<p>My daughter has almost finished her second year at a 2+2 school and unfortunately she did not get into the nursing program with a 3.35 gpa, (all A's and B's with the B's in the science courses and a C in Chemistry for Nursing).</p>
<p>I'm afraid with the competitive nature of nursing this will just not be good enough for <em>any</em> program. Our local community college even has stricter requirements than the private college she attends.</p>
<p>Any ideas of some colleges that have less stringent application requirements or admit a larger number of applicants to their nursing school?</p>
<p>Lisa: While I don’t have any helpful school suggestions for you (I’m sure others will), let me just say that there seems to be something wrong with “the system” when a nursing student can’t get into a community college nursing program with a 3.35 college GPA.</p>
<p>I don’t now where you are located but your D might want to look into Neumann University just outside of Philadelphia. I believe its Nursing admission criteria are a little less stringent than many programs (but it does have a good Nursing Program). Good luck.</p>
<p>In PA., there are a few smaller private Catholic colleges with undergrad nursing programs that I’m guessing may have easier admissions than others and that might welcome transfers. In addition to Newmann, there is also Misericordia outside of Wilkes-Barre, Gwynedd Mercy north of Philadelphia, La Salle in Philadelphia, DeSales south of Allentown, and Holy Family in Northeast Phila. There is also a woman’s college (Cedar Crest) near Allentown, and a Christian college (Messiah) near Harrisburg., as well as Wilkes U. in Wilkes-Barre. </p>
<p>In many cases, these colleges may have easier admissions because they are more expensive than the public colleges, so they get fewer applicants and fewer people accepting offers of admission. Also, PA. has many more nursing programs than most states. </p>
<p>There also are still some hospital based RN programs, which often partner with a nearby college to provide a bachelors. In PA, these include Abington Hospital (north of Phila), Waynesboro Hospital (SW Pa), Lancaster General Hospital, (which partners with Millersville University), Reading Hospital and St. Luke’s Hospital (near Bethlehem which partners with Moravian College).</p>
<p>You might find some of these colleges are still accepting applicants. For example, Cedar Crest regularly reports in July that they still have seats in their freshman class, but I don’t know about nursing. I believe I just heard Lancaster advertising for applicants this week. Lancaster has some great modern facilities and it is a great town.</p>
<p>I believe at one branch of the U. of Pittsburgh also has a nursing program, as does Edinboro University (which is one of the less competitive public colleges for admission in PA because of its location near Erie).</p>
<p>Lisa, my D is at Shepherd University, in Shepherdstown WV and it is a 2 + 2 system also. I don’t know if it is truly easier to get into, but it definitely flies below most people’s radar. Like most schools, they choose mostly (if not entirely) by GPA, but 3.35 seems doable. Also, they accept new students in both spring and fall, which might be helpful. </p>
<p>Shepherdstown in on the border of WV and MD and is about 1 1/2 hours from DC and much closer to Hagerstown and Frederick MD. It’s a smaller public U, with very reasonable OOS tuition and a modern nursing building that is only a few years old. Good luck to you and your daughter.</p>
<p>A little bit off the beaten track, but has your D considered studying nutrition to become a dietitian? At the local university, nutrition is often recommended to nursing students who can’t quite make the grades to get accepted into the upper division nursing program. A BS in nutrition can lead to a similar kind of work, but often has much less stringent requirements.</p>
<p>I personally don’t believe that any nursing school is necessarily “easier”. At most schools, it depends entirely on the group of students that are applying. A 3.35 GPA may not cut it during one admissions period, most likely because the students that are applying have an average much higher than that, and she failed to meet the cut-off score for that group. That doesn’t necessarily mean that she can’t get in, just that she needs to increase her chances.</p>
<p>She has several options. If she is dedicated that that school/program, I would advise her to take the extra semester or two and take some courses that she really enjoys. This will ensure that (a) she makes good grades in those classes and (b) make her more well-rounded (which nursing schools, IMO, love). But ultimately it’s about the grades. If she can bring her GPA up by a couple of points, her chances of getting in are much higher.</p>
<p>Additionally, if there was an admissions test of some sort that she had to take for application to nursing school, 1-2 additional semesters will give her more time to prepare for this. </p>
<p>If she is not dedicated to that program/school, make sure that the schools that she is applying to are right for her. Many schools lower their GPA requirements to increase the number of students that will apply, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have their own “cut-off” scores to help them picking the accepted class.</p>
<p>Also, was she wait-listed? There’s no reason to give up hope if she has been wait-listed.</p>
<p>Here’s the nitty gritty. A few years ago, there was a large demand for nurses. Now that EVERYONE is trying to get into nursing, schools have raised their admissions requirements. There are just too many applicants each year. A local medical school only accepts 60 students into their program each year. I’m hoping to get in there in the next two years, but who knows. I personally do not believe that a GPA is everything. I have seen students with low GPAs get in and I have seen students with high GPAs get rejected. There are other ways to improve an admissions application. Work experience is a big plus. I’m currently working as a caregiver for a private family and I am going to be getting my CNA certificate over the summer. Volunteering in the field is also a big plus. I’m enrolled in a local program that allows college students to volunteer at the hospital in various areas for 40 hours. Work experience and volunteer experience show that a student is not only interested in the field, but dedicated as well. If this is truly what your daughter wants to do, then tell her to not give up. Where there is a will, there is a way.</p>
<p>I was just talking to an applicant for med school today who said that about 50% of serious applicants to med school are now taking a gap year before they apply to med school so they can build up their hands-on health care work experience in order to strengthen their application.</p>