Master list of Direct Entry Nursing Programs:

I don’t know anything specific about any Ohio colleges. However, an applicant for nursing should probably assume they need to be in the top 25% of the accepted student stats for a college, as opposed to the normal middle 50%. Most colleges provide that type of data for their whole student population. The data for accepted students can sometimes be very different from enrolled students.

You can email an admissions officer and ask about the number of applicants for nursing last year and the number of acceptances. Some colleges do post that data online, particularly if nursing is in its own “college” within a university. For example, the University of Virginia posts data for admission by school.

Just be careful that the number of the applicants vs. the number of seats can be deceiving. A university may brag they had 1,000 applicants for 100 seats. However, they may have accepted 250 of those applicants, knowing that only 100 would decide to attend that college. As students are applying to increased numbers of colleges each year, the yield for many colleges has fallen.

I found that the less well known private colleges often had the least competitive admissions. That is because their list price was 2 to 3 times the price of an in-state public, which scared away some applicants. However, the average private college discounts their tuition by 50% for incoming freshman students. Some of that is need-based aid and some is merit-based aid. Some colleges offer merit aid to a majority of their incoming freshmen, which allows parents to brag about their kids. The nursing students are often in the top 15% of the applicants of the less well known colleges, so they are often eligible for merit aid.

The most well known flagship universities seem to have some of the most competitive admissions, at least in the northeastern US. Some of those universities attract large numbers of applicants because they are known to be fun places to go to college.

Admissions difficulty greatly varies with the number of direct entry nursing programs in a region. For example, Pennsylvania probably has more direct entry nursing programs than any other state, and therefore has more programs that are not highly competitive. California has a real shortage of nursing seats.

The colleges that are further from major metro areas probably also see fewer applicants. For example, I would imagine that Edinboro University near Erie PA probably sees many fewer applicants than West Chester University near Phila, even though both are PA. state universities with similar tuition rates. Another state university in PA, Bloomsburg, sees large numbers of nursing applicants because it is not that far from population centers in New Jersey.

However, it is advisable to not go to nursing school in a mostly rural area, because you will probably need to travel long distances to clinicals. Even if the town has a small hospital, they probably will not be able to accommodate all of the nursing students. That was a major factor in my daughter’s choice of a program. All of her clinicals have been within 10 minutes away, except in-patient psychiatric was 40 minutes away.

I also highly recommend going carefully through this site, looking for information on past admissions/ GPAs that got in to nursing specifically for particular schools, as well as looking for descriptions of the nursing programs here, folks experience at tours, opinions on hidden nursing school gems…etc. This is a great way to find a few quality safeties. This has been incredibly helpful.

@bearcatfan
If possible, see if you can talk to a few of the nursing students when you go on a tour or at the info sessions.
Ask them what their workload is ( for ex; how many chapters they have to read? How many papers they have to write per week/per class? )

Ask these nursing students how they spent their " free time "?

Do they have time to work PT/ join clubs / or do a bunch of things on the weekend?
Or do they spend the majority of their time in the library & study?

How " hard " are the classes? I asked the admission officer / or one of the asst. dean this question,
then they said " every class IS HARD here at ( insert name of their university )." And they were not joking.

I felt that the admitted students GPA, SAT scores etc etc you can get from each college all help. But they don’t tell you exactly how hard the nursing classes are or how time consuming or how challenging the clinical / or classes schedule can be.

Ask them where the clinicals will be.
Don’t assume most / or all their clinical will be at the university’s hospital.
Even if the hospital is literally right next to the college, many of the clinical sites will be off-site, some are 15min away, some can be a 20min drive, some are farther away in some other places.

They expected students to get to the clincial sites on time. Either have your own car, or carpool with someone etc.
So having a reliable car has been helpful. For ex: My D drove to an off-campus hospital when the streets were covered in thick layer of ice & heavy snow. ( secondary roads were not cleared ).
So, just saying, many clinical sites will be off campus & there are no public transportation in some places.

I hope this will help you. Good luck
( Please excuse any typo or grammer mistakes )

I have not read the other pages on this thread so I don’t know if this program is discussed, but SUNY Plattsburgh has an excellent direct entry program.

My D graduated from its direct entry education program but she had a number of friends in the nursing program. Her best friend has been working as a travel nurse since graduation and has lived in several states. She loves her work and told me that she feels that she was very well trained. She works as an OR scrub nurse.

So is Ohio State direct admit for honors students? We are in state and hopeful that our daughter might be an honors candidate at 32ACT, 4.3gpa?

