@Pgh1mom, congrats on your son’s final decison! that must be such a relief 
aslo ty for the CWRU info, we are looking forward touring the school the 17th & 18th and DD is a tad aprehensive that CWRU caters nore to the grad students and to the undergrades involved in research programs. On the other hand she recognizes that the hhe heavy on clinicals is a big + for Nursing students. The only big knoxk is COA, all in and including scholarship, CWRU is coming in at $20k per year above the pack of otther shools she is considering,
@MAPAone congrats! lots of nice choices DD withrew he URI acceptance last Friday as it is a 2yr Pre + 2yr Upper BSN program (received the same $30k over 4 yrs scholarship).
We (mon & dad) think Quinnipiac offers great value (similar scholarship) and the 5yr MSN is very appealing hence a re-visit with a friend and tour last weekend of March (without parents!), DD did not care for campus layout and school spirit vibe alst spring, let’s see if that chages without us!
Since you are in-state, why UMass Lowell but not Amherst?
@GmanCC My daughter is also considering CWRU, but having trouble justifying the cost.
I do like the the large number of clinicals they do, but I have heard mixed things from medical professionals I know about large amounts of clinical hours. Some say that students doing clinicals provide free labor, and some hospitals take advantage of that when those same students could be hired as paid nursing aides if they weren’t so busy doing clinicals.
Pretty much every nurse/doctor I know said they mainly care that you have a BSN and passed your boards. They don’t care where you went, as long as you did well. And they are most interested in your work experience. One doctor friend (known as the best in the region in his specialty) told me that he mainly cares what the person has been doing the last year, and doesn’t even care where they went to school. He recommended focusing on getting nursing aide jobs and earning good recommendations from supervisors.
So, it’s hard to justify NOT going with the cheapest option for a BSN.
@vamom4, just wanted to agree with you about the fact that hospitals do not care where you went to nursing school as long as you went to an accredited program (BSN required now unless grandfathered in with seniority) and passed your boards. When a hospital hires you, they base your pay on experience (how long you have actually been a RN). So, I would also agree, it is a good idea to limit debt as much as possible, if at all, since hospitals are very structured in their pay scales and pay increases.
As for clinicals, I graduated from a rigorous diploma program back in the 80’s. They had been in existence for decades and had an excellent passing rate for boards. Our class of nearly seventy all passed, no problem, and it was a rarity if someone didn’t pass. Anyway, we started clinicals from day one. The nice thing about that program was you knew pretty quickly if nursing was for you and didn’t waste much time or money if you wanted to switch career paths. While some may view clinicals as “free labor,” I would have to strongly disagree. Clinicals help you gain that all-important, real-world experience, knowledge base and confidence while still having the safety net of your instructor to guide your work and make sure you do not put your patients in danger.
By the last semester of our program, we had Leadership Clinicals where the student nurses had a full patient load and pretty much ran the med-surg floor for that rotation. It was a win-win for everyone bc we gained valuable experience on what it felt like to have a full patient load so that we could hit the ground running after graduation and the floor nurses loved us (also a good way to get a job offer at that hospital or references for another job post grad if you want to pursue a job elsewhere).
You can still work on the side as what is called a Clinical Associate and you should make more than an aide because your skill set would be higher as you progressed in your program. I don’t know if hospitals still do this but I worked in the hospital associated with our program as a Clinical Associate 1, 2 and 3. You are still being supervised by the RN who is ultimately responsible for the patients under your care but your scope of practice is limited by your level.
I did eventually go back to school in the 90’s but pursued a BS in another field of interest. I am still a RN and work per diem while I help take care of my elderly parents. Nursing is a solid field with many specialty areas to find your niche. Good luck to all pursuing this career!
@rjm2018 I think you might have misunderstood. I agree that clinicals are very valuable. I was just questioning the need to do 1300 hours (like at Case Western), over a more typical 900 hours.
Might be better to do 900 clinical hours, plus do paid nursing work for 400 hours. Rather than 1300 clinical hours.
@vamom4 Overall, I agree with your view on not paying substantially more for a product that won’t lead to a better outcome. That said, there are some intangibles to consider - the quality of the program, clinical experiences in large research hospitals a student may want to work in later, proximity of clinicals to the college, the fit of the college to the student and enrichment opportunities (honors, study abroad programs for nursing students). In my D’s case, she has acceptances to 10 colleges in the 17-27k range and 3 in the 32-40k range. We threw out the three highest cost colleges, and D is empowered to select the college that will best meet her ambitions within our budget… Plus, she can’t blame us later if she isn’t happy with her choice :-*
My daughter has carefully considered all factors, and at this point, will probably end up at University of Delaware.
Unless her UVA deferral turns into an acceptance in late March, in which case, she is totally going there.
@GmanCC thank you. We had a nursing student for our tour which helped a ton. The student brought up the research at the university and told us that the professors that are involved with the undergrads are heavily focused on their students and actually were not spending enough time doing the research that they were involved in. She focused much of the conversation on how the professors are really supportive of their students and there are so many options available to them to support kids who need extra help or wish to do research themselves. Please ask about this on your tour because I was shocked at the level of support that all of the students have (no matter the major) from the school. Ask to see the new medical teaching facility opening this summer/fall. The nursing school we toured was in dire need of upgrading for sure so this will be pretty incredible when they open the new facility. Sears think box was amazing to me. Before I went on the tour, I had no information on Case Western. I knew nothing about the research or any reputation it had or did not have. I only knew that it was in Cleveland and I had never been to Cleveland. I was not a fan of the eclectic campus but my son liked it and that is all the mattered to me. I was there to support him and the best part of this whole process was watching him figure out what mattered most and what inspired him to decide that CWRU was the place that he wanted to be. My son liked that there were a lot of clinical hours because he wanted to be hands on as much as possible and also liked that he would know very quickly if this was really his calling. I understand that cost is a huge factor in this decision for many parents and students and that is what drives the decisions that are made for what is best for your family and student. Fortunately, cost is not a factor for us and he was able to focus on what mattered most to him and what he wanted out of his college experience. If cost was a factor for us, several of the schools that he looked at would not have been an option to apply to. He would have been fine going to several of the others that accepted him and moved on to grad school and further his career somewhere else if needed. In the end, it is my son’s decision and what I think may be important such as clinical hours, or a rah rah sporty campus or proximity to the best hospitals in the country, really doesn’t matter. I can say for certain that I am glad this process is over and I am excited to see where life takes him!
