That’s true. I will go talk to my parents. I think they just want to protect me from all these adult world things, but I’ll go talk to them about it. thank you!!
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Absolutely, unequivocally, 100% agree. Finances come first in narrowing your list. Otherwise you can be disappointed, or they can really risk their financial health so that you won’t be. Sit down with them and ask them to not put you in that position.
As for WUE, many WICHE schools that have nursing don’t offer WUE discounts. Th emajor is popular enough that they don’t have to. The ones that do are Univ. of Nevada Reno, University of New Mexico and the University of Utah. You know my preference for Utah given your background. You’d be hard pressed to find a better fit on paper. My son is a CP-SLO mechanical engineering grad, but he almost passed on Cal Poly for Utah. There’s that much to like about The U.
I’ll tell you where I’d apply though…Humboldt State. It’s a beautiful campus in a beautiful, uncrowded, cool area of the state that doesn’t tent to catch on fire. Not that diploma cachet means anything in nursing, but there’s word that they will convert HSU to the third Cal Poly.
It’s better you aren’t “protected.” Part of this process is training you to be an adult yourself. We brought skin in the game for our son on purpose. We told him if he picked a school that left us excess money, we’d split it with him.
Good luck!
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If you are unable to raise GPA and SAT for the UC’s, I would consider CC and a transfer. This would work out easier for the UC’s regarding admission. USFCA offers good merit and financial aid and I would consider applying ED there. They are test optional. Are your science and math grades A/B? They also put weight on the supplemental essay. Have you considered taking the ACT?
UC’s and CSU’s are test blind so GPA will a major factor. Yes, Nursing is super competitive in California but worth applying to a few CSU’s or UC’s based on your profile.
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For what it’s worth,Pennsylvania has lots of direct entry nursing programs that aren’t as competitive as California’s. That being said, they’d likely be pricier than the CSS and UCs if you were to manage to get in… so, run the now, then hedge your bets. 
Note: St Olaf has strong music programs and nursing. They have music scholarships you can stack on top of the rest of your financial aid. Start by filling put the Requesr info form (and click on every link they send you by email) then look at the pieces (music dept, scholarships) you’re supposed to send in order to be considered for scholarships.
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Ahaha thank you so much, yes my dad said he will set up a PowerPoint for me to describe the finances for college that he did for my brother when he was applying to college 2 years ago. HSU is really beautiful, I’ll go check it out. But I think it’s not direct entry though, I am applying to the CSU system, so definitely I’ll throw it out there. So sorry for not clarifying, I am a Cali resident in the Bay Area. So I am definitely looking for a school with Asian Americans and diversity.
Thank you so much for all your insight and time, I am definitely checking out Utah too. Thank you!
I’ll definitely check out more about Pennsylvania because UPenn is my reach reach reach school. Ahahha my dad is going to make a presentation about the finances, so I’ll check out the Penn schools and compare it with the stats he calculated.
I heard about St. Olaf! I’ll go see and fill out the info form. This is so helpful thank you so much for all your time and advice!!
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Oh right! I forgot about the test blind. I will definitely apply to CSUs and the UCs! Thank you!!
Yes! I love USFCA and also now upon doing some research, my parents think it would be a good ED too, and I talked to 3 of my friends there doing nursing and they said it’s amazing. And it’s also an hour away from home for me, so staying and getting a job here in the Bay Area is definitely a plus.
Yes, my science and math grades are all As, only a B one semester in chemistry, I brought it up to an A the second semester though.
Unfortunately, I have extended time for ACT, but my school recently took the accommodations test proctoring away forever. (Accommodations ACT, the school has to proctor). My counselor called the other neighboring schools and ACT Services to find a accommodations spot, but all of them were rejected. So, right now I am focusing on doing the SAT.
Thank you so much for your advice and time!!
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The absolutely most important things in evaluating the quality of nursing programs are:
- Are clinical placements in top research hospitals where they employ best practices?
- Are those placements easily accessible by nursing students or are they at a significant distance from campus?
- Does the college support nursing students by providing transportation to clinicals when needed.
I know from personal experience that BC meets all of these criteria with placements at some of the best research hospitals in the world. I cannot speak to whether that’s the case with other nursing schools, but those questions should be asked. One cannot assume that in the cases when there are top hospitals nearby, that placements actually are at those hospitals. The only way to know is to read their literature and confirm nursing school staff and/or students when you visit campus.
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Learning in a program that values evidence based medicine is important. Being a research hospital though is really not germane at all, really for any healthcare provider, unless their goal is to go into research.
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Would you prefer it if I said “major hospital” vs “community hospital”?
Yes! 
I do believe that is important. You get a broader clinical experience in larger institutions.
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However, also important is whether you can get into and stay in the major:
- For direct-admit programs, what are the criteria to stay in the major? Be aware of very high college GPA requirements in some direct-admit programs.
- For non-direct-admit programs, consider how competitive secondary admission is.
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St. Olaf is a phenomenal choice for nursing + music! The only downside, relative to your criteria, is that it’s about 45 minutes outside Minneapolis - not urban like most of your choices. (Northfield is a nice town, though, and you may be overestimating how much time you’ll have to revel in urban life while majoring in nursing, anyway! At St. Olaf you could easily spend most of your free time on musical pursuits, if you chose.) The other thing about St. O is that they have a surprisingly high ED admit rate (and a decent bump for EA as well). The thing about ED there, however, is that it’s possible that a binding acceptance without direct-admit to nursing would be a possible outcome - I’m not clear on how that works. If by any chance you like it well enough to consider ED or ED2, that would be something to get clarification on. I will say, though, that if West Lafayette is an acceptable setting, Northfield certainly clears that bar - and the music-saturated culture at St. Olaf should be a draw.
USF does sound like a good ED1 choice for you. My daughters’ friends who have gone there have all loved it. (And they tended to get merit awards that brought the costs in line with their UC options, no doubt by design.)
That does not seem okay for your school to “take accommodations test proctoring away forever.” How can this be within ADA/504 requirements? Not cool. Might be time for a little activism IMHO.
All three of those WUE schools are worth scoping out. SLC, Reno, and Albuquerque all have their merits as cities to attend school in.
Utah is particularly good music-wise as well as for nursing. It’s true that it isn’t as diverse as California schools, but its efforts to become more diverse are reason that it’s the one university in Utah that does consider race and ethnicity in the admissions process, so being a “diverse” applicant there may be a slight advantage. (Not that you need a boost to get into the university, but merit $ and nursing early assurance are the variables.) There’s also an honors college that may be a possibility, but you’d need to look into whether its curriculum requirements mesh well with nursing.
I definitely agree with applying to Humboldt. A direct-admit nursing program is the proverbial brass ring, for sure, but I don’t doubt your ability to do great at HSU and secure admission to the nursing program through the secondary process. Pre-nursing there is a great backup plan.
San Diego State’s nursing program is direct-admit only, so that should be on your list for sure. I don’t know about the other CSU programs (other than knowing that SJSU definitely has a secondary process and the GPA threshold is quite high).
Nursing direct-admit is tricky, because you really have to go down a level or two in the overall competitiveness of the school, to be competitive to get into nursing. Then you need to balance seeking the best possible nursing program, but also looking for a school you wouldn’t regret choosing even if you didn’t stay in nursing. I could definitely see USF, St. Olaf, and Utah all striking that balance. Certainly CWRU and BC as well, but I’m not sure they meet the “go down a level or two in overall competitiveness” criterion. They’re probably high-match/low-reach for you without the nursing piece.
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