Make sure you look at Duquesne!
Hi! We did this last year and many of your schools were on our list. Make sure you check out Duquesne in Pittsburgh. My daughter is there and LOVES it. It was not on our first lists as we were mostly looking at NE schools. On a recommendation, we applied and then visited for the Nursing presentation (for admitted students) in February. It was beyond impressive and won us over immediately.
Thank you! Unfortunately, it’s a bit too far away from home for me and my family. It looks like a great program, and I’m glad your daughter is happy there! Where else did she apply?
Wow…can’t believe I posted back in August…seems much much longer ago! What a long strange trip it has been. Anyway, wanted to update this for next year’s class.
–She was able to take the ACT in a ballroom in Philly in September. Didn’t really prep for it too much as we were SAT focused but there is an 80% overlap. Scored a 30 and was satisfied…which is good as every test after that was cancelled
–Applied EA everywhere as merit is a consideration thus ED was not possible. Had a weighted 4.45 at conclusion of junior year, solid rigor (7 AP courses upon graduation, 2 DE, rest honors), extensive volunteering at local cancer hospital, Varsity rowing for four years, started a teen blanket ministry at our church. I never read her essays…but she assures me they were “fine”
–Her list of where she actually applied changed a bit as we spent some more time evaluating options. Here’s where she ultimately applied:
- University of Tennessee Knoxville
- TCU
- Fairfield
- Villanova
- University of Virginia
- Miami University (OH)
- University of Delaware
- Southern Methodist University (doesn’t have nursing–she threw in a public health option just in case)
- University of Vermont
- University of South Carolina (direct admit only if admitted to nursing program)
She’s been accepted to 8 out of 10 (all acceptances with some merit money at all) and has pulled herself from the admissions process at UVA and Villanova (they have EA notifications in late January). She will be attending TCU as a member of the Class of 2025! This is what she was hoping for all along but had to be cognizant of budget. We haven’t even seen the school yet in person and likely won’t before August but her “gut instinct” is strong on this.
We did find that most of these programs seemed to focus on the holistic application with most acceptances referencing her volunteer work.
Good luck to everyone and wishing these Class of 2021 HS graduates the smooth sailing they deserve!
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Congratulations!! That is so exciting! I am a little jealous that your D has already made a commitment, but super stoked for her! 
I don’t think my D will be able to commit anywhere until Feb. She has some solid acceptances thus far but is waiting on a couple decisions still. The waiting game is really tough!
Update as of DEC 21:
Accepted:
Portland (19k)
Seattle U (23k)
Creighton (24k)
Xavier (24 k pus 5k books)
Illinois Wesylean (24k)
ASU ( 15.5k)
Hawaii Pre-nursing (wue)
Pending:
Saint Louis (25k) awaiting review by nursing
USF - asked to interview
Limbo:
Penn state
Chicago Loyola
UC Irvine
Long Beach State
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We are in limbo at SLU as well. She received her acceptance today with a note that nursing decisions will be released in February. More waiting, no surprise there. D is also waiting on a nursing decision from UTK (admitted to university, nursing under review). Probably won’t hear from them until February either.
When did your D apply to Loyola? My D was accepted late November but applied pretty early on. I’d imagine you should be hearing from them soon.
Applied to Loyola right at the deadline for EA.
She’s not complaining as she has some good choices to choose from already.
Thanks…I think this waiting game is harder for parents than the kiddos! They will all end up where they can thrive but I do wish we could press the fast forward button sometimes…best of luck!
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She has awesome choices with some impressive scholarships…congrats!
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New to these forums. I wish I would have discovered this last year when D21 was a junior.
Need help with DA vs. 2+2 programs and school decisions that will be coming down the pipeline for D21.
My daughter has applied to both DA and 2+2 nursing programs for Fall 2021 admit.
Her stats are as follows:
No SAT/ACT taken
GPA: 3.93 UW/ 4.15 W (4 AP classes)
53/343 (top 20%)
Hispanic/Female
CA- Southern CA area
Athlete x 4 years, Team Captain, EC’s, etc
She has applied to DA:
SDSU
CSUSM
Fullerton
ASU (accepted with 12k merit)
UT Austin
University of Hawaii Manoa (accepted to pre-nursing - waiting for DA decision in spring)
2+2 schools:
PLNU (accepted with 10k merit x2 years + small grant)
U of Arizona (15K merit)
CSULB
Sonoma State
Stanislaus
Baylor (accepted with 72k merit)
She is waiting to hear from all CA schools, and is fully aware of how competitive they are to get into. However, she would like to stay as close to home as possible (we live in San Diego, CA). Right now she is leaning towards PLNU ONLY because its closest to us (and my alma mater), but its a 2+2 program.
She will also be taking NCLEX pass rate into consideration, but that information is available online.
I know it is highly encourage to stick with DA programs, for obvious reasons. However, right now it is only ASU at this point and I think the very strict GPA requirement of 3.5 first 2 years makes me a little nervous. She is a good student. As a nurse myself, I know how difficult the program will be for her. I also know its very doable because I was able to graduate with honors from my ADN and BSN program while working and raising a family. Its hard, but not impossible. Then another part of me says to not worry about the 3.5 GPA requirements because if she decided on a 2+2 program, she would have to get AT LEAST a 3.5 to be remotely competitive to apply to the nursing program.
