Thank you Max3721 … sorry for th long delay. I took a break from College Confidential, since for months leading up to applications had been so stressful. I needed a breather.
Did you submit updated grades to USF? Are you still waiting to hear from other schools?
Best of luck!
@babyangelsmama @SFCA2018 I was accepted EA into USF’s nursing program this fall, although I did not initially know how competitive it was. Looking back now, I think the number one thing that sold my application was the number of leadership positions I had in the community. Plus, I have a lot of community service work.
Hi hemingways,
Congratulations on your acceptance to USF Nursing … Sounds like who you are … and your accomplishments rightfully stood out!!
Hi everyone, I am just confused about the selection of the direct entry nursing programs in CSUs. I thought they only judge based off of eligibility index, but I notice that some people may have extremely high stats can still be rejected and people with lower stats may get in instead. Is there another factor that I am not aware of besides the eligibility index?
@futurenurse77 where are you noticing this? I think the EI coupled with major and residency are the primary criteria.
@futurenurse77:
There are also course requirements such as having completed Chemistry/Biology by end of 11th grade with B grades for CSU Fullerton or having a minimum B grades in Algebra 2/Biology/Chemistry for SDSU.
Agree with @Banker1 that EI and being a local applicant/CA resident are probably the primary criteria.
I notice it with someone I know, where their ACT score was under 25! Their GPA probably helped them, but I don’t think it could help that much!
@Banker1 ^
I was just accepted into USF nursing with a $25k/year merit scholarship! I feel beyond blessed right now because it is one of my first choices for nursing. If it helps anyone, my stats are 4.86/1320 + Hospital Nursing Volunteer
This is a wonderful thread. I do want to note that mention of religious nature of colleges can be unusually important in nursing because it can affect teaching regarding certain critical issues including reproductive and end of life issues.
Many nursing programs are at Catholic colleges. Some faith-based colleges require that every student complete a couple religious courses. Some colleges are more flexible than others in the types of courses that can meet those requirements. I mention that issue simply because BSN students do not have many electives to begin with. Some people appreciate those religious classes, while others would not.
At USF, there are core course requirements. All students must take 12 credits among the Philosophy, Ethics, Theology and Religious Studies area. No “religious courses” are dictated, you do not have to limit your choice of electives by taking a specific religion course. USF makes it quite clear that it is proud of its’ Jesuit mission. Please don’t generalize that “a couple of religious courses” are required by some Catholic colleges.
Glad I ran into this thread.
My daughter can’t get into any of the direct entry nursing public schools in CA.
-UCLA
She got accepted to a few pre-nursing calstate.
We should have applied to more private schools but only applied to PLNU and is waitlisted. It’s extremely competitive this year. She has a Cal state GPA of 4.25 (calculated for 10th/ 11th grade) and ACT of 32 + volunteered at a hospital.
Not sure what to do now. Should she attend one of the cal-state that accepted her then reapply to all again + more private schools after she finish her pre-nursing classes or go to Junior college? If calstate, it’ll probably be CSULB.
Hi @jla949 your D got a few acceptances that is all that matters, she has some choices. from hindsight, I am now thinking that Pre-nursing actually has some benefits.
It gives the student time to think & decide if he/she wanted to be a nurse & do all the bedside nursing tasks that are needed. It gves the student time to re-think her options, take some other electives classes & explore another area / major / interests that may be better suited for her.
Then after her sophomore yr ( or whenever she finished her pre-req classes ) & she still wanted to be a nurse, then she has the option to choose to apply for the nursing program/upper classes
or choose to study something else.
Yes, it can be stressful having to compete for limited nursing spots…maybe by that time she will have find out if she really wanted to g for it or not.
( First of all, I do not have any experiences with pre-nursing & I do not live in CA. My 2 Ds, one in direct admit BSN & another one in accelerated BSN )
@jla949 Sorry for stress of finding acceptances into direct entry BSN programs. My D (San Diego) went through this same process and I was lamenting her decision to apply to so many schools. But she did when we saw that acceptance rates into CA public schools was so low where UCI, UCLA, SDSU and CSUF are the only direct entry programs. So she applied broadly across the nation selecting schools from the list of direct entry programs and reviewing campus photos from Google. With your D’s grades she could be awarded enough merit from schools such as U of Cincinnati, UTK, U of Alabama, ASU to bring the costs below that of our UC schools.
My D also applied to CSULB and CSUCI just in case she wasn’t accepted into direct schools. What she’s found out is the acceptance rate for those schools to later gain entry into the Nursing program is around 10%. The packet she received from CSUCI said only 9% will actually later be admitted into the Nursing program. And of course she didn’t want to assume that risk or be part of such a competitive environment.
So what can you do now? Well call CSUF and let them know your D will accept her spot if she’s take off the waitlist. Apparently CSUF waitlisted all the top applicants so that in itself may not be bad news. I would also call SDSU admissions to make sure they had everything they needed to consider your D. With her stats I would expect her to be admitted unless she didn’t meet the A-G course requirements or if the school thought that was the case. It may be too late for SDSU.
Short of that I would try to see if it’s still possible to be admitted to pre-Nursing programs with higher later acceptance rates to gain entry into the Nursing program. Try contacting Winona State in MN to see if they’re still accepting applications. Good luck.
Thanks @Banker1 and @Angela220 for all your advise. I think we didn’t do enough research for my D on all the direct entry nursing schools. We didn’t apply to any OOS school at all. Also if she apply to other private colleges some of them do give decent scholarships based on her grades/ test score. It’s pretty late now. She did complete all the A-G classes except 4th year of English which she is taking now (AP Literature). She worked really hard the last few years and took a decent amount of honor/ AP classes but if we would have known she was interested in nursing since 9th grade, we probably would have tailored her classes a bit differently. For CSUF, it’s a slim chance since they said they only pick 20-30 out of the 200 in the waitlist but I’m still hopeful and will try to call them. I thought she has a higher chance to get in to SDSU since I saw others got accepted with lower stats. Not sure what they are looking for. I thought it was based on CSU GPA and test score + meeting the few math/ science class and A-G requirement. I just felt really bad for her that she has to proof herself all over again in the college with Pre-nursing school in order to apply in and get accepted. Luckily my D is a pretty optimistic person and didn’t let this beat her down.
I couldn’t believe my daughter got accepted to CSUF nursing. 
@jla949 Congratulations! It’s pretty amazing to think she’s one of about 30 out of 5000 applicants.
Thank you @Banker1.
Prior to her getting accepted to CSUF I was researching on different pre-nursing CSU to see their pre-requisite to transfer in for the nursing major. I ran across the below link which talks about CSUSB has guaranteed Admission if the high school senior meets a certain criteria and their criteria are reachable. I was based on another list of school that shows Direct Entry CA school name and this one falls out of the radar. With their criteria, it’s almost like a direct entry. I would have definitely apply if I would have known. Thought I share it to anyone who has kids that may benefit from this program. Not sure how long this will be around but looks like it’s still active.
Would you please share your D’s SAT and GPA? Looking into program for my daughter. Thanks.