@vamom4, I hadn’t read through the whole thread so I didn’t know about the 900 vs 1300 hrs concern. I was actually agreeing with the info you wrote in post #222.
Obviously, it’s been many years since I was in my program so I can’t recall how many hours we did but I remember having time to work based on course load/clinical days. On days we had classes and no clinicals was usually a good time bc then I’d work an evening once a week or so and usually one or two shifts over the weekend.
@Pgh1mom Thank you for sharing the info on CWRU as it will help those nursing students next year and down the line. I liked hearing how your son made a decision and how you as a parent supported that choice. While not everyone can have money not as a factor it was enlightening to know what his focus was on as he chose this important part of his education
@vamom4 Congrats on selecting U of Delaware nursing! Your journey is ending on a good path. If she get s UVA great but if not UDel is great as well. You can now focus on enjoying these last months of school and summer with her
@readthetealeaves we are very lucky that his great grandmother left her 2 great grandchildren the means to further their education. I could not have afforded much of anything. My son is well aware of the gift she has given him and plans to pay it forward someday.
@Pgh1mom That was so smart of his great grandmother to have the foresight to do that. What an incredible gift and story. Your son is a lucky man. Good luck to him
A friend of mine had her grandmother leave money for college to both her and her brother. About $100k each, and they started college in the late 90s.
Her brother ended up getting a full ride scholarship to a very expensive private school.
When she started school three years later, he voluntarily gave her all his inherited money so that she could pay for school and grad school in full.
Now THAT is a nice brother.
But I guess karma paid him back, because he now makes millions.
@MAPAone, apologies for the UMass Lowell question, re-reading your post it clicked that UML = UMass Lowell and you had given a great explanation on why your DD likes it.
@vamom4 (post #222) Interesting to hear about the high no. of clinical hours at CWRU and how (local) hospitals enjoy the “free” work put in by the BSN students visa-vie paid nurse aid work. I have been told by many trusted professionals a similar story, pass the boards and get good recommendations. I was also told though, depending on ambitions and desired work location, that certain schools initially carry more weight.
DD wants to be in ER & ICU for a while then go back to school and get a DNP degree. She Ideally wants to work in in a big-time big city hospital in the northeast.
@ rjm2018 thank you for you post, good to know. DD has Drexel as a top contender because of what you said, i.e. Drexel’s 5-year BSN program, on top of clinicals, has built in 3 semester co-ops (residencies) where students work full time as Clinical Associates and are paid approx. $18 per hour… real-time hands-on patient care (or so am told). We are visiting Drexel Saturday and hopefully will have a very good understanding afterwards.
@Pgh1mom, fantastic CWRU write-up, congrats, looks like your son has made a decision!
We don’t know what to expect and are also looking into the overnight student stay for our DD to maximize exposure time. Ultimately, she has to like and want to go where she thinks she can excel and have (hopefully) a great all-around college experience.
Ahh, yes, the COA difference. Other than a small student loan to have some skin in the game, we do not want our 2 DDs to incur debt, and we will happily shoulder the cost of college.
The $20k per year more than the other top 5 direct BSN programs she has narrowed down to is a factor though, CWRU must really wow us and prove it is worth it. Money does not grow on trees and $80k on top of the all in projected $160k after tax dollars is no small chunk of change.
Recapping the narrowed down field (the pack):
Miami U, CWRU, Scranton, Drexel, Quinnipiac, UConn (awaiting decision) & UDell (waitlisted)
Withdrew acceptance:
USC, UA, JMU, URI, PSU (regional, UP denied)
Withdrew deferral:
UMass, OSU & Fairfield
Last but not least, we are so proud of her, and everyone here should be so proud of their DD or DS ! as they have put in hard work to get into these very competative programs. hahaha, poor kids, this was just the tip of the iceberg, soo much more hard work and long hours to come!
So true @GmanCC I agree. Our kids work so hard but nursing is going to be all that and more! Here’s to all our kids getting in to the school that is just right for them!
My DD is considering it… I’m a UC alumni ~ And, if she falls in love next week, just like me, she’ll be a Bearcat from a UConn community! Biggest difference~ I had grandparents around the corner. My parents knew I wasn’t “alone” 18hrs from home.
Amazing experience in the ‘80s/90’s…
My DD is considering it… I’m a UC alumni ~ And, if she falls in love next week, just like me, she’ll be a Bearcat from a UConn community! Biggest difference~ I had grandparents around the corner. My parents knew I wasn’t “alone” 18hrs from home.
Amazing experience in the ‘80s/90’s…
@hsatlof I missed your original post - University of Cincinnati? My daughter is a nursing major there, in case you have any questions.
@bearcatfan Hello! I applied to UC a couple weeks ago with intentions to become a nurse, but obviously the direct nursing deadline was in December so I had to chose a “nursing preparation” major, and if admitted I would use the sophomore admission to the BSN program. Does your daughter know a lot of nursing students that took this route, and is there a big differences in the freshman year courses a direct nursing student takes vs. a sophomore admissions student?