Also consider colleges with pre-nursing ( sometimes call the 2+2 program) with
Guaranteed Admission ( with certain college GPA requirement - no need to apply later & compete for seats in the nursing program )
VCU ( deadline for high school seniors to apply is early Nov. / Nov1st? )
ODU ( last time I called & checked ODU now said they offer this )
I don’t know if any other in-state VA colleges offer this so you may have to call them & ask if it is not listed in their website.
This will help reduce some stress & still allow the student to " enjoy " college life & take the sequenced pre-req clases.
At the direct admit college ( my D is at UVA Nursing ),even though the 1st year & 2nd year classes are very sequenced, there are still room to take a couple of elective classes.
A student can transfer out of nursing ( for whatever reason / change their mind / change interest )
& go back to the college of arts & science
but it is near impossible to transfer in simply due to the limited seats & opening.
And I think other direct admit schools have similar situation…there is very few opening & lots of applicants asking to transfer into the program.
if you are considering college with Pre-Nursing programs, such as VCU, James Madison, George Mason, Redford, ask them specific questions such as the college GPA for admited students ( not the minimum ), how many people applied, how many seats are available.
Like the posters above me ( on page 1 ) said, some years a super high college GPA 3.80 may not even make the cut. Some years it could be slightly lower…it all depends on the pool of applicants that year.
Both types of programs ( direct admit & pre-nursing ) are very hard, very intensive & I think many students don’t realize how hard & how much reading ( & writing too ) they have to do in a Nursing program. The pre-nursing programs are very hard too. They are not a walk in the park.