@hawkeye3030 Yeah, I don’t think that @dvckennyd’s child was admitted to Nursing yet, just to the university itself. Admission decisions should be coming out shortly for those who applied Early Admission or Early Decision. We visited and my daughter loved Iowa, so she applied ED to their nursing program. Her basic stats are roughly 1400+ with a 3.9+ UW GPA. Other than the decisions taking a long time, I don’t think the process is any different than any other. My D has been admitted to 7 other direct admit programs, but Iowa is her favorite. I guess the only possibly odd thing is at Iowa is that they require Physics to have been taken in HS, or prior to starting in the fall (can’t remember which). Good luck!
Hello all,
Just to clarify, my son was admitted to UIowa with a Nursing interest. He ultimately decided not to pursue ED to the Nursing program there… Came down to Iowa and another school EDII submitted by Jan 1st. Believe they required (3) 750 word prompts or something like that?! He was just done with the whole process lol… Can’t say that I blame him. Best of luck to everybody waiting on admission decisions!
@bigmacbeth thanks for the info and sending positive thoughts your way. My daughter has been on the requirements for a while and is taking AP Physics as a junior so she is set. One other question I thought it said they no longer consider recommendation letters. Is that true or did I misread it. Right now it is the top of the list but we need to get started on visits this spring.
@hawkeye3030 We visited IOWA school of nursing in Summer and they did not mention letters of recommendation. One thing to keep in mind is that they state that pretty much all seats for incoming freshman class get filled with the ED students and then the EA are considered, so if you have not applied with ED/EA it might be tough to get in from general admission. My D20 was admitted to the university within a week in the Fall and invited to apply to Nursing via EA/ED but we decided to focus on other schools as Iowa was not her favorite and as stated required 3 x 750 word essay responses for the Iowa school of nursing consideration.
If anyone has visited or has experience of the West Chester nursing program I would be really grateful. Know it accepts 75 students a year and they have a new health science building opening this fall but not a lot of info on their website and on this forum. We are based on the west coast so trying to work out if we should visit. Thanks!
I can’t say much about the school because we LIVE IN West Chester so daughter wouldn’t even consider it. I can tell you it’s a small, vibrant, safe college town, surrounded by burbs and Philly is close enough for weekends. Feel free to reach out to me with ANY questions about location!
@hawkeye3030 Correct, no letters of recommendation needed. Start the essays early, then they won’t be much of an issue. 750 is the max. word count, by the way. I’m guessing they do it that way because they are really interested in the kids who want to attend their school, like most other colleges that require essays. D20 also applied to the honors college, which required another long essay. Good luck. Feel free to DM me with any other questions, especially if D20 is eventually admitted! 
@netpro thank you for sharing your experience. My daughter as of now is planning on applying ED there. Granted we need to take visits etc but she has been to the campus many times and it fits many of her requirements. However she is aware of how competitive it is and wants options. As of now she is willing to commit ED there and realizes that can be her only one like that. It seems most schools do not have ED that she is looking at. I think only one other has a binding ED option. Has your daughter narrowed down her choices?
@bigmacbeth Thank you for that information. She is planning on applying to the honors college. When we talked with the admissions office they said she can apply to both. She was bummed about no rec letter but I assume that is since everyone has great ones. It is good to know about the essays. She has been thinking about them already and enjoys writing. I will DM you a couple more specific questions. Thank you
@bigmacbeth I tried to DM you but I do not meet the minimum number of posts. I understand Iowa has rolling admission for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and then you select Nursing. Did you receive that application with the essay prompts immediately or shortly after admission? Or was there a delay? When did your daughter apply?
@hawkeye3030 My daughter applied on 9/1 was accepted to University on 9/5 and received email inviting her to apply to Nursing EA 11 minutes after the admission. Here is what the email stated:
"In recognition of your academic success in high school, the College of Nursing would like to invite you to apply for Early Admission to the College of Nursing. You will need to complete a supplemental application to be considered for this opportunity. You can find the supplemental application on your Admissions Profile on MyUI. Along with the supplemental application, the College of Nursing also requires an official high school transcript and official test scores (ACT/SAT) to be on file with the university.
Early Admission students have access to several unique opportunities, including:
Membership from day one in a top nursing program.
Participation in the Four-Year Graduation Plan.
Exposure to programming designed to encourage students to explore the field of nursing, pursue graduate education, and enhance understanding of the profession.
