<p>My daughter is having trouble narrowing down her college choices for nursing. If you have any advice or insight on these programs please let us know! She was accepted to the following:</p>
<p>University of Scranton: Loved this school. Beautiful campus, dorms, friendly people, warm environment. Nursing program seems great but no major hospital nearby.</p>
<p>Villanova: Great academics, beautiful campus, like the community service emphasis, good hospitals in Philly. Only negatives - aid not as good as others and freshman triples.</p>
<p>Delaware: Very nice school, nursing program, nice campus, friendly environment.</p>
<p>Rutgers: very competive program, hospitals right there, least expensive, but large campus and buses...nursing school is a bit of a walk.</p>
<p>TCNJ: nice campus but never saw the nursing school so don't know much here.</p>
<p>Fairfield: haven't visited yet, but looks nice and gave the best aid of the privates.</p>
<p>Thought we would have narrowed it down by now but so many pros and cons, and cost is a factor. She is still very undecided. Will visit Villanova again this weekend. Any help you can give is appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>All of these schools have excellent Nursing Programs and you can’t really go wrong attending any of them. Money wise Rutgers is obviously the best choice. If your D is still seriously considering Delaware I would recommend that she attend one of the Delaware Decision Days on April 12 or 19. There will be a 21/2-3 hour program component just for students accepted into the Nursing Program describing the Nursing Program in detail and you will get a chance to tour all of their facilities. Our D chose UD over Rutgers (we are also NJ residents) and never regretted her decision. But I have known other s who loved attending RU. Good luck to your D in her decision. Most Nursing applicants would be quite envious of your D’s dilemma of trying to determine which one of these fine Nursing Programs to attend. </p>
<p>You are lucky to have so many great choices. With that selection of great choices, I think I would drop the most expensive school, unless you are fabulously wealthy. You might also drop the college that is furthest away, all things being equal. I would then make every effort to visit the remaining schools very very soon. Most nursing programs will agree to an appointment to provide a personal tour to an admitted student, if you cannot attend the admitted student day. If they refuse to provide it, that might tell you something about the lack of a personal nature of that program. You might also coordinate that with an overnight in a dorm. </p>
<h2>Attending an admitted student day, eating lunch with current students, and staying overnight in a dorm helped my son make his final selection in April. (by the way, I was told later that a fraternity party was also involved in that decision-making process).</h2>
<p>U. of Scranton is within walking distance of a couple hospitals. They are not huge, but they have been acquired by larger organizations (including Geissinger) and are supposed to be seeing upgrades. There also is a large rehab facility in Scranton, and a general hospital and the regional VA hospital in nearby Wilkes-Barre. </p>
<p>Some people are a little uncomfortable with some of the neighborhoods east of U. of Scranton - I don’t have personal knowledge. I’d suggest driving around at night to get a feel for it.</p>
<p>I also suggest looking at whether you would be eligible for a New Jersey state college grant. I believe New Jersey is one of those states that does not allow its grants to be used out of state. </p>
<p>I also understand that TCNJ’s Nursing Program is a “weed out” type of Program (from a Nursing student who attends there). They begin in the freshman year with around 80 students and by the time of graduation only a little more than 40 are still around. This seems very odd to me considering the academic standards an applicant must meet in order to be accepted to the school in the first place. I don’t have a second source verification of this but you might want to consider investigating this further before making a final decision to attend there. Good luck. </p>
<p>Thank you both for your detailed advice and kind words! </p>
<p>Mwalledmd: Yes, we are attending the admitted students day at UD on the 19th. This is definitely a great choice. She received good merit and need based aid so it isn’t much more than Rutgers. Her only regret is that when she applied, being time pressed, she did not apply to honors! After seeing that the program and the better housing I think she will feel like she missed out! I do know that she can apply sophomore year, though. Glad to hear your daughter loved it!</p>
<p>Thanks too for the TCNJ info. That is worrisome and may be a reason to take it off the list!!</p>
