depending on the particular college and a large number of other factors. If a student has good grades in HS (especially in advanced type courses like honors, AP courses etc.) and does reasonably well in standardized tests (i.e. SAT, ACT) they probably will have little problem in getting into some Nursing Program to obtain a BSN degree (there are also multiple pathways to do this). You want to make sure the Program has full accreditation and has reasonably good NCLEX exam (the exam all nursing grads need to pass in order to obtain their first RN license after they graduate) pass rates. NP Programs are also becoming increasingly competitive for admission as many more BSN grads are interested in pursuing advanced degrees to expand their Nursing careers. Again, if you perform very well academically (this is probably the most important factor) you probably will be able to gain acceptance into a NP Program. Ratings of course vary from Program to Program and some of the “top” NP Programs are harder to get into than many BSN Programs. I’m sorry but I really don’t know much about Nursing Programs in Minnesota. Perhaps someone else can help you out in this area. Best wishes to you.
I live in NJ and only applied to schools within 4 hours, so I don’t know much about Minnesota. I recommend applying to direct entry program though. They’re basically nursing programs that guarantee your spot in nursing all 4 years. Some of them even allow nursing students to start clinicals as an undergraduate, verses non direct entry schools that make students wait until junior year. There’s a very long thread on here with names of all direct entry schools, I’ll post the link later. Most direct entry schools are on the East Coast, but I’m sure theres some close to home that you can apply to. As for getting into nursing programs, it’s not easy but it’s not impossible either. My CR + M SAT score was only 990 and I got into many programs with pretty great scholarships. I could literally write a short book on everything I want to say, so I’ll let you ask questions instead lol. What grade are you in??
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