I’m not sure about acceptance into the nursing major, that is something that we will need to check on.
http://catalog.berea.edu/en/Current/Catalog/About-Academics/Major-Progression-Information/Nursing describes entry to the nursing major at Berea. Requirements to enter the nursing major include academic requirements of 3.0 GPA overall and in the specified pre-nursing courses, with no grade lower than C (C- is not acceptable).
CONGRATULATIONS on Berea! It’s a fantastic, highly selective college - and it WILL be affordable because all admitted students get an automatic free tuition scholarship. For room&board they’re asked to contribute by working a certain number of hours on campus, from traditional (carpentry, basket weaving, growing&harvesting and gardening) to hi tech (fixing some stuff, IT hotline) not to mention this freshman staple, work in the cafeteria. I can’t imagine your son would refuse to work for his upkeep (in fact he’s had a job for a long time and would have one anyway.) Some of their hours are actually paid to them to spend as they please on top of paying for room and board. In other words, it’s a free ride to an excellent college!!!
This is possible because Berea graduates do well with their lives and then give back by offering internships to current students, donating money and ‘passing it forward’ for future generations of smart kids who couldn’t take residential college for granted because of financial reasons. One day your successful son will make it possible for a young man or a young woman to attend Berea. Congratulations!!!
Note on the grading requirements: note that not many would want a nurse who couldn’t get a C in a basic class to be in charge of their medical care… I sure hope my nurses all had B’s or A’s…
Congratulations on Berea. My daughter started Berea last fall. She absolutely loves it. She considers Berea home now and could not imagine being anywhere else.
Students do not declare their major until sophomore year although if they have a path in mind they do start on requirements for that major immediately.
No one at Berea pays tuition. Depending on your financial situation you may be required to pay part of room and board or nothing at all. They will make that all clear to you in the near future.
The academics are rigorous and it will be challenging. My daughter is constantly working on some classwork and depending on their involvement in campus activities time management becomes key to success. My daughter is very involved with being on the soccer team, on a committee or two, and now has a wide circle of friends so she is constantly on the go.
Students are required to work 10 hours a week. There are countless jobs on campus in every department you can think of. As freshman the student is assigned a job. At the end of every semester they get a job evaluation. Starting sophomore year they apply for positions they want and go on interviews just as you would in the “real world.” They do get a paycheck once a month for spending money. The fantastic part of this is at the end of their time at Berea they have a work resume.
If you have any questions let me know and I will answer as best I can.
An update as decision time approaches. We just returned from a visit to Berea, it went well and I was impressed with the school, though I thought the drive was awful. My son has not said a lot to indicate his feelings, though he did list some pros and cons on the way home last night. We both feel that it has more resources than UNA and maybe a better clinical experience for nursing students. Distance is a drawback and we were not pleased to learn that first year students are not allowed to have a car(unless they live more than 8 hours away or have extenuating circumstances). I understand wanting to keep them on campus and involved but it will make things difficult for holidays and such. The new 72 million dollar science building is impressive as well as the many support services offered for students.
We are trying to arrange another visit to UNA, they were closed for spring break last week so it will be Monday before we can actually make contact with someone. Now that he has been accepted into honors college and received sufficient scholarships to attend he would like to meet with someone from the honors college/see the honors dorm, and speak with someone from nursing and sit in on some classes. Even though national decision day is May 1st, the housing scholarship requires a housing deposit by April 12th or the scholarship will be cancelled.
I am so happy that he has 2 options, considering that a few months ago I was afraid that he would have no good options, but now comes the hard part of actually making a choice. In reality either choice will probably be fine and he could succeed either place. I think we both feel that Berea might be the superior school, but I am not sure at this point which one he will decide is the best fit.
This is a great update! Thanks so much for letting us know. Look forward to hearing what he thinks after his 2nd visit to UNA, and glad you have two options to weigh. Well done!
It’s wonderful that he has two good options!! Is it a wash between the two, financially?
