My DD (rising Senior) is very interested in UMN, but due to the competitive nature of the nursing program, will only attend if she gets direct admit nursing. She is a 4.07 GPA, 31 ACT. Can anyone who was direct admit BSN for the upcoming year share their stats. I’m trying to get an idea of her chances into this competitive program. I feel like a lot of the students applying are probably similar GPA/ACT as my daughter, so I’m not sure what other criteria they use for selection.
My daughter was accepted into the guarantee nursing program starting this fall – she had a 31 ACT and 4.24 GPA - very similar to your daughter.
My daughter was 4.0 UW and a 29 ACT. She worked as a CNA and had many hours of hospital volunteer hours. I know they say that it is not necessary but they also stress that they want students that have some experience working in healthcare. She applied very early (the day it opened) and found out very early in the process which was helpful.
Just adding to the discussion – my daughter was accepted and did/does not have any health care experience going i in.
At orientation they said they had 1400 applicants and this class has 115 students. It is hard to know what they look at for sure. My daughter was set on this program so she tried to do anything that stood out as showing interest in healthcare. I think the average ACT is a 28 so it isn’t really high. I would guess it is a review of grades, ACT, essay questions, and anything else that makes you a good candidate in their eyes.
@michsink, I heard very close to the same fall of 2018 stats in my daughter’s orientation session. They said there were 1,400 total applicants, of those 230 were offered admission for 114 accepted spots in the class (we were there at an early session and they were just getting the numbers finalized).
My daughter’s stats are similar to those above as well. Based on what we have experienced and seen, I would rank the areas of importance for nursing admission as follows:
- An unweighted GPA of 3.9 or higher. Do not rely on a weighted GPA as the U definitely focuses on unweighted. Also, quality of coursework and taking challenging biological science classes (AP, honors, PLTW) is important.
- An ACT score of 28 or higher (which is 90th percentile or higher) with a STEM ready indicator.
- A record of volunteering in the healthcare field (nursing homes, hospitals, etc).
- The icing on the cake for potential nursing students seems to be getting the CNA. It demonstrates a potential nursing student can deal with some of the difficult/unpleasant duties nurses may encounter.
If an applicant has all four of the items above and the special application essays are well written, I have to believe they will get an offer of admission. With that being said, we also met outstanding students who got in without any healthcare experience. If you want to get as close as possible to a lock, take a strong look at #3 and #4.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Thank you all for your feedback. Her unweighted GPA is a 3.98. She’s had 1 A- in high school (pre-Calc), the rest A’s. She’s taken honors biology and chemistry and AP Biology. This year she’s taking AP Chemistry and Stats. I think her grades and ACT are great. My concern is the healthcare component. We hoped to do her CNA this summer, but due to extra curriculars and work, there was no way to fit it in. She has taken a Healthcare class, Medical Terminology and Anatomy in high school. I’m going to check around this week and see if I can find any nursing homes, etc. where she can volunteer. Otherwise, hopefully it will be enough. She has backup options at other schools if she doesn’t get Direct Admit.