@bearcatfan My D just got accepted in U of Cincinnati nursing program . Any insight on UC nursing wold be great! She decided after visiting Xavier she wanted to apply to UC. Liked the area and wants to be near pediatric clinical. Trying to decide if we fly back out…from MA. Her top choices right now are UNH, UDEL and Fairfield.
@coolj1018 My daughter loves the program, so I could be a bit biased, lol.
Firstly, I would make sure she is a direct admit. UC has started this thing now where they admit some to exploratory nursing, or even to the big satellite campus of Blue Ash, instead of main campus. Not saying you haven’t doublechecked, but the terminology can be tricky.
While UC is very close to some hospitals, there is no guarantee your clinical will be there. Clinicals are doled out based on when you register for classes, so those like my daughter and her friends who don’t have AP/CCP credits register towards the end. They have a clinical about a 20 minute drive away - she really likes it, but it’s not next door. And even the kids who have clinicals at UCMC drive because it’s still a bit of a walk. So plan on a car or car pooling. You get all the clinicals you need to graduate, but none of them are in walking distance. I’m sure other programs are like this, but it was a surprise to me. Once you are past sophomore year, you have more opportunities for different locations and situations - the school does try to make sure one person doesn’t get everything if that makes sense.
Like any program there are some annoying hiccups. By and large she has liked her instructors but one of them is certainly not warm and fuzzy but she’s very good. Best professor on campus is the anatomy professor - widely loved and respected by hist students, but he has high expectations.
At UC a C in nursing is failing. You have to get at least a C+ in all nursing-required classes. If not, according to my daughter, you must re-take which could put you a semester behind depending on the class. And even if you squeak into that C+, you might have to have a “Come to Jesus” meeting with your advisor.
The surrounding area of Clifton can be sketchy, like any urban campus. My daughter has never had problems, but you need to have your wits about you when it comes to walking alone (not at night!) and moving off campus.
If interested, go to FB and join the University of Cincinnati Parents Page (I’m the admin). We also have a nursing one - a little less traffic, but you could ask more pointed questions there.
Hey there. Admissions says the nursing program looks for 1400+ at Uconn but I know people who got in last year with lower so who knows. I think extracurriculars mean a lot. Hope this helps. Are you from CT? They tend to take a lot of in state
There isn’t much on this website about the direct admit nursing program at Westminster College in Utah so I wanted to share our impression after visiting.
Our nursing tour was given by two of the nursing professors. Their passion for the nursing profession and their role as educators was very evident. As they have a very small program at Westminster ( less than 60) all the professors know their students very well. Students are often on first name terms and are able to text them with questions . It’s so close knit that students feel able to seek help without feeling they will look stupid.
We were given a tour of the simulation labs in their nursing center.They have low and high frequency mannequins. They also pay senior students to act as patients and simulate scenarios using it as a teaching and leadership opportunity. The more complicated simulations are restricted to no more than 4 students.
Clinicals also start in junior year and a great deal of care is taken to ensure all students are treated fairly and have access to a wide range of clinical opportunities. They are not handed out based on who scored the highest grade in a test. Both the nursing students we met emphasized how much emphasis is placed on building a community amongst the nursing class and supporting each other.
Clinical opportunities are generally local and offer great opportunities. The University of Utah hospital is walking distance from Westminster.
Their final capstone clinical involves shadowing a nurse and working the same 12 hour shift he / she works. They mentioned other programs doing clinicals at same locations work shorter shifts and fewer clinical hours.
NCLEX prep seems thorough. Two practice tests the last seminar and support if you do badly in either of these tests.
At Westminster although they offer direct admit, the nursing program really formally starts in the last two years. Before then the focus is on getting the pre requisite classes done. However there will be nursing students in many of these classes. There is also a Westminster Nursing Club so that nursing students can get together.
To join the nursing program at Westminster you must be a certified CNA or EMT etc by 1 August ( before you start sophomore year). I have not seen this requirement at other schools. I believe it’s because they truly want their students to have a lot of hands on experience and want them to build up as much hands on experience as possible. In Utah it’s a much more simple process to get your CNA than a state such as California. Both students we met worked shifts at hospitals on weekends or during breaks.
Hope this is helpful to anyone considering applying for this program.
The school itself is small ( 2000 students) but it has great facilities ( inc food), pretty and safe location in Sugar House and a lot of social activities and support available to students. We are very glad we took the time to visit.
Another update 
Today I found out that I was chosen as a Villanova Presidential Scholar and will be receiving a full-ride, including tuition, room and board, food and books (!!!)!
At this point, although I love some of my other schools, I am definitely leaning towards Villanova (nursing major ofc) bc who gives up free college?? Lol. I’m super excited and incredibly grateful that I was given this opportunity. Whoohooo!!
@futurenurse1224 That’s fabulous. Congrats!! Yes, agree. Who can give up free college!
@futurenurse1224 Congratulations! Excellent news.
My daughter is at a point where all admissions have some through with financial packages and now is the difficult selection process. We have narrowed down our choices to 4 schools based on cost, nursing program, college vibe (we visited a lot of schools), etc. If anyone has any recommendations, insights, etc. I would appreciate it:
- Purdue - no merit, will pay full OOS ticket ($42K), but that is on par with other schools and no obligation to maintain scholarships, plus their tuition has not increased in 9 years. D20 really liked the school, 2 hour drive from home, negative is many clinicians are an hour away in Indy
- U of MN Twin Cities, $5K scholarship brings the cost to $40K, liked the school a lot too, nice nursing facilities, close proximities to hospitals. Negative - weather.
