<p>I have a 3.5 GPA and 1000 SAT score. Obviously, I'm not the most competitive candidate, and that's why I feel like I need to apply to more schools. My guidance counselor said 15 - 20 at the most, and I think that's reasonable. I'm really aiming for 15 but I don't know, I'll see. Also, how many safeties/possibilities/reaches do you have?? </p>
<p>My daughter had 1 reach, 4 matches, and 5 safeties. I insisted she add a couple of those safeties at the last minute. Fortunately, the safeties usually have simple and free applications. One literally mailed out an acceptance on the day they received her application. </p>
<p>You should have some safeties in the initial wave, but you can always have a couple extra safeties in reserve for a month or two. If you get an early acceptance that is affordable to a college you like, you can relax about sending out lots of extra safeties.</p>
<p>With a few exceptions for highly competitive colleges, most nursing programs have rolling admissions - the sooner you apply, the sooner you get an answer. Many will include a merit aid offer in the initial acceptance.</p>
<p>I made everything as simple as possible for the guidance counselor so it was likely that she would get everything out quickly - stamped addressed envelopes with a list attached to each one of what was needed, and with any form already partly filled out. </p>
<p>Some guidance counselors and colleges transmit everything to each other electronically.</p>
<p>^^ Thank you SO much. Seriously, your responses have been such a great help!! I’m a first generation college student so my parents don’t really know how to help. My guidance counselor is realllly busy too, so I basically have had no one else to go to for nursing advice.</p>
<p>By the way, do you remember who your daughter asked for recommendation letters? I have 2 teachers in mind, but I’m not sure about 1 of them… The first one has been the adviser of a club I’ve done all 4 years of high school + taught me Child Development/Parenting + Human Development (2 different full year <strong>elective</strong> classes. I know she will definitely write me a great letter.</p>
<p>The other teacher though… well she taught me chemistry last year and I unfortunately got a C+ in her class. I suppose that in my defense, she could write that although the class was called “regular chemistry”, it was based on a college curriculum. I don’t know how much of an affect that would have on the college admissions counselor though. The point is, do you think I should still ask my chemistry teacher, despite my C+? I could ask a senior year Probability & Statistics teacher, but I don’t think she would have much to say after knowing me for only 3 weeks. </p>
<p>What do you think? Also, thank you again for all the advice you’ve been giving me. It means so much to me!!</p>
<p>Many colleges only want one reference, which they want to be an academic teacher. If they don’t require 2 teacher references, you could pick a second reference from someone who knows you well outside of school. Don’t send the 2nd reference unless it is required or you are sure it will be good.</p>
<p>I’d try to make an effort to make an appointment to spend 10 minutes with your guidance counselor. They are sometimes asked to comment as part of an application.</p>
<p>Great advice Charliesch! </p>
<p>My daughter applied to 18 schools. Her stats are just so so - and financial aid is a BIG factor for us - so having more options to determine the most affordable school was critical.</p>
<p>Thank you for replying!! I have about 19 on my list and my stats are so-so as well. I’ve been trying to delete more schools off my list but I honestly feel much more confident having a lot of options. I might not even get into some of those schools if my scores don’t improve, but at least I’ll know I tried. </p>
<p>Can you please help? With many EA dates of Nov. 1st, will nursing schools wait until Nov. 1st to fill seats? Or, will they be already (early October) filling seats now? Do applicants have a better chance to : 1. get in, and 2. get FA or other aid, if they apply BEFORE Nov. 1st. Thank you very much. </p>
<p>For schools with an EA deadline, most wait until that date to begin reviewing applications. Schools with rolling admissions make decisions as applications are submitted and it may be easier to be admitted the earlier one applies. Unless there is an early deadline for scholarship consideration, for most schools it doesn’t make a lot of difference for FA if college applications are submitted in October or November.</p>
<p>Than k you for your help. I better look at each school and note scholarship deadlines. </p>
<p>@nancy211005 Most schools are rolling admissions so it’s better if you apply there. I was told by numerous people that applying before the end of October would be best for me, since nursing school seats fill up quickly. If you haven’t already, I suggest making a collegeboard.com account and adding the colleges you’re interested in to your list. It has sooo much info about the college and the dates for getting applications, scores, etc. in too. If you click on “my plan” and then “calendar”, it’ll automatically lay out a schedule for you so you know exactly when the deadlines are. Keep in mind that the schools with rolling admissions might not show up on there though, because they don’t have a specific deadline.</p>
<p>If you’re not sure about the deadline, I would go on the college’s website and find the admissions email address. I’ve had so many questions about so many different things and they almost always reply within a day :)</p>
<p>Yes, for nursing do everything you can to get applications submitted by the end of October. It is different than most other majors, at many colleges. There are plenty of colleges that will accept applications in March, but they won’t have any nursing seats left.</p>
