I am a high school junior trying to decide how many nursing programs to apply to. Do any of you know what schools you or your children applied to and wether they were accepted or denied and what there stats were?
Here are my stats:
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.3 weighted but my school counts A minuses as a 4.0 so it might be 3.8/3.9 by most schools standards. I will have taken 7 honors classes and 7 AP classes by the end of next year as well as a CNA class.
SAT: I had a 1360 last year, but I hope it will go up to around a 1400 becuase I am taking a prep course and I will improve after going to school for another year.
Rank: I am in the top 3% this year, but next year I expect it to drop to in the top 10%.
Curriculars: no sports, I have dropped about three different clubs idk it that looks bad, I am in three community service based organizations, a leadership position in an academic club and placed in states for that club, and orchestra since middle school.
These are the schools I am thinking about, but open to any others!:
Belmont University (TN)
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Bradley University (IL)
Carroll College (MT)
Florida Southern College
Georgetown University (reach school)
Gongaza University (WA)
Illinois State University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Jacksonville University (FL)
Loyola University Chicago
Seattle University
South Dakota State University
University of Delaware
University of Hawaii
University of Maine
University of New Hampshire
Unniversity of Pennsylvania (reach school)
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rhode Island
University of Tennessee
University of West Virginia
University of Wyoming
Villanova University (PA)
York College of Pennsylvania
From your list of schools, I’ve applied to Gonzaga and Pitt and have been accepted into both with a similar GPA; however, my test scores are a bit higher than yours. I am the team captain of multiple sports teams. I also hold other leadership positions and do volunteer work. I am in the top 5% of my class.
Okay thanks! Were you accepted into their nursing programs?
You have a lot of good choices already and may wish to narrow to about 10 where you actually apply. The Class of 2022 Nursing Admissions thread has info about my D’s stats, selections and acceptances so far. We did 17 and now think that was too many. You may wish to take the ACT as some do better on one test than the other. Also volunteering at a hospital is a good EC to consider. Good luck.
What state do you live in? Your list is very broad geographically. Unless there is a very good reason, I wouldn’t go to college 2,000 or 3,000 miles away from your home. Air travel is time consuming and can be unpleasant, and is very expensive over the holidays. If you delete some of the colleges that are furthest away, it will reduce your list.
Please discuss with your parents whether your family can afford an expensive private or out of state university that does not offer great financial aid. That may cause a few of those colleges to drop from your list.
If you have reason to believe you have a serious shot at U. of Penn, then I would add U. of Virginia to your list. UVa’ s out of state tuition is very high, but they offer very good need-based aid to out of state US students.
My daughter applied to 10 colleges. She had a couple more safeties than turned out to be needed, but it reduced the worries. It can very expensive to apply to 15 or 20 colleges, even if some of them have free applications, because there are costs to send scores, etc.
The traditional approach still works - a couple reaches, a few matches, and a couple colleges that are BOTH admission and financial safeties.
My state has no direct admit nursing programs. All of the schools are close to relatives or I have almost instate tuition through exchange programs. I would like to apply to less schools but I’m not sure what would be reaches, matches, and safeties becuase I am a competitive applicant but most nursing programs are extremely competitve so it’s hard to tell.
West Chester University outside of Phila. is another good choice.
U. Del is very competitive out of state for nursing - I’d list it as a reach. (That is the one university that did not accept my daughter for nursing - they only accepted her as a bio major).
I personally would not want to go to college in Montana or S. Dakota, but if you are OK with those areas of the country, fine.
Hawaii is a very expensive place to live and eat.
Every nursing applicant should take the ACT, in addition the SAT. The ACT is more science based and less math based.
For the more expensive choices, I’d run the net price calculator that is provided for each college. Keep in mind that the more questions they ask, the more likely the estimate will be accurate. It is not definitive, but is a screening mechanism. You can also look up the “percentage of need met” for each college. In the past, Villanova for instance had high net prices, after aid, and housing is expensive in the area.
My daughter has much lower stats than you (3.4 and 26 ACT) but she did have some hooks - competitive figure skater, volunteers on the town ambulance, attended medical camp at Drexel – she got in ED to York and got a nice scholarship.
She also applied to a Pitt Branch and was accepted but it was too expensive.
Yes, I was accepted into their nursing programs.
Well, I’ll put in a plug for places like South Dakota and Montana. SD is very affordable. The program at SDSU is great. And there are some great opportunities to serve populations that you simply aren’t going to find elsewhere.
The CNA is also helpful. Colleges will recalculate your GPA according to the courses that they consider core and will award points for AP courses, (that you have completed at time of applications), DE courses, etc. Make sure that you have taken a rigorous level of Chemistry and Biology or Physics and have a grade of B or higher. It is important to some schools, (not all), that you take 4 years of science and math courses. Make sure you keep up your GPA and if you take the ACT, check to see if the schools on your list will take the higher score. Also check the OOS public universities to see what if any are there rules and percentages on accepting OOS students into their very highly sought after nursing programs.
I agree with becoming involved in a nursing related activity. The more selective schools want to see your knowledge of what nursing is, (this is where your CNA is helpful), and your commitment to the profession. Familiarize yourself with specific aspects of each schools nursing program, i.e, what are they known for in terms of research, courses, affiliated hospitals, special programs, etc, and mention this in the application. Many students look for direct entry programs and send out numerous applications, some colleges want you to also show an interest in their specific program and look to see if you are a good match for the school in general. Nursing programs have thousands of applicants with high GPA’s, test scores and strong resume, you have to look for ways to stand out. Make sure you have a strong, well written essay and solid LOR’s. Also check the NCLEX first time pass rates of each school.
Any work in a health care setting can be helpful, because it shows that you can handle the environment and the people. and that you have some patience. For high school students, that might involve working in food services in a hospital, personal care home or nursing home.