It’s understandable that the logistics of Berea are off-putting. On the other hand, it’s a phenomenal opportunity - as you say, terrific resources, and an outstanding cohort of peers who would bring so many different ideas and perspectives into your son’s life. Berea’s four-year graduation rate is more than double UNA’s, fwiw, although I wouldn’t doubt that the nursing honors program has much better stats than UNA overall.
And therein lies the biggest difference, IMHO. If he’s totally sure about nursing and remains in that program, then the differences between the two paths won’t be as large. But if for any reason he decides to shift gears once in college, I think Berea would be a far, far preferable place to explore other interests and options, and to connect with mentors and career opportunities. So I’d say part of the decision is how certain he is (and how sure you feel that his certainty will hold) about nursing.
Good luck with the home stretch, and congrats to him and you for being in such a good place with a decision to make!
If you really want him to have a car to drive up and then back down for breaks, (vs. " a car to drive off campus at the drop of a hat"): the rule is “no car on campus”, right? It’d likely cost something but he could just park it somewhere in town (a parking garage?) between breaks and still respect the rule. He’d use it only for breaks and would not use it during school.
I hope he’ll choose Berea. First because it’s well-recognized everywhere and the national alumni network is phenomenal. All Berea graduates basically pledge/want to help other Berea graduates, because they so loved their education and they know, not only what it’s worth, but what it means for the students and what it means about their work ethics and their character. Second because the academics and resources are so much better, with peers from many different states and even countries, and overall better students so a more studious student body (the drop out rate at UNA is appalling, and while it wouldn’t apply to him, it’d impact those around him, their ambition and dedication, and thus his environment). Third, because it’d be a good example for his little sister (that there’s a world out there, waiting for you to discover it) and his high school (where apparently no one, even the GC, had heard of Berea). His going there would show a new path forward for all future valedictorians and salutatorians and so his experience would extend beyond himself, benefiting not just him but lots of others. The impact of choosing Berea would be much greater for him and for others.
No matter what, congratulations!
He has not just one, but TWO affordable choices!! 
You can be proud and so can he.
@aquapt
It is a bit difficult to compare the costs because things are set up differently, but yes, basically the same. Tuition & fees, room, and board would be covered at either place. Would have to pay for at least part of books and also personal expenses at either place(unless he gets one of the small local scholarships he applied for). He applied for a program at UNA for disadvantaged nursing students but won’t know results in time to count in his decision most likely. If he received that award, he could possibly have part of his pell grant refunded since his scholarships are merit based. Berea gives students a laptop so there wouldn’t be that expense if he went there. Travel expense would be less at UNA.
He seems sure of his nursing decision, but of course people sometimes change their mind. The honors program at UNA is not nursing honors, just the honor college.
I think he knows that Berea might offer more opportunity but some of the people at Berea seemed kind of “quirky” and I think he might be wondering how he would fit in there.
At daughter’s school (wyoming) many student live hundreds of miles from campus with no other way to get to school or home without a car. The school actually had outlying parking lots for those at a very reduced rate (like $10 per semester). There was no restriction on using the cars during the semester, but the lots weren’t very convenient for every day travel (there was a shuttle bus).
Maybe if you ask the school for such an accommodation, it could be made with the understanding that he’d only use it to travel home.
In regards to his sister, I have no idea how her next 4 years will go and where her path will take her, but I could definitely see her fitting in at Berea, and she thinks that is where he should choose. I also think she would love the opportunities for things like study abroad, involvement with music, drama, or arts and crafts.
I think part of the restriction on cars for freshmen also relates to limited parking. We parked at the admissions office because that is where we were supposed to go but I did not see a lot of parking at all, and the town(at least the historic part) is intertwined with the campus and those shops didn’t have much parking either it seemed.
It sounds like Berea is to some degree outside his comfort zone - but that’s often where the most growth can occur, esp. at a small college with a lot of support. That said, a kid needs a sense of self and a level of independence to enable that growth to happen.