That being said, I want to provide my daughter the most information to each program she is accepted to by asking the 2+2 programs the following questions. (This is where I need your input. Please let me know what other questions I should ask. Your input is very appreciated). I want her to to be fully aware of any situation she is entering.
How many students get admitted as Pre-nursing students each year?
How many pre-nursing students are successful enough to apply to nursing program after pre-requite classes are met? (What is the pre-nursing attrition rate?)
How many students are admitted to your nursing program each year?
What is the average GPA of students admitted to nursing program?
**Do you admit a certain number of students (or percentage) to your nursing program that are transfer students?
What is the average number of applications you receive to nursing program each year?
Do you give priority students who completed pre-requisites at your university?
What else? I’m sure there are other great questions. I’m drawing a blank right now. If any of you have experience either way or links to other forum discussions, I would appreciate all the help available
TIA!
In my opinion, I would definitely go for DA instead of 2+2. For 2+2, the student still have to complete an application (which can be straight forward or not depending on the school), and will need to compete with other students in the same school (and transfers from outside) to get in. Nursing program is usually quite vigorous, and it’s stressful to just have to worry about whether one can be admitted to a major, again. If you are already in DA, usually most schools are more lenient and let you retake a failed course, so there is also 2nd chance; the same cannot be said I think for 2+2.
I have heard that usually the learning env in DA nursing schools is better and more friendly. Students are not competing with each other, and are more willing to support and help out fellow students.
Out of the DA schools you listed, I like SDSU the best. All the Cal DA nursing schools are notoriously hard to get in, but not impossible, so just hope for the best, and no need to commit for now. ASU has very high academic requirement, and I heard from other parents that for some of their classes, 80% can mean a ‘C’ (A is 94%+, B is 85 or 86%+… I don’t exactly know the cutoff). That’s a lot of burden to try to maintain a 3.5 GPA.
One other consideration you should look at is the network of hospitals/clinics the school has for doing clinicals. It is always better for a school to have a larger network and reputable hospitals for the students to do clinicals at.
@DentalDad Congrats on having the options. I personally visited UP (Portland), USF, UCI before.
I like UP the best (cozy school campus, friendly students and staff). UCI nursing is extremely hard to get in (3% acceptance?).
Good luck on the rest of the schools you are waiting to hear back from
Hi there! My daughter is applying to four DA BSN schools in CA too! She was accepted to PLNU (and loves it!) -we spoke to her counselor there and were told that only 9 students didn’t get into the nursing program this last year (7 changed their major - 2 didn’t have the grades). PLNU is really a 1+3 program (you are fully admitted into Nursing after your freshmen year) -we do feel like it’s a stronger guarantee as opposed to the other true 2+2 programs. My daughter was also accepted to the ASU DA program but the 3.5 GPA is a little intense. Plus, tuition as of now, is higher than PLNU, so she would take PLNU over ASU. (Plus PLNU beautiful! haha).
She’s also applying to UCI, UCLA and SDSU.
Let me know how it goes for your daughter!
My daughter is in nursing at ASU. What you said about grading isn’t true until you get into upper division (jr. year) when the 3.5 gpa minimum does not exist. The first 2 years with the 3.5, the normal grading scale applies
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Update as of Jan 9:
Accepted:
Portland (19k)
Seattle U (23k)
Creighton (24k)
Xavier (24 k pus 5k books)
Illinois Wesylean (24k)
ASU ( 15.5k)
Marquette (not sure on money)
Loyola Chicago (25K)
Pending:
Saint Louis (25k) to school, awaiting review by nursing
USF - asked to interview
No response:
UC Irvine
I had my daughter apply to a wide net of schools and am pleasantly surprised she was accepted to so many direct nursing schools. Can anyone speak to the quality of the above programs in the following areas:
- number of “meaningful” clinical hours
- the variety of nursing rotations
- the proximity of the hospitals to the University.
I saw that some people mentioned ASU. The 3.5 gpa seems very steep for a freshman college student. One slip up and you are out of the program with little chance to be re-admitted. I called the school and asked the following questions:
- how many direct admits do you accept
- how many of your direct admits were dropped from the program
- how many direct admits who were dropped by the program were re-admitted.
ASU did not not answer my question but rather referred me to the web page that talks about all the programs that exist to support and help the students succeed. BIG RED FLAG.
@LollieW Thanks for the info. It’s good to hear that ASU is using the usual grading scales the first 2 years. Do you know what’s the reason behind raising that for 3rd and 4th year? That can potentially cause an overall lower 4-yr GPA and thus affect the chance/acceptance rate of students applying to graduate schools, which are usually very selective and demand high GPA.
I’d advise your daughter to apply to a handful of direct programs outside of CA. My dauhgter was accepted to Xavier and the total cost will be less than UC Irvine after scholarships!!! a hair under 30K.
Acceptance into a direct CA nursing school is a crap shot.
2+2 's in CA are easier to get but to get into the nursing program after two years is FIERCE. I spoke with a few that were accepted to CAL state and their gpa were north of 3.8 . I’d call this the hard way so if ASU is all she has, take it.
Did you know medical school applications are up 18% this year. There’s no data on nursing apps for 2020/21 yet but if it’s the same, the competition could be fierce.
Medical school apps are up because some them went MCAT optional so lots of students that were prepping for MCAT and not ready to apply yet went ahead and sent their apps. At least this is one reason.
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ohh! is it hard to maintain a 3.5 gpa for freshman and sophomore year? I’ve heard some say that it’s hard and I’m quite worried