<p>Thank you, @charliesch we are doing everything possible to get applications with EA deadlines of Nov 1st and Nov 15th in by Oct. 15 - 20th thereabouts. @mjmansuria15 thank you for your time as well. My d has a collegeboard account. She will apply to EA schools and Rolling schools within the next 10-14 days. I’ll mention to my d to click on “My plan” and then “calendar”. Thank you! We have visited SO many nursing schools. We are still finishing up with Open Houses. With class sizes being small and nursing being competitive, we felt like we needed to include a lot of schools on her application. I thought the driving around the country visiting nursing schools was the tough part, but, organizing these logistics is not picnic!!</p>
<p>@nancy211005 Does your d’s school use Naviance to process college transcripts and all that? I know mine does and for most colleges, the early action, rolling, early decision, etc. dates are listed on there too. It’s super helpful and even tells you which colleges accept the common app, where you should mail things to, etc. </p>
<p>And I totally know what you mean!! Shortening my college list has been such a pain too. I’m very indecisive and not picky at all, so I still have 20 ish schools on my list. I’m def. going to delete more once I get my SAT & ACT score results in the next few weeks, but unfortunately my ACT scores (which I’m predicting will be better than SAT) won’t be available before the EA date for 4 colleges, 1 being my first choice 
</p>
<p>I suggest having a lot of safeties & matches, but only 2 - 3 reaches at max.</p>
<p>By the way, which schools did you and your d visit? I only got a chance to see 6 this summer (Temple, La Salle, Drexel, Fairfield, Pace, Seton Hall) and the first 4 are no longer on my list.</p>
<p>@mjmansuria15 Yes, we have used Naviance and they do have most of the dates that I need to check on. However, they don’t have the dates for the smaller schools. So, I heard about Temple for nursing and band as an extracurricular, but then was told it is a very bad area. I wasn’t sure if that was really the case and meant to take a better look online, but still haven’t done that. Drexel was on our list (similar to NorthEastern with the CoOp and the type of area, perhaps) but then I read about how extremely rigorous the program is at Drexel and how they have the exam at the end that a student must pass in order to go on and take the NSLEX and in order to receive the BNursing. So, Drexel is off the list. We visited Salve Regina, Simmons, UScranton, York College of PA, CaseWestern, Luther (Iowa), Augustana (SD) and Duquaine. York, Luther and Duquaine came off the list. This fall we visited St. Anselm and also are going to UMass Amherst and NEU. Also, might look at Sacred Heart and St. Joes in CT. And also interested in Hartwick and Elmira (both have well respected liberal arts programs and nursing programs)
; might apply and then visit in the winter. </p>
<p>Nancy, can you share about your visit with York and why you crossed it off your list? My daughter has applied there as well and I’m just curious. Thank you!</p>
<p>Hello @nancy211005 I agreed that it can be very time consuming to tour so many schools. Between all the homework & work etc, it really isn’t easy to take any time out to drive to all these places. This time last year my D started filling out the common app & the supplement. We didn’t get to go to the Nursing Info sessions / open house until November !
My D only applied to two/ three colleges, yes, only 2/3.
One safety & one far reach, & one late app, that’s it.
I wouldn’t suggest anyone to do this because it is ( in general ) not easy to get into a Nursing program due to limited seats. I found the common data set & the FAQ page from each college to be helpful. If the school has an admitted student profile ( some do & some don’t disclose that), it will really help to see if your student is within their range or not.
I think that some nursing programs may wait until they have received all the apps & select from the hundreds / thousands applications. Those with rolling admin will read the applicants as they come in & fill their seats.
I think it will be okay to wait until your D get accepted to visit those colleges and only visit your top choices. Some colleges will let you know of the merit award in Dec or as soon as they can.
Good Luck.
Please excuse any typo.</p>
<p>I think it was just that York was very spread out. The tour was on a bus. The people there were very nice. I just thought it might be tough getting around. </p>
<p>What do you think of all the other colleges that you’ve visited? What makes you click & what makes you cross them out? The ones that we crossed out were the colleges with pre-nursing programs, unfortuately most of the colleges in our state are pre-nursing so we have to rule out a lot of schools. We also check to see if they have large science classes & if the hospitals are within walking distance/ or very close by. </p>
<p>@kjc2014 sorry I forgot to tag you in my post about York College of PA. @FlowerMom thanks for your interesting comments. Where does one see a Data Page and a FAQ page? On each college’s website under “admissions”? From what you are saying, I think we better get our Rolling Admissions schools apps done right away. I think we have three that are Rolling. We also wanted only Direct Entry. We looked at where the hospitals/clinicals were, if the students need a car, what the dorms were set up like (@kjc2014 I think York has mixed sexes on a floor, and it sounded very loose with rules, but I am not certain about this), how the interactions with the current students went, what the nursing department people were like (nice? good communicators?) and what the campus felt like. Also, job opportunities. </p>