I know several top students who applied to MSU nursing and didn’t get in. From the MSU website:
Approximately 120 students are admitted each year. The College receives 2-3 times the number of applications per seat. The average GPAs for the last three admitted cohorts were:
Fall 2018: 3.90
Spring 2019: 3.84
Fall 2019: 3.86
Daughter applied to the following schools:
Baylor (not direct admit)
Belmont
Creighton
Duquesne
Gonzaga
Loyola Chicago
Marquette
Regis University
Saint Louis University
Seattle U
TCU
University of Portland
University of San Francisco
Xavier U
Fingers crossed!
10-22-2019 at 5:17 pm
Daughter accepted into nursing programs at U of Portland, Duquesne, Marquette, Baylor, Belmont and Xavier. Still waiting to hear back from the rest. She cast a wide net due to competitiveness of direct nursing. She worked hard and so relieved she’ll have multiple options.
Congrats @oredad. That’s the way to do it.
Congrats @oredad !! My daughter has taken same approach with casting a wide net due to competitiveness of DA Nursing. She is applying to 10 total (with 2 not DA). She has some of the same schools as well. Xavier, SLU, and TCU. She’s been accepted to Xavier and SLU. I don’t believe SLU has given her an answer yet on Nursing, I believe it’s just an admit to the school. She applied 10/16 so be patient as I read others who got accepted before her but they also applied before her. So I really do think they review in order of submitted date. We visited SLU over the weekend and said some Nursing they will admit right away and others will be admitted to SLU first then Nursing after Feb 1 (depending on scores). We visit Xavier later this month!
My D20 is in the same boat, applied to 18 (crazy) direct adminssion nursing schools as we will not qualify for any financial aid, hence a need to maximize merit based scholarships. She has been accepted to:
SLU - accepted on 11/1 to nursing, they offer it to students that meet minimum 30 ACT, and high GPA
Loyola Chicago
Marquette
Arizona State University
Xavier
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Truman State University
Bradley University
Illinois State
Milwaukee School of Engineering
University of Iowa - admitted to university, but did not complete supplemental nursing app as it was not a high choice, yet they required 3 x 750 word additional essays
still waiting for:
Case Western Reserve University
Clemson
Purdue
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
University of Connecticut
Illinois Wesleyan University
Valparaiso University
Congrats!! My d only applied to 4 direct admits as her scores were modest and was not anticipating any admits. So far she’s 2/2 and she is over the moon. This forum really scared me with the 4.0+ and the 30+ ACT but there are so many options. Any parent or kid who is following this thread and worried about your B+ Grades and nursing school please don’t be discouraged.
@Finalthree completely agreed, reading some of last year nursing students stats I was afraid 1380 SAT was insufficient. I think most of the folks posting here on average are more engaged than majority of students/parents hence the stats listed here tend to be higher than typical students admitted into most schools.
D20 was direct admitted this week to nursing at Penn State, University Park (main) campus. Only place she applied. Legacy—nothing else would do. Plan B was a branch campus. Very excited and already accepted. GPA 3.94uw/4.36w. ACT 31. SAT 1380. 4 AP classes, top 10% of class, 6 credits dual enrollment at local college. AP Bio, Honors Anatomy and Physiology, 400+ volunteer hours at local hospital, NHS Secretary. Merit aid unknown at this time.
@eppafrancine Congrats to your D20! Are you in-state? I have heard that merit awards are hard to come by at PSU, but we are OOS.
@bigmacbeth. We are in-state. Not expecting any merit aid from Penn State but it doesn’t matter. It is her dream school; she wouldn’t apply to anything cheaper. She grew up loving Penn State. Applied Early Action 8/8; accepted 11/6.
@eppafrancine That’s awesome then. Do nursing student spend junior or senior year away from College Park at Hershey?
Nursing students at Penn State UP campus spend either junior year or senior year in Hershey. The decision is made by lottery.
Does anyone know when U of Del starts to send out acceptance notifications? They are rolling admissions. Has anyone gotten accepted?
@KikicarQ UDel has started acceptances. D20 was notified recently.
@arkymommy Would love to hear how you and your daughter liked the SLU visit. We have visited TCU (which I believe is also on your list) so curious how they compare. Also interested in your Xavier feedback after you visit later this month. We’re on the west coast so logistically hard to visit every school - we’ll need to narrow the list down and plan a trip.
@oredad SLU and TCU are like night and day. So hard to compare. Here’s what I would say about both:
TCU - we visited there this summer so no students on campus. Campus and surrounding neighborhoods were gorgeous and felt comfortable. Loved the student centered atmosphere and the activities that happen around campus. Admissions and tour guides were probably some of the most friendly (besides maybe TX A&M). Frog Camp and the visits to faculty houses for Freshman is very unique. Seems like a very supportive atmosphere between faculty and students supporting other students. We’ve been impressed with our interactions overall with the school. My D’s contact w her Regional Admissions rep, who she interviewed with, were also very positive. The school follows up quickly and it feels very organized. I still have a lot of unanswered questions about TCU though. It was the summer so we didn’t get to see the Nursing labs, dorms, or the Dining Hall (which is a big deal because my D has Celiac’s Disease) Heard the dorms are good but would have loved to see. My D knows a handful of kids that attend and all seem very happy. But I worry that it’s too similar to her HS which is pretty affluent and not very diverse. TCU is a reach for D and not sure if she will be accepted to Nursing. And if she is, I think she will receive very little merit, if any at all. (3.92 UW and 29 ACT SS) Looking back at some of the threads, I see students with ACTs in the 30s who were denied. Admissions did tell us that it is very common for Nursing students to be deferred to RA (if applying ED or EA).