Here is information on OSU.

https://nursing.osu.edu/sections/academic-programs/undergraduate-program-overview/bsn-introduction/bsn-admissions.html

https://nursing.osu.edu/sections/academic-programs/undergraduate-program-overview/pre-nursing-introduction/pre-nursing-admissions.html

Nursing, College of (NUR)

nursing.osu.edu

"Admitted students who have an ACT composite score of 25 or higher or combined SAT* Critical Reading and Math score of 1130 or higher enroll as pre-nursing majors. (*New SAT equivalent: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing + Math score of 1200.) Students not directly enrolled in NUR enroll in the Health and Human Services Exploration program.

Admission to the nursing major is competitive, and enrollment in the pre-major does not guarantee admission to the major. Note: If you have already completed program prerequisites, you may be eligible to apply directly to this program. Learn more about applying as an undergraduate professional student. "

Sometimes these things are clear as mud, but it looks like Ohio State is not direct admit the way I would define it (incoming freshman, guaranteed spot in the program without having to apply once you are there).

Last complete list 1-1/2 years ago. Added CSU Fullerton

Adelphi NY
Augustana College SD
Alvernia University PA
Arizona State University AZ
Avila University MO
Belmont University TN
Bloomsburg University PA
Boston College MA
Bradley University IL
California State University Fullerton CA
Capital University OH
Carlow University PA
Carroll University WI - Ck min requirements
Case Western Reserve University OH
Clarion University PA
Clemson University SC
Creighton University NE
Curry College MA
Davenport University MI
D’Youville College NY
DeSales University PA
Drexel University PA
Dusquesne University PA
East Stroudsburg University PA
Edinboro University PA
Elmira College NY
Endicott College MA
Fairfield University CT
Florida Southern College FL
Gannon University PA
Georgetown University DC
Grand Valley State University (Limitied Admission - 4 freshmen) MI
Hartwick College NY
Holy Family University PA
Hood College MD
Husson University ME
Illinois State University IL
Illinois Wesleyan University IL
Indiana University of PA PA
Jacksonville University FL
LaSalle University PA
Le Moyne College NY
Longwood University VA
Loyola University Chicago IL
Luther IA
Marquette University WI
Marshall University WV
Marymount University VA
Maryville University St. Louis MO
MCPHS - Massachusetts School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences MA
Millikin University IL
Milwaukee School of Engineering WI
Misericordia University, PA
Molloy College NY
Monmouth University, NJ
Moravian College PA
Mount Mercy College IA
Neumann University PA
Niagra University NY
New York University NY
Northeastern University MA
Norwich University VT
Oakland University MI
Ohio Northern University OH
Ohio State University (if honors student) OH
Old Dominion University (VA) - Guaranteed Admission, ck min requirements
Otterbein University OH
Pace University NY ( Westchester Campus only)
Pacific Lutheran University WA
Penn State University PA
Pennsylvania College of Technology PA
Purdue University IN
Queens University of Charlotte (NC)
Quinnipiac University CT
Regis College MA
Robert Morris University (Moon Township) PA
Rockford University, IL
Rutgers University (only 40/130 direct) NJ
Sacred Heart University CT
Salve Regina University RI
Samford University AL
San Diego State University CA
Seattle University WA
Seton Hall University NJ
Shenandoah University (VA)
Simmons College MA
St. Anselm College NH
St. Francis University PA
St. Louis University MO
Stevenson University MD
SUNY Binghamton NY
SUNY Plattsburgh NY
Temple University PA
Texas Christian University TX
The College of New Jersey NJ
Truman State University MO
University of Alabama at Birmingham AL
University of California-Irvine CA
University of California-Los Angeles CA
University of Cincinnati (OH) - ck min requirements
University of Connecticut CT
University of Delaware DE
University of Detroit Mercy MI
University of Evansville IN
University of the Incarnate Word TX - ck min requirements
University of Iowa IA
University of Maine ME
University of Massachusetts – Amherst MA
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth MA
University of Massachusetts - Lowell
University of Miami FL
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor MI
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN
University of Mississippi (Limited Freshman Early Entry Otherwise 2+2) MS
University of New Hampshire NH
University of Pennsylvania PA
University of Pittsburgh PA
University of Portland OR
University of Rhode Island RI
University of San Francisco CA
University of Scranton PA
University of Texas - Austin TX
University of Tennessee Knoxville TN
University of Vermont VT
University of Virginia VA
Valparaiso University IN
Villanova University PA
Virginia Commonwealth University VA - (if apply to their Guaranteed Admission by Nov, otherwise it is Pre-Nursing)
Waynesburg University PA
West Chester University, PA
Westfield State University MA
West Virginia University WV
Wheeling Jesuit University WV
Widener University PA
Wilkes University PA
Worcester State University MA
Xavier University OH
York College PA
Youngstown State University OH

