Decision advice??

College Search & Selection
1

Hey everyone. I am a Senior in high school and have heard back from many colleges and am having a very difficult time cutting down my list. I have always wanted a school with a little prestige but also tried to stay realistic in my college search. Any advice from parents, current students, alumni, or college experts in general would be great!

Ok so here are my acceptances with pros and cons (I am OOS for all of these fyi). My tuition estimates are in parentheses:

West Virginia University: Safety school, great scholarship, campus and Morgantown was pretty nice when I visited. Only still in consideration because of money. Accepted to honors. (about 22k per year)

University of Iowa: Have a great nursing program and got a scholarship! However, I was waitlisted for direct entry and don’t expect that to change. Don’t want to apply to the Nursing school while I am there and end up getting rejected. Also got into honors but campus is hard to get to from where I live. I did love the campus and Iowa City though. (36k per year)

University of Pittsburgh: Great program and direct entry but no scholarship or aid. Found the campus, or lack thereof, to be ok. I did love, however, the city of Pittsburgh and its things to do. Waitlisted at honors but Pitt does have one of the best nursing programs out there. Going to Admitted Students Day in March with my whole family. (50ish per year)

University of Tennessee: Nice campus, liked Knoxville, pretty good program (direct entry), nice scholarship, and accepted to honors. My mom fell in love with UT. Although it is a good school, I kinda feel it is lacking in the prestige section. (37ish per year)

University of South Carolina: LOVED the campus but was not the biggest fan of Columbia. No direct entry into nursing yet but will hear back from them on that in the coming weeks. USC said I got a scholarship but no idea how much. (guessing around 30k per year)

Clemson University: Loved the campus and the college town! I did get a scholarship but I hear they are pretty stingy. Will going to Clemson over these schools be worth it paying (probably) 45,000ish if I had to guess? I know they are a good school but still. Still no word on honors but don’t expect to get in but I did get direct entry into nursing. (guessing 45k per year)

University of Michigan: One of my reaches! How did I get in? The one thing preventing me from going here: price. Probably not worth full OOS price but did receive email from alumni association with scholarship opportunity that would make it comparable to Pitt in price if I get it. (64k per year with no scholarship)

Still waiting to hear from the University of Pennsylvania (parents said 2 reaches), but I am being realistic and crossing them off immediately.

My parents have budgeted about 40k per year for my college.

I really want to make the right decision here and would appreciate any feedback! Thank you so much!

2

Are the figures in parentheses your net cost for tuition plus room and board? If so, the University of MI and the University of Pittsburgh are over budget. I’d take those off your list. If the costs are just tuition and don’t include room and board then Iowa, Tenn., and Clemson are likely over budget too.

3

Your first cuts are easily done based on money. Your parents budget is 40k per year.
Michigan and Pittsburgh are both too high for the budget. I woildncross them off as unaffordable for you.
Clemson might work if you take out the federal student loans. Are you willing to do that?

Left on your list is West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Iowa.

Let’s compare West Virginia and South Carolina. They are similar and cost. It sounds like you prefer USCarolina, is that accurate? Wait until you are sure of the costs and then if they are what you are projecting, you might be able to eliminate WVU.

Then compare the next 3, then the next.

No point though until you have all of the costs.

4

Strike what’s unaffordable and not direct admit. Then wait to see how the rest of the scholarship money plays out.

5

I agree to cut the ones that are not affordable. Perhaps Penn would surprise you with some financial aid. I would also eliminate any programs that are not direct entry. I would not acquire debt for a nursing degree when you have good affordable options!!!

When considering direct entry nursing, I think ‘prestige’ needs to shift a little, because of the limited number of programs out there. Because you are targeting a very specific program, it is hard to know how hiring managers perceive the programs or just care that you have passed the NCLEX. They are the ones you should care about.

Where do you want to live after graduating? If the answer is any of the regions where the schools are, I’d give that school a little bump.

Of your current options, I would have Tennessee at the top of the list. I give pretty good bumps for honors programs, especially ones that have living community options and priority course registration. This mom was also impressed by UT Nursing. Seems like a fun college town, supportive community, friendly people, nearby hospitals, beautiful part of the country, has a nearby airport, very reasonable cost of attendance. You could be a star and well positioned if you want to pursue a higher level nursing degree later.

I don’t know much about South Carolina. Have you heard about honors? If you get into both direct entry and honors, and you like the college more than Tenn, then I’d choose it. This depends on where your clinicals would be and why you dislike Columbia. For nursing I think surrounding cities do matter, since you will be out in them or traveling through.

We did not love Clemson for nursing. School spirit and intramurals off the charts. The college town was a bit isolated and limited to us. Did not care for the split of the nursing cohort, with half commuting to Greenville for classes, and everyone going to Greenville for clinicals. We thought the 45 minutes each way would get really old and is time that could be spent doing other things.

Congratulations on all of your acceptances and good options, best of luck making your decision. You might get more feedback if you post on the nursing forum.

6

Note the progression GPA requirements:

Tennessee: 3.20 before taking upper division courses: https://catalog.utk.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=14&poid=5213

West Virginia: 3.0 is the minimum threshold to avoid probation and dismissal: https://nursing.hsc.wvu.edu/media/74559/2018-19-ug-handbook-12618.pdf (page 27)

South Carolina: 3.0 to be eligible for competitive admission to upper division: https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/nursing/academic_programs/bs_nursing/fall2014programinfo/progression_upper_division.php