SLU - we were there on a Select Saturday event so more of an open house day. The surrounding areas around SLU are a bit rough but heard they are improving the area. Its definitely in heart of a city vs a suburb like TCU. Very mid western, lots of kids from IL / Chicago area. Saw a little more representation from different socioeconomic classes vs TCU (which is interesting because SLU is not cheap). I like the Jesuit philosophy about caring for the whole person (mind, body, soul). Student contributions to service was outstanding. Students on campus were very friendly. We did not get to tour chapel, but have seen pics and it’s beautiful. Student tradition is to attend Mass on Sun nights at 9pm (all are welcome regardless of religion and 700-800 students attend each week). 50% of students are catholic, 25% christian. (we are not catholic but seemed welcoming regardless) Medical campus is a short bus ride from main campus. Could walk it but about a mile or so away. New hospital on med campus will be completed in 2020. Attended specific Nursing info session. Said they receive about 800 apps, take 650, with a yield of 150. They have a student success adviser in the Nursing school that is there to help with any student needs, regardless. They want you to succeed and are there to make sure you do well. Clinicals begin spring Sophomore year and can take place in the on campus hospital or in surrounding hospitals / clinics. (after we left SLU, we drove 1 or 2 exits West and found Wash U along with Barnes Jewish, St. Louis Children’s, and other outpatient clinics - so lots of medical options close by) Nursing students can do entire sophomore year (or just a semester), including clinicals, on their SLU campus in Madrid. I think that is pretty unique to be able to complete clinicals abroad. They gave us about 20 min at the end of the presentation to look around the SIM lab. It was not overly new but seemed well appointed and nice. This section below is very specific to my D’s needs – this was our 11th college visit and it has been the only campus that treated gluten free seriously. In main dining hall, they had a separate prep area and entree/side/veggie offerings free of top 7 allergens. And an entirely separate dining area behind doors with gluten free bread/bagels along w separate toaster and microwave. Also, since our agenda included lunch, I RSPVd in advance to SLU tours about a GF lunch and was told it would be provided. When we arrived at the nursing school, we saw a table full of pizza and my D said, I’ll just get a soda. But then the nursing recruiter announced if anyone has a food allergy, come with me. He had a sealed caesar salad (no croutons!) waiting for my her. With likely 300-400 people attending the Saturday event (and over 60 people just for nursing) I was impressed with the communication and attention to detail.
I feel like I just can’t do a good comparison between the two because we didn’t do the same types of tours. Would love to hear your feedback of TCU and if you were able to do a more thorough tour. But will definitely follow up after we visit Xavier. She has a very generous merit offer from Xavier (but found out yesterday that she received an equally generous one from SLU as well!).
@arkymommy Thanks for all your feedback on SLU. Our daughter was just accepted but won’t know if she’s accepted into nursing until Feb 1. Agree both SLU and Xavier are generous with merit.
We visited TCU nursing this fall (our son is a freshman at SMU). It’s an outstanding facility (state of the art and new). Very impressive so I see why its such a draw and so competitive. We had a personal tour (literally one-on-one) that lasted almost two hours. Very friendly and dedicated staff. Nursing students were all engaged and looked like they really enjoyed being at TCU. We actually did a full campus tour and met with advisors, etc. in fall 2018. It is a beautiful campus and school pride is probably the highest of all the campuses we’ve been on (our kids are back to back so we’ve visited quite a few). The dorms are excellent (highly rated) but we didn’t eat at the cafeteria (looked fine though). Demographics are similar between TCU and SMU so I understand your comment regarding affluence and diversity. Definitely lacking the diversity of a state school.
We learned that TCU nursing has a 14% acceptance rate so it’s incredibly competitive as you noted. Just getting accepted is an accomplishment. Merit will be lower than the other schools paired with a high starting price tag. That said, it’s an excellent nursing school and a total college experience.
Hi There! We are starting to receive some acceptances to direct entry. After following this board since last winter I was fearful my daughter would have a difficult time getting into the direct entry BSN programs. So she had a back up plan for secondary education mathematics and applied to 2 schools because we didn’t feel any of the direct entry programs were ‘safe’ because they are so competitive.
Her stats are:
GPA 3.8
SAT 1260
Captain of volleyball team
Hospital volunteer
Over 250 community service hours
Lifeguard
She applied to
Adelphi
Bloomsburg
Pace
UMASS Lowell
UNH
Endicott
The College of New Jersey
Monmouth University
Sacred Heart
SUNY PLATTSBURGH
Florida Atlantic
Florida Southern
West Chester university
Wilkes university
West Virginia
So far she has heard from Wilkes University (21 k merit and honors program) and Florida Southern College (20 k) West Virginia University Pre nursing ( 12k) and for secondary education University of Tampa ( 14 k and honors program)
@oredad Thank you for your insights on TCU. That is helpful to hear what you saw on a more thorough tour there. Everyone seems happy there which is good to know!
@Melissalinymom Interestingly enough, my daughter is applying to mostly DA Nursing programs but is also looking at Univ of Tampa! (and has been accepted there). We toured there in May and really liked the program. New nursing building and great SIM labs. She loved the school as well and this is going to be a hard one to give up if she chooses to go with one of her DA Nursing programs. We need to go visit and speak with them again as this was our first of 11 colleges we’ve visited over the past several months. They told us recently when we spoke to admissions that they receive about 125 nursing apps for 75 spots. But it’s still probably more pressure than we want for her! She also applied to FAU but waiting on answer!!
D20 accepted to Nursing at Loyola University - Chicago.
3.93UW/4.3W
1440 SAT
Presidential Scholarship ($25k).
Other nursing admits:
Marquette
Minnesota - Twin Cities
Delaware
Other acceptances, waiting on nursing admit:
Michigan State
Iowa