My daughter who is a 4.5 was accepted to SDSU Nursing freshman direct program and is very excited. She also applied to UCLA nursing and did not get in but this is her dream school. She was accepted in what admissions told me is a rare move, to her second major, Biology. They say they never offer second choice majors but now she is stuck with going to UCLA or going to an amazing nursing program. I am needing advice to give her as I have arguments on both sides.
IMO, if your daughter is certain about pursing a career in nursing, she should go to a school with a clear pathway to that end goal.
Could she transition to nursing at UCLA? If so, what’s the process? Is it competitive? How many students successfully manage to do that?
UCLA does not offer internal Nursing transfers, so she would either have to complete her Biology degree and then do a Post bacc Nursing program or complete her pre-req courses at UCLA and then transfer to another school for Nursing. If she is set on doing Nursing, then SDSU sounds like the best option.
If Nursing is her goal, the choice is clear - SDSU. If she is somewhat unsure and only thinks she might want to be a nurse, then UCLA.
Sounds like you have to go visit both of them again and spend more time at each. Has she stayed overnight with students yet? Can she attend a nursing class and a biology class and talk to the students in each major at each school? Maybe she is really pre-med, in which case UCLA biology might be perfect. If she is 100% set on nursing then SDSU offer wins.
The alternative is to go to college for 5.5 years instead of 4 years, if a person wants to be a RN. The RN second degree programs typically do not provide any aid from the college, and most students will have exhausted any state or federal aid for which they are eligible by that time. Generally, state and federal need-based aid cannot be used for a second bachelors degree. .
@Gumbymom my daughters best friend in college is a lacrosse player who chose her school because of lacrosse even though she wanted to go into nursing. She is doing the biology thing and is not too thrilled that she is not playing as much lacrosse as she might have liked – I think she regrets it now.
If she really thinks she wants nursing SDSU. However, I work at a small school with a non-direct entry (although I’ve never seen a student who made the grade requirements not get in), and I would say about half the students who list nursing as a freshman area of interest don’t end up pursing the major. Obviously, some don’t make the grade (doubtful for your kid with that hs record), but others…realize that there are more ways to “help people,” that nursing is a science degree and they really don’t want to study science, that the profession itself is in no way glamorous, or (and I do NOT say this with ANY criticism at all) that they want to enjoy this time in their lives and live it up a little and not engage in the level of work the major or the job requires. Hey, twelve hour night shifts would never have been my gig.
@Ordinarylives thank you for commenting. At bigger schools, the weed from pre-nursing to nursing out can be large even with the grades required if you have trouble on the pretests, there are too many people vying for too few spots, do not realize the little requirements, if you do not follow the path of classes and try to go abroad, or if you try to stay within the 4 year time line but still need aid when you don’t get in the first time around and must stay and try again among other things.
@tripletplus1mom It all comes down to how serious she is about Nursing. I have found most nursing majors who are serious about nursing as a career prefer the direct route. Those that are not positive, have not had nursing experience, or are interested but also interested in other majors prefer pre-nursing so they are not stuck in the major. If she is serious about nursing SDSU.
If she is unsure UCLA is a better choice.