Someone up thread suggested Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA. I second that suggestion. It doesn’t check all of your child’s boxes, but the college offers a small, supportive environment. Their nursing program is very strong. Cedar Crest is a college for a B student. Near Muhlenberg, and further up the road is Lehigh and Lafayette.
There is typically far more wiggle room in the required GPA to stay in a program than to get accepted into it from pre-nursing. For instance, Pitt nursing requires a 2.0 to stay in the program; they accept precious few – almost none – to transfer in, so those that do need a near 4.0.
That may be an extreme example, but nursing programs are capped so only a certain number can be accepted from pre-nursing. Not many (not any?) schools say, “as long as you have an X.XX GPA, you will matriculate in your junior year to the nursing major.” The programs are seat constrained, nursing is a popular major, and it is almost always competitive to get in.
The OP’s daughter seems like an accomplished kid who knows what she wants, so she may well be able to do pre-nursing and successfully get into nursing. But why suggest adding risk when both the parent and student seem to be comfortable with making some necessary compromises for a direct admit program?
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Both York College of PA and Messiah University told my daughter that as long as she met the GPA requirements (3.0 overall and in the science courses) she would be admitted from pre-nursing to nursing. I think smaller schools are much more likely to have space in their programs than larger schools. Of course, it is always best to check with individual schools.
Based on my D22’s experience, Sacred Heart is probably a match!
My kiddo is at UMaine in Orono, and it’s a likely match for your daughter. It’s definitely Direct Entry, and she’s very happy there.
D1 sports, greek life, all the feels… Give it a look!!
We live in NY… & UMaine basically matched SUNY tuition.
ALL the SUNY Direct Entry Nursing programs are out of reach for the stats you shared, just being honest. Sure, worth applying, but extremely unlikely. Even Plattsburgh. Who would have thought, right!? The nursing programs use admission standard all their own.
Good Luck!!
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Does anyone know anything about UVM’s nursing program-it is direct entry, just not sure how competitive.
Direct admit is an important criteria but not the only one. Grad rate, clinical opportunities and passing boards are also very important.
My wife graduated from a small school nursing program in PA. Then was an ICU nurse at Hershey. Now a CRNA. Passing boards and experience matter much more than where you went to school.
Most PSU nursing students spend a year in Hershey but no guarantee that all your clinicals will be at HMC. You might be offsite too.
East Stroudsburg University appears to have direct entry nursing (not sure if it was mentioned).
The University of Tampa is another one, but it doesn’t appear to be direct entry. I do believe this would be less of a reach than others.
Be careful about attending reach schools that are not DE (Ohio State, Penn State etc). Students I know who went this route did not get into nursing and ended up attending an accelerated BSN program after graduation. This is an option of course, but adds to the cost.
I know schools such as Plattsburgh do not have the Greek life, sports culture etc, but these are some of the schools that will be an “easier” admit.
DE nursing has gotten competitive at many schools, but of course there are many ways to become a nurse.
Penn State main campus is direct entry as freshmen only. Very competitive and there is no way to enter this program after freshman year.
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Ok thanks! My point was that attending a reach that is not DE could add a lot to the cost, as I know people who went this route (they wanted sports, Greek life etc) and ended up attending an accelerated BSN after graduation because they did not make nursing. If this student goes the non DE route, she is much better off at a school that is not a reach (hope this makes sense). I do think she should go the DE route, but she will likely have to compromise.
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I agree.
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@girlmomNY If your daughter is more concerned about a big school with D1 sports and Greek life than about direct entry nursing, she may do better to choose another major as an undergraduate and just include (and do well in) the 5-10 prerequisite courses for an ABSN or direct entry MSN program. I think it might be difficult for her to manage Greek life, spectator sports, and all the other social activities at a large school and still do well as a nursing major.
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A quick look at the data for UVM leads me to believe it is not a safety school for general admissions (for your daughter). This means DE nursing will be competitive for your daughter.
Rutgers is the same. I do not see it as a safety for your daughter which means DE nursing will be very competitive.
Compare this to SUNY Plattsburgh, which I see as a likely school. This means (I think) that nursing may not be as competitive an admit for your daughter. It is probably one of the more competitive majors at this school, but I see your daughter as a likelier admit than at some of the others.
Many of the schools that give your daughter a possible chance of DE are the schools she might not want to attend, don’t meet her criteria etc. She can also apply to schools that are not DE and are considered a safety for admissions, but these might not meet her criteria either.
Lots of decisions to make, deciding what is important etc. As noted above she can also apply to accelerated programs (ABSN, accelerated msn)
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Totally agree. It can be extremely difficult to transfer into a nursing program unless they have a set agreement with the school from which they are transferring. Also, please (parentologist) do not assume that nursing school is not hard. Do you have first-hand experience as a previous nursing major to make that claim? It is a very subjective experience, no matter what the major is.
ETA: To the OP, It might be a reach but have you looked into TCNJ? Not a big D1 school (they are D3) but I saw Stockton on your list, so might not hurt to check them out, as well.
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I agree that it is important to recognize that what is “not hard” for one, might be hard for another. People need to refrain from making these comments because they can be viewed as offensive and highly subjective (even if not intended).
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SUNY Plattsburgh direct entry Nursing is an extremely competitive, fairly tiny program. Its admission percentages are in the single digits. ((Nothing like the rest of the programs at Plattsburgh- which BTW is a lovely state college.))
I do not think it is a likely for OP, unless things have changed drastically in the last two cycles!
I think DE nursing programs are competitive regardless of school. I also think that for this particular student, DE nursing at Plattsburgh may be less of a reach than a school such as Rutgers etc.
I am not suggesting that acceptance is a given (it was not my intention to come across that way). What I am suggesting is that it may be “easier” to gain acceptance to a DE nursing program at a school that is considered less of an overall reach.
I know students who were accepted to DE nursing at their safety school but turned it down to attend their reach (football, Greek etc) where they did not get into nursing.
I also do not know if SUNY Plattsburgh would be considered an overall safety for this student. It might not be, I don’t have enough information. I do think however, that her chances are higher if she is willing to give up the more popular, Greek, sports schools (which are generally very competitive for nursing)
I wonder about the option of applying to direct-entry BSN programs that are located at schools nearby the sort of big universities with school spirit she desires. For example I know that my state’s flagship (a Big 10 University) is located near a small college with a strong nursing major. Since the little school doesn’t have a football team of its own, many of its students “adopt” the flagship’s team as their own, attend games etc. Would your daughter be open to something like this?
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As an example, I googled “Colleges in Madison Wisconsin” and in addition to UW-Madison, it brought up 3 colleges (Herzig, Edgewood, and Madison Technical College) all of which offer nursing. I didn’t check to see which of these might offer direct-entry programs, but at least all of them are close by. Edgewood seems especially close to campus.
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That’s a great idea!
I like that idea. Lots of schools in Pittsburgh with nursing programs. Duquesne was already mentioned. Carlow is almost adjacent to Pitt. Of course, it isn’t a big, beautiful, bucolic campus with Greek life but it would probably be a likely for direct entry nursing admission.