Advising through the College of Nursing during all four years on campus.
Early Decision Admission within the College of Nursing is a binding program and is an option for academically qualified candidates who know they wish to attend the University of Iowa. Applicants for Early Decision Admission agree to refrain from pursuing any other Early Decision programs. The deadline to apply for consideration for Early Decision Admission is January 1, with the initial class of 80 students being selected as of February 1. After February 1, all qualified Early Decision or Direct Admission applicants who have completed the supplemental application process will be considered for admission on a space available basis until May 1. Students selected for the program must have all high school course requirements completed prior to enrollment at Iowa.
Students who apply and are not selected for Early Admission to the College of Nursing will remain students in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences with Nursing Interest as the designated program of study, and will be eligible to apply for Competitive Admission after successful completion of college pre-requisites."
@hawkeye3030 What @netpro said. 
My D20 applied 7/30 and was admitted 8/21 to the university. She just recently applied for honors, as she didn’t really know if she wanted that or not. Still doesn’t. She did get her housing deposit in as soon as possible because she wants good options for housing.
@hawkeye3030 I’m sorry I don’t remember the exact stats - we were given the information during a College of Nursing close up session while touring.
I will say, however, there is no guarantee of getting a clinical spot at Cincinnati Children’s. A lot of it will depend on when you register, what clinical spot you get. There is a chance of a DEU (dedicated education unit) with a single preceptor, but those are competitive. There are volunteer spots with Children’s, if you have the time, and after sophomore year one can apply to be a PCA (patient care assistant) there. I’ve heard mixed reviews on what that is like.
The campus is urban. I don’t like it, lol, but my daughter does.
@bearcatfan Thanks for your reply. It sounds like there are plenty of opportunities. We are excited to go visit. And so glad your daughter loves it. That is all that matters. And it sounds like she is doing well there. Very exciting!
@lass71 Unfortunately we haven’t been able to visit either Westminster or Xavier. In our research, some of the positives for Xavier are its size (4,500 undergrads), early start nursing courses (1st semester, 1st year), the Hispanic focus nursing program, and the offer of free books. While Westminster is small and nursing courses don’t start until the 2nd semester, 2nd year, it does have the advantage of relatively low cost of attendance and it’s academic schedule with May term unique classes and travel opportunities. As soon as all acceptances and financial aid offers are received, we’re going to visit the top choices. Ideally, we’d make to Xavier Preview Days - March 29 and April 5 and/or Westminster Admitted Students Day - March 28. I’d also be very interested to hear thoughts from anyone concerning theses schools.
@mmagnu thanks for your reply. I will post our feedback to any schools we visit. We are weighing up individual visits early February rather than waiting till end of March to attend preview days in the hope that’ll help her reach some decisions.
@mmagnu We attended Xavier’s X Day in November. Here are the top positives for Xavier Nursing in my opinion: brand new Health United Building (HUB) where Nursing housed, start Nursing clinicals first semester Sophomore Year (with some classes Freshman year), lower clinical ratios (6:1 vs the 8:1 state min), 90 hour Nurse shadowing program Sr year, access to lots major hospitals in the Cincy area (many just down the road as it is only a few miles from UC), and the holistic nursing certification. They didn’t highlight the Hispanic focus nursing program at all in the presentation so not sure if they are still offering? I think it’s an outstanding little school. It is urban, as bearcatfan mentioned about UC. They are down the road from each other and in similar neighborhoods. But is a bit more contained to one area and we felt very comfortable on campus. The basketball games are a big draw and their student success program is a big plus in my mind as well. NCLEX pass rates are slight lower than I would like to see at 85% but there are positive and negatives with those stats. Definitely attend Preview Day to see what you think.
Top choices so far direct admit- Norwich (AF ROTC), UMASS Dartmouth and Florida Southern (all OOS and quite close to the same price after merit aid). All seem to offer something slightly different, have not yet visited Floria Southern. Any knowledge on strength of programs?
@arkymommy Very helpful - thank you! All of the positives you brought up are great points for comparing schools. I’ll have to specifically ask about the Hispanic focus nursing program. Thanks again.
Update (and correction) to post #159
Accepted
Westminster (Salt Lake City) - $24,000 (merit), $2,910 (grant)
Xavier - $24,000 (merit), $2,500 (grant) + books
Seattle University - $28,300
Regis University (Denver) - $19,000
Waiting
University of Portland
UC Irvine
San Diego State