<p>Charliesch: Thanks for the info on Scranton. She did the Royal nights there and she loved this school. She received good merit and need aid so it is a little more than UD. I will look into the NJ grant money but don’t think we qualify anyway…not sure. </p>
<p>^^ When my d was choosing her nursing program this time last year we both attended the Delaware Decisions Day for Nursing. We were both very impressed with the program, the faculty, and the students. It is definitely worth going to. Delaware was in my d’s top 3 choices last year and after attending Decision Day I really thought she was going to choose it…but then she ended up going South for even warmer weather. I visited the Nursing dept again this past fall with my hs junior who is also interested in Nursing and very interested in Delaware. She was very impressed with the students who spoke that day and she is definitely applying this fall. She will not even look at Rutgers for some reason?? I have my BSN from Rutgers and it is a solid program, but my kids just do not want to be in New Jersey. My older d was accepted to College of NJ for Nursing and thought the campus was too small…(also, since it was in New Jersey she eliminated it quickly LOL)… she was also accepted to Univ of Scranton as well, but never got the chance to visit, although I’ve heard good things about it. She did not apply to Villanova as we have had several friends and neighbors who have gone there and everyone complains of the cost and no merit. I will say that the kids do complain about the dorm situation there, if that’s a huge factor.Good luck to your d…she has great choices!</p>
<p>NJMOM 3
I can really identify with the New Jersey “Issue” along with the warm weather issue. Our D graduated from UD in 2010 with her BSN. We live in South Jersey and it was actually closer and quicker for her/us to get to UD in Newark, Delaware, than to get to Rutgers in N.B. (but UD was still an OOS school). Two years ago she was trying to decide between UD and Penn to obtain her MSN as a Family Nurse Practitioner. At the last minute she went to visit the Univ. of Miami, fell in love with the place, and decided to go there. She also is a warm weather beach person so she loves it there. She will be graduating this summer. There are also a ton of Nursing jobs available in South Florida. </p>
<p>^^^Mwallenmd…I don’t blame your D at all!!! I’d like to head south myself! I doubt my D will come back…and I have also heard that the job market for nurses is a little better in the south/southeast right now. The northeast is saturated with nurses and nursing schools. Last year, while we were visiting several of the Nursing departments here in the Northeast, a few of the directors (one being at Pitt), came out and said that students may have to be flexible when they graduate and specifically mentioned the south/southeast as having more positions available. My D took that statement and ran with it! Congrats on your D’s upcoming graduation!</p>
<p>NJMOM3: Thank you for your post and info. I went to Rutgers as well (Economics undergrad and my MBA), it is an excellent school! I do think she likes it. The College Ave area reminds of UD with the downtown etc, but I don’t think she is crazy about the different campuses and busing ( don’t blame her for that). Sounds like your daughter is very happy with her choice and the warm weather!!!</p>
<p>Mwallenmd: Agree with what you say about jobs in the south. When we attended the open house at Rutgers, they mentioned that the most recent class was struggling to find jobs locally, however if you moved out of this area you would have no problem! Glad your daughter loves Miami as well! Congrats to your daughter - sounds like she has a wonderful career ahead of her!</p>
<p>jerseymom473…My oldest D (not a nursing major) did visit Rutgers and she was not crazy about the different campuses and the busing either. She did like the fact that you could hop on a train to NYC though! She also ended up turning it down for the south like my other D. She has friends who are finishing junior year there now and love it though. I think your D will get a wonderful nursing education at any of the schools you mentioned! Good luck…it’s so hard for them to make that final decision sometimes!! I dread going through this entire process again! </p>
<p>NJMOM3 : Yes, that final decision is very hard! We went almost to the end!</p>
<p>She chose Villanova! The accepted student day won her over. She really liked the faculty who came out to meet each student. It was a hard decision as she realy loved Scranton and was starting to get to know kids going there.</p>
<p>She was torn about Rutgers and Delaware as well since both nursing schools seemed great too. There was no bad decision, just hope she is happy! Glad this long process is over!</p>
<p>Thanks to all here for your very helpful advice! Much appreciated!</p>