So if you REALLY think the fit/culture of Berea is not right, don’t ignore that. Can he handle being farther away from home and on his own? Does he have resilience to handle being homesick? Will he make friends with kids from a lot of different backgrounds? There are kids who go away for the first time for college, it’s too overwhelming and then crash back home at Christmas. By then, the UNA scholarship would be gone…
I agree Berea is the better school academically and opportunity wise, but he needs to be excited and mentally open/ready to embrace it.
Congratulations on your son having 2 great options. As I said up thread my daughter is a freshmen at Berea. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer as best I can.
The car situation at Berea is in in fact because there is limited parking. They discourage upperclassman even from having cars for just that reason. We are more than 8 hours away so my daughter could have a car if she chose to. But after being there a year she said having a car would be a hassle. Student parking is far away from campus and inconvenient and she has not had a need to have a car. She has taken the shuttle to Richmond and Lexington on the weekends and when she comes home she takes a bus or gets an Uber to the airport. She also has friends with cars and has gone places with them as well. Also Wal Mart is only a mile away so an easy walk.
She has known 3-4 freshman who transferred out over the past year because they were homesick. It does happen.
It is academically rigorous so he has to be ready for that. Having a job on campus which is a requirement is not a burden but it does eat up time of course. My daughter is always busy and downtime is hard to come by. She is also on a sports team so that takes up a significant amount of free time.
There is so much support at Berea that help for anything is right there. All the student has to do is ask. She has not had a problem with any professors and in fact likes all that she has had so far, some more than others. She also has not had any issues with the student body and at this point has a large cohort of friends between her teammates and circle of friends outside her sport.
In fact she is staying over the summer to take classes and has a research position already lined up for the summer term.
There are great opportunities to be had at Berea and they are very good at keeping the students informed of opportunities that are available.
Good luck with his decision.
Thanks for the insider perspective. I am not really concerned about him needing a car while there, since they have the shuttle, it’s really only for holidays and stuff that concerns me. I checked some prices for greyhound(found stations an hour away) and it looks like it would be around $100 or more each way, so a bit more than driving but maybe we could find some way to cover it. I checked flight prices and it looks like those are going to be at least in the $200 range each way, and of course the gas to drive 2 hours to get to the airport. It may take longer to fly home than it would to drive home, with the flight time and the drive to the airport. It’s just seems like they are adding unnecessary expense for a school that caters to low-income students. I wonder if the college could offer any support or guidance on this issue?
Email the college and explain you can’t get off work to go get him and the bus ticket is too expensive so he’d need to keep a car somewhere.
Another possibility: long term parking at a place/town where the shuttle stops.
I’ll bet there are carpools at holiday times. At worst, I would bet he could get a ride to someplace close enough for you to meet him and drive him the rest of the way. Older students with cars will help him out, and then he will pay it forward when he’s an older student with a car. These logistical things are a hassle but it’s just one year and kids are resourceful - I don’t think the transportation stuff should overshadow the experience he’s going to have at whichever school he chooses. TBH, if he decided to crowdfund a year’s worth of bus tickets, I’ll bet that would go well 
^ very good idea.
I would hate it if he missed out on Berea because of a car to drive a couple times a semester.
He decided on UNA, even though he said that Berea was probably the better program he just decided that he didn’t want to be that far away. I did feel better about things after visiting the honors college and meeting with the staff, it seems that there will still be plenty of opportunities as long as he takes advantage of them. It also seems to offer a lot more support than being in the general student population. He requested housing in the honors college dorm(which is older with the community bathrooms, but right in the heart of campus) which has one floor for guys and one for ladies with the bottom floor having offices, study spaces, laundry room, kitchen, and a computer lab(with the only free printing on campus). Currently he has enough scholarships and grants to cover everything with money left for books and supplies, there are some other scholarships that haven’t been awarded yet, but even if he doesn’t get any of them he already has enough to finish undergrad without debt. Lots of stuff happening in the next few weeks, but at least there is a little break from the college process.
Congrats to your son!! I’m so glad the finances are working out well and what a gift to graduate debt free. Well done!