Added Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO

Adelphi NY
Augustana College SD
Alvernia University PA
Arizona State University AZ
Avila University MO
Belmont University TN
Bloomsburg University PA
Boston College MA
Bradley University IL
California State University Fullerton CA
Capital University OH
Carlow University PA
Carroll University WI - Ck min requirements
Case Western Reserve University OH
Clarion University PA
Clemson University SC
Creighton University NE
Curry College MA
Davenport University MI
D’Youville College NY
DeSales University PA
Drexel University PA
Dusquesne University PA
East Stroudsburg University PA
Edinboro University PA
Elmira College NY
Endicott College MA
Fairfield University CT
Florida Southern College FL
Gannon University PA
Georgetown University DC
Grand Valley State University (Limitied Admission - 4 freshmen) MI
Hartwick College NY
Holy Family University PA
Hood College MD
Husson University ME
Illinois State University IL
Illinois Wesleyan University IL
Indiana University of PA PA
Jacksonville University FL
LaSalle University PA
Le Moyne College NY
Longwood University VA
Loyola University Chicago IL
Luther IA
Marquette University WI
Marshall University WV
Marymount University VA
Maryville University St. Louis MO
MCPHS - Massachusetts School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences MA
Millikin University IL
Milwaukee School of Engineering WI
Misericordia University, PA
Molloy College NY
Monmouth University, NJ
Moravian College PA
Mount Mercy College IA
Neumann University PA
Niagra University NY
New York University NY
Northeastern University MA
Norwich University VT
Oakland University MI
Ohio Northern University OH
Ohio State University (if honors student) OH
Old Dominion University (VA) - Guaranteed Admission, ck min requirements
Otterbein University OH
Pace University NY ( Westchester Campus only)
Pacific Lutheran University WA
Penn State University PA
Pennsylvania College of Technology PA
Purdue University IN
Queens University of Charlotte (NC)
Quinnipiac University CT
Regis College MA
Robert Morris University (Moon Township) PA
Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO
Rockford University, IL
Rutgers University (only 40/130 direct) NJ
Sacred Heart University CT
Salve Regina University RI
Samford University AL
San Diego State University CA
Seattle University WA
Seton Hall University NJ
Shenandoah University (VA)
Simmons College MA
St. Anselm College NH
St. Francis University PA
St. Louis University MO
Stevenson University MD
SUNY Binghamton NY
SUNY Plattsburgh NY
Temple University PA
Texas Christian University TX
The College of New Jersey NJ
Truman State University MO
University of Alabama at Birmingham AL
University of California-Irvine CA
University of California-Los Angeles CA
University of Cincinnati (OH) - ck min requirements
University of Connecticut CT
University of Delaware DE
University of Detroit Mercy MI
University of Evansville IN
University of the Incarnate Word TX - ck min requirements
University of Iowa IA
University of Maine ME
University of Massachusetts – Amherst MA
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth MA
University of Massachusetts - Lowell
University of Miami FL
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor MI
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN
University of Mississippi (Limited Freshman Early Entry Otherwise 2+2) MS
University of New Hampshire NH
University of Pennsylvania PA
University of Pittsburgh PA
University of Portland OR
University of Rhode Island RI
University of San Francisco CA
University of Scranton PA
University of Texas - Austin TX
University of Tennessee Knoxville TN
University of Vermont VT
University of Virginia VA
Valparaiso University IN
Villanova University PA
Virginia Commonwealth University VA - (if apply to their Guaranteed Admission by Nov, otherwise it is Pre-Nursing)
Waynesburg University PA
West Chester University, PA
Westfield State University MA
West Virginia University WV
Wheeling Jesuit University WV
Widener University PA
Wilkes University PA
Worcester State University MA
Xavier University OH
York College PA
Youngstown State University OH

Grand Valley does not have limited entry - as long as you meet the direct entry qualifications you are in. Michigan State University is similar - if you meet certain qualifications you can be admitted directly.

Note that most of the direct entry programs are in the northern half of the US.

Catholic University of America (DC) is direct entry.

I’m new al learning about nursing programs. I think this one is direct admit. Would someone mind taking a look to confirm?

https://stockton.edu/health-sciences/nursing-prelicensure.html

@MACmiracle yes it is.

@Rollout , thanks!

It looks like Ramapo College of NJ is, too.

Is URI really direct entry? I have read both that it is and isn’t. School website makes it look like admission not guaranteed. Does anyone have any information?

Eastern University in PA

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