- Saint Louis University - 23K scholarship brings the price to 38K, nice school and nice nursing program again with close proximity to hospitals. College is little small, D20 is afraid she may miss out on college experience
- UCONN - received nice 20K merit making it most affordable from the list ($35K), but we have not visited it nor know too much about it. There does not appear to be an easy way to get there, and flights to Hartford are not cheap from Chicago.
@netpro The one thing I will say about SLU is take a look at the scholarship GPA min to keep that $23k. My daughter got the same scholarship and I believe it requires a min 3.25 GPA to keep the $$. Not sure if that is a factor but it is one of the highest mins that I have seen to get the renewal. You could ask what % of students who have received that scholarship still have it by Senior year. Not sure if your daughter is interested in study abroad but SLU is one of the only programs that I have heard of offering clinicals abroad (Madrid campus) So not sure if that piece is any type of deciding factor
St. Louis has a lot of things to do in the city and it is one thing I have read about SLU students. They love St. Louis. Lots going on in the city vs Purdue / UCONN that are either rural or small town so your activity is going to come mainly from the school. U of MN has the city piece but when school would be in session, how much will she want to get outside to participate? (but inside activities could be fun) It’s funny because my daughter things St Louis is too cold. So definition of coldness is all relative…lol
I can’t give feedback on Purdue, UCONN or U of MN programs because we didn’t apply there. But hope any tidbits above help!
Thank you, i am aware of the scholarship requirements. We just went to SLU for the presidential scholarship interview this past weekend and were able to tour the nursing building and talk with current students, all sounded great. If she gets the scholarship it will be no brainer, but that is a very long shot. This is going to be tough decision for my daughter, either way I am not looking forward to spending $160K+ for BSN, but what can you do 
Hi this is our flagship school. You could try looking into flying to Providence, its not that much further away then Hartford.
Thanks, not looking to apply to any more schools, my daughter applied and was accepted to 18 direct admin nursing schools. Just narrowing them down based on the listed factors, cost being very important. I am from IL and we dont have much of selection for direct admin public nursing schools, hence all private and OOS choices.
@netpro Congrats to you and your D. Being able to select from so many quality programs is a great problem to have. You have mentioned great selection criteria already so not much to add. Maybe consider the NCLEX pass rates, quality of labs, internship opportunities, study abroad, etc.
My (ChEng) D considered UMN 3 years back and during our visit we found out that the school planned to aggressively increase OOS tuition while holding the $5k merit money constant. She chose Purdue and absolutely loves the larger campus, strong school spirit, small surrounding city and couldn’t be happier. We pay full OOS tuition and the freeze has been a huge blessing. Only 2 more semester payments left!
My 2nd year Nursing D at SDSU has 3.5 GPA requirement to keep her scholarship. No problems so far. Good luck!
Was anyone else surprised by the cost of nursing fees above and beyond tuition? I think D20 has picked her favorite but all of her top 3 ended up being about 10k more overall after that. 2 added them all to Jr and Senior years for about 5K each year and 1 charges 1k per semester with some extra one time fees Sr year so ends up about the same. D20 is our oldest so I definitely feel like we had a steep learning curve on all the ins and outs of applying for college!! We’re doing a second visit to her top choice on Friday for an admitted students day including sim lab and honors tours and if all goes well will be putting down a deposit this weekend! Her potential roommate will be there too so this is a good chance to make sure that is the right fit too. Fingers crossed!!
@netpro - UConn seems like a no-brainer! Great program and great campus and you can use the extra $$ for the flights.
@mebmama which colleges are you referring to?
U of SC, UTK, and Clemson.
@netpro Hoping with all those schools to choose from that there are some below $160K. That is a hard pill to swallow. We are ‘over-spending’ a little b/c my D20 wanted big school/big sports (she’ll be attending UofIowa), but it’s closer to $30K than $40K. If your D20 was invited for an interview weekend at SLU she must be pretty high stats. I hope she gets it!
@Banker1 My D20 was accepted at UMinn this year. They have raised the merit back up a bit. I guess they were losing OOS kids, understandably. She received $15K for a 1440/3.9 which I thought was pretty nice. It also put COA right around $30K which I could live with. I really liked UMinn, but it ended up #2. Glad your D18 is liking Purdue, the tuition freeze is awesome. Does she have a car, or will she be carpooling with other students to Indy for clinicals? That commute was why D20 took it off the list, but she loved campus.
@bigmacbeth we only received $5K merit from MN, her SAT was 1380, UW GPA 3.8, lots of ECs. If she got $15K this would have been an easy decision. Perhaps I can have your D’s scholarship since she is not going there She does have a car, so I guess when clinical times come around that would not be an issue. Purdue clinicals start in Sophomore year, but mostly within the West Lafayette area, Junior year is when they start going to Indy, but they all carpool. Freshmen are not allowed to have cars on campus there.
@mebmama I saw $1000/semester fee at Clemson for nursing as well, Clemson ended up being too expensive with $7500/year scholarship, it would have been a nice option though. Interesting how lower tax states are able to offer affordable public college to in state students, yet high tax states like IL offers $0 in merit and ends up often costing more than OOS schools, then they wonder what they cannot retain high stat students.