Congrats @GreenBees on your daughter’s decision to enroll in U of Alabama. It is a great school. Her acceptance list from which she choose is impressive. Good luck to her
Hi! I am currently trying to decide between Umass amherst and Simmons. Does anyone have any input on their nursing programs? It is a really hard decision for me because they both offer completely different experiences. With Simmons, I would be able to do clinicals at the local Boston hospitals, however, I am extremely honored to even be accepted at Umass as 1 out of the 64. Please help!!!
Congrats to you @courtneyelise13 that you have a great choice to make! I would review the fit if you visited both, the finances if applicable, the campus life, the reviews on nursing program, where clinicals are, NCLEX passing, etc. I don’t know those two colleges but I am sure someone will chime in
Still undecided between two schools. One DS feels may be a better fit that is 15,000 a year less but lesser known and slightly lower Nclex pass rates. I will help him with the cost difference but his loan burden will be closer to 45000 then 25000. Not sure how to help him with the decision. Any suggestions?
Hi @Regretful are we talking University of New England and University of Scranton? Or other schools?
University of New England and sacred heart university
@Regretful I quickly looked up the figures and found UNE $57310 2019-2020 98.9% pass rate Univ Scranton $56730 2018-19 100% pass rate so I still can’t figure out which one your son feels is the better fit and the numbers are closer monetarily. Did he get merit aid or financial aid to one? Please more details
More merit at UNE compared to Sacred Heart.
oops sorry @Regretful I mistyped. The tuition of $56730 is Sacred Heart and the pass rate is 100% while UNE $57310 2019-2020 98.9% . So the one he wants is UNE?
He is very undecided. The tuition figures are not quite accurate based in what we received from the colleges. Une would be about 15000 less per year. Overall perhaps a better fit.
After merit and financial aid.
hmm I see @Regretful. Sorry the decision is a difficult one. Is one closer to home? If so maybe that would be a good pro? What do you want?
UNE
UNE’s NCLEX pass rate is in the high nineties and that is good. (I spoke with a school with a 100% pass rate and they admitted they have many practice tests, study sessions, counseling etc before they “allow” a student to sit for the exam because they as a school have so much riding on it reputation-wise.) So Don’t worry if the pass rate is less than 100% because high 90s is great. Disclosure : I know someone that was a student at UNE and the costs kept creeping up, problems with classes, etc It ended up costing them a lot and parents had to further bail them out later. Splitting between two campuses may be an issue for some people who want campus life. Fit perceived by the student is important though.
men 27%
study abroad
Sacred Heart
SH is rated (as a college not nursing) above UNE.
four years at same campus
great pass rate 100%
more men on campus 33%
study abroad
If you live in Maine UNE make sense for proximity. If not, Sacred Heart looks better to me. Please let us know what he decides
Both schools are equidistant. I don’t know if it is worth the additional money to attend SHU. But I can make it work if it is the best fit.
oops, wrong thread
Hello All… It is almost Decision Day. Two more Days! Do you have your forms, deposit and immunizations in?
@Regretful My DD also looked closely at SHU and UNE, with UNE among the lowest cost options. Below are some pros and cons for each.
UNE: She really liked the recent campus upgrades (student center, athletic center, beach area, etc.) and loved the downtown Portland area (awesome for 20-somethings), and found the campus (and students) to be much more relaxed than SHU. On the negative side, the freshman dorms weren’t that great (mostly triples in old bldgs), the campus is isolated, crime was surprisingly high in Biddeford, and she wasn’t thrilled about being cut off from her friends/network/community of Freshman/Sophomore years once she had to move to Portland for Jr/Sr years in the nursing program. It also seems that there is more burden on the students to find housing and fill the void of that campus life during those last 2 years in Portland unless they want to take the 45 min bus ride back to Biddeford (or drive back, but not a lot of parking).
SHU: If SHU had been in the Boston area, she’d have committed right away. She liked the 4-year focus on preparing nursing students to do well on NCLEX-like testing formats and content. Overall, the main SHU campus was mostly in 1 location (though the new West campus may change that), had a really nice feel and the new Jr/Sr dorms on the upper quad and fitness center are going to be amazing. She also liked JP’s and the relatively easy access to the beach. The downsides are that parking is a huge headache and major student complaint, and the (awesome & new) nursing building is 1 mile down the road. It might be worth it though… she thought the new health sciences/nursing bldg was more like a cathedral! Keep in mind that the incoming class looked to be huge (>200 students), which is part of why they need a big facility to get that many through the system. SHU was more expensive and several of the students complained about surprise fees that always seemed to come up for activities. SHU also had more of a CT/NY/NJ (and Long Island) focus. They were explicit about trying to place their students in those locations, although they were also prohibited from having any of their students do clinicals in NYC (which seemed really unfortunate). My daughter wanted to end up in Boston, and they said she’d be on her own for clinicals, summer jobs, and final placement in that area since it wasn’t their focus. Since you may be in MA too, that could be a consideration. For those who speak “teenager,” she also said (upon later reflection after choosing a different school) that the SHU campus and vibe seemed a bit too “bougie” for her tastes. But to each their own… finding the best fit is one of the biggest parts of this whole college selection process.
Overall, however, they were 2 solid, direct-entry nursing schools in beautiful locations with strong NCLEX scores and good, local clinicals. Best of luck with your decision!
@courtneyelise13 Those are two great options - congratulations! Both have strong reputations and statistics (NCLEX, etc.) and the accepted class GPA/SAT scores are off the charts for UMass. They seem to be very different environments, however.
UMass Amherst will give you that big, state school community and vibe, with tons of activities, sporting events, and a vibrant college town main street just down the road. But it’s a big, rural campus with many of the dorms (e.g., SW dorms) a ~1 mile walk from the nursing building. The nursing bldg is recently refurbished but we were somewhat surprised that they didn’t have more, dedicated sim labs for different procedures and disciplines. Since Amherst is relatively isolated, most nursing students have to travel 30-45 min for clinicals at Baystate Medical Ctr in Springfield, and several traveled 1.5-2 hrs each way for clinicals in Boston. This is also part of the reason they cap their incoming class at 64.
Simmons has the small private school feel, probably the best location of any school for proximity to world-class hospitals in a city environment, the Boston activity/social scene, and a solid reputation. But it’s so small that it has to share/borrow for some facilities with other neighboring schools (Colleges of the Fenway Consortium) and won’t have the same level of school spirit and activities (if that’s important to you). The dorms and food also aren’t as nice as UMass Amherst (again, if that’s important to you). Also keep in mind that they just announced that their President is stepping down (and she oversaw much of the turnaround for Simmons over the past 10 yrs - reconfigured undergrad curriculum and raised $100M).
I’m sure you’ll do great in either of these wonderful schools, and I hope you find the best fit for YOU! 
Regarding UNE and SHU your summary was consistent with what I have learned. Nice to know I did not miss anything significant. Hopefully he will make a decision tonight.
The best laid plans… After committing to Montclair 4 weeks ago, my DD received last week an email from first choice West Chester offering her a spot in nursing from the waitlist! After several stressful days, she changed her plans, committed to WC, and withdrew from Montclair! We all couldn’t be happier (tho we don’t love losing the deposit) :-).
@sharpmom829 That is great news! If West Chester is her number 1 then it was meant to be. I wouldn’t love losing the deposit either but if it made the next four years happier for her her I would as well.Congrats!