Very competitive public high school top 20 in state, top 400 in national according to US News (not sure if this is reliable though)
Intended Major: Want to go into nursing, very preferably into a direct entry bsn program
GPA/ Rank
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.4 (honestly just guessing school does not provide UW gpa)
Weighted HS GPA: 3.73 (4.66 max for ap class, 4.33 max for honors, 4.00 max for regular)
ACT/SAT Scores: 1490
extra info: show growth with gpa improvement from 3.4 to a 3.73 in an year
Coursework
3 ap classes, 1 ap test taken (apush got a 5), 15 honors classes Awards
one scholarship regional writing award
Extracurriculars
regional president of state music nonprofit playing for disabled and other facilities
part-time job helping family business
hospital volunteering
led music performance in festival promoting cultural awareness
teacher assistant in a music summer program for little kids
summer volunteering english teacher for kindergarteners in Korea
Essays/LORs/Other
decent essay
recs from math and science teacher promised positive review, most likely highlighting hardworking and ability to improve a lot
Cost Constraints / Budget
Don’t want to include cost constraints for now
Schools
I am not sure which schools are match or safeties due to nursing programs being a lot more competitive than the usual acceptance rates
recommendation of direct admit nursing programs will be much appreciated!
Safety *(certain admission and affordability)
Seton Hall (doubtful on affordability)
Florida Southern College
Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)
The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
Match
University of Pittsburgh
Rutgers University NB/Newark (EA)
Reach:
Case Western Reserve University (ED)
University of Miami
Brandeis University (no nursing)
Just informing here… Pitt Nursing(Pittsburgh campus) for OOS students is $48,960 for JUST tuition. This does not include fees or living expenses. It’s one of schools most expensive programs.
Their branch campus nursing progams are more affordable.
yeah…I am honestly hoping for financial aid and scholarships but for now I’m just focusing on applying to schools regardless of tuition then deciding to go based on the affordability
If you have a budget, you have to include it. You can’t tackle it later because you’d apply to the wrong schools.
You need an UW GPA. It’s very easy to figure out.
Take your core classes - you get 4 for an A, 3 for a B. 2 for a C. Forget + and minus.
Assuming you have a 3.4 UW, why apply to Seton Hall if not affordable? Pitt will not be if you need aid. CWRU and Miami meet need but you’re wasting your ED at CWRU - it’s not going to happen. But you can try.
Brandeis makes zero sense - you’re asking about nursing and note they don’t have it.
We don’t know your budget - saying you need aid doesn’t give an amount but you might look at Binghamton, Bradley, E Stroudsburg (NJ gets a break), FAU, Truman State, Maine, and WVU - these can all be lower in cost. If you have a required budget, apply to the budget - or you are wasting time.
junior year: 3.71 UW
Sophomore year: 3.42 UW
Freshman: 3.75 UW
Total: 3.63 UW
(struggled a lot in sophomore year with all honors)
Could you also go into specific detail why CWRU would be a total waste? I know its most definitely a reach but to be fair people in our school have gotten in with similar if not lower gpas.
also for the budgets, since my parents are paying thank god, it really ranges on the reputations they have but for the most part, I would say tuitions with ones similar to rutgers which is about 30k a year. but also really we can’t tell yet how much each school accommodates with scholarships or financial aid yet so since the application fees, in hindsight, not that much I would have preferred to look at programs not based on cost but based on other qualities.
brandeis, I was just listing colleges planning to apply in common app because I still have a sliver of doubt that I want to spend my whole life as a nurse, but yeah you’re right irrelevant to the post
thanks for the reply!
You and your parents need to figure this out soon, if you do not want to have to remake your list in late fall, or find out that all of your admissions next spring are too expensive.
“ * Unweighted HS GPA: 3.4 (honestly just guessing school does not provide UW gpa)”
You started there. That’s why. You need to demonstrate a ton of interest and maybe apply ED. It’s a top nursing school.
You need to check transferability - not non nursing schools - if doubt that arises. And schools that match, not reach. I know a girl at NYU. She dropped nursing after two years in. She’s now on the 5 year plan.
Do you have a counselor at school who can help ? Seems you are a bit all over.
It’s nursing. Where you go won’t matter. What your family needs to decide is if Rutgers is $30k, I’d be willing to spend more. If not why not Ramapo. It’s not direct admit but you simply have to meet the requirements of the first two years. If you didn’t anywhere, you likely wouldn’t advance anyway - DA or not.
If you are sure about nursing but not 100% sure, I would apply as a nursing major and switch if necessary. I would not apply to a school that does not have nursing- that doesn’t make sense.
You need a budget and you need to know if the schools are affordable. Seton Hall is not a safety if it is too expensive.
SUNY Binghamton might be a reach for you, but I would definitely apply because you never know. If you were instate it would be a reach. Nursing is competitive.
I would add SUNY Plattsburgh as a safety. It is a nice school, they have a nursing major, and they participate in the tuition match.
You can also add the University of Tampa (I see you have Florida schools on your list). You might get merit to bring the cost down. I know 2 students with similar stats (one had lower scores) who received merit (nursing). You would likely make honors as a nursing student.
Your current reaches are concerning to me. I would not ED to a school without having an understanding of finances.
Your family can run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) on a school’s website to get an idea of how much financial aid you might receive and whether or not the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is something they are willing and able to pay. The NPCs may not be updated yet for the 2024-2025 school year (and there have been some changes, the most significant of which relates to the impact that having more than one student in college at the same time). So the NPC may not be as accurate as if you waited a couple of months to run it. But it will give you and your family a pretty good idea as to what kind of financial aid you might receive and whether it’s even worth considering. Additionally, if the NPC asks for academic info like your GPA and test scores, it will often give an estimate as to the minimum amount of merit aid that you might expect to receive.
Farleigh Dickinson, Stockton and Rutgers Camden also have nursing. I work in NJ in healthcare and the nurses got their degrees everywhere from cc + BSN online, Rutgers Camden, TCNJ, UPenn, UDelaware, etc. It doesn’t matter where you get your degree so long as it’s from an accredited program, has good pass rates on the boards and has good funding. Don’t go into serious debt for your degree. Shop around, there’s quite a few in Pennsylvania like UofScranton and Widener. If you plan to go on for advanced degrees like NP or NA it truly depends on your GPA, years in the field and experience not name on the building. Good luck!