<p>Koalab:
A little bit of a more positive perspective. I feel that your D’s HS stats/activities are excellent, especially if she has been taking some honors/AP classes. While her SAT scores could be better they really are not that bad, even for admission to many nursing programs. I would be surprised if she was not accepted into many, if not most all, of the programs on her list. While others in this forum might disagree I feel she has underestimated the overall quality of her stats. She might want to consider applying to a few more “reach” schools at a higher “level” if she has an interest in such schools, as long as she understands that her chances of acceptance would be much lower. I could suggest schools such as UMass- Amherst/Boston, UConn, University of Delaware, Catholic University (in DC). All of these schools have excellent nursing programs and she might just get “lucky”. Some of these schools (Delaware for example) put a higher emphasis on course rigor/grades/GPA/class rank in HS as compared to SAT scores (but they are not irrelevent) when evaluating applicants for admission. Of course at these schools your D would be highly challenged to do well so she would have to be highly motivated to study very hard at such universities. No matter where she applies your D can also increase her chances of admission if she takes a full (5) course load of major subjects both semesters of her Sr. year of HS including as many honors/AP classes as possible. Nursing programs tend to take a dim view of HS students who decide to “coast” their Sr. year of HS. Best of luck to your D.</p>
<p>OP, has your daughter considered taking the ACT? Sometimes students do relatively better on the ACT than the SAT, and if that is the case for your daughter it would certainly polish her otherwise excellent applications to nursing school.</p>
<p>U. Delaware saves many nursing seats for Delaware residents, which makes admissions more difficult but not impossible. It is in New-ark, which is a nice college town 30 minutes west of Phila off of I95.</p>
<p>Just to clarify directions the University of Delaware is located about 30 minutes south of Philly in Newark, Delaware (but it is, as noted in the previous post, pronounced New-Ark). It is right off Exit 1 of Interstate 95 in Delaware right before entering Maryland. While Delaware does apparently allot a portion of nursing slots to Delaware residents the majority of nursing students at UD are from OOS. The usual freshman class for nursing is about 130 students. Usually about 75-80 are OOS students. I would agree that Newark is one of the nicest college towns around and the overall campus is one of the most beautiful in the country. Main Street of Newark runs right thru the campus and has loads of restaurants and shops. It is the ideal suburban college town.</p>
<p>How about in Fairfiled U and Sacred Heart University??</p>
<p>When my D was looking at schools a few years ago, I remember the average SAT scores of nursing students were significantly higher than the general pool at Endicott.</p>
<p>I’ve been away from the forum for a bit, and I thank those that have responded to my original post about the dilemna of a nursing applicant having to rachet down in school quality to have a chance to get into their nursing program.</p>
<p>My D had not looked at U of Delaware, and it sounds like a solid choice. D is looking for a small school overall, and not sure she is up to the task of the challenge of a school that would be a reach for her, for reasons several hinted at: i.e., she would be competing against some top notch candidates, and seems like any chance of merit scholarship would be lessened in those cases as well. </p>
<p>I think U of Delaware, Quinnipiac and Fairfield U fall into that category of very, very good and solid schools, and although she might JUST make it into one of them as a Reach, it would be extremely tough going after that among the other nursing students. SHe has to remember to be careful of what she wishes for, I tell her 
She, like others, fell in love with the Quinnipiac campus and the money used from tuitiions to make that campus so beautiful. That is her first dream choice, and the Fairfield campus was equally nice.</p>
<p>So, rather, I’m realistically hoping for her to find a a good fit situation in a solid but respected ‘B’ student school like St. Anselm, Salve Regina, Endicott, U of Scranton, etc. where the students will be be solid whether in the Nursing program or not. </p>
<p>We looked at Hartwick, more a safter Nursing direct entry this past weekend. Nice area, but the whole school is built on multiple terraces straight up a mountain, with about 5 of those terraces (20 steps up to each next level), with only 2-3 buildings per level. Wow. Nice view though of the mountains in the distance from some of the terraced areas. You’d leave that school with strong quadraceps or a broken ankle going down those Tyvek slippery steps in the snow.</p>
<p>D will also be applying to a couple of non-nursing schools in case she does NOT get into a nursing program at one of the schools I mentioned, which makes the whole process even more taxing. We stopped and saw Siena College (non-nursing match school), and of course, she said, why can’t the match nursing direct entry schools look as nice as Siena. </p>
<p>Thanks again for everyone’s support and suggestions. My D and I are taking each suggestion very seriously, and continue on the quest of finding a good fit (with hopefully some merit scholarship thrown in for good measure).</p>
<p>If your daughter liked Quinipiac, and Fairfield, she will love U of Delaware, bigger school overvall, but it does not feel as big as it is. The first campus our d visited was Quinipiac, and she loved the campus, when we went to U of Delaware, nothing after even came close. D is a senior now, and Delaware was by far her best fit and choice.</p>
<p>For OOS students Delaware is also a relative bargain compared to most private universities. Tuition/fees at UD are about $27,000/yr. This is about $10-15,000 less than most private universities. While UD is identifed as a State University in point of fact almost 2/3rds of the students are from OOS which gives it more of a feel of being a private university than a state school. I agree with samiamy that although UD is a medium sized school (18-20,000 students including graduate students) the campus is laid out in such a manner that the school feels much smaller. It has a beautiful campus and the Main Street of Newark runs right thru campus with great opportunities for restaurants/shopping, etc. There is also a sense of elan (not snobbery-more like a goal achievement orientation) that tends to permiate the student body/campus at UD that my D did not sense in many of the other schools she was considering for nursing admission. You really have to go and visit there to get a sense of what I mean. I feel that UD is a hidden gem that many people are not even aware of.</p>
<p>U Delaware also offers need based and merit based aid for out of state students. Many public universities do not. They also have an honors program.</p>
<p>For the recent posters: Thank you for the detailed and convincing encouragements why my D should consider U of Delaware. That seems to be the consensus of several of you for the school she missed. I will start checking it out, and talk to my D. Your points seem extremely valid. I checked the overall SAT requirements for the college and they seem reasonable and in her range (though for nursing this whole thread is about nursing requirements “inflation” compared to non-nursing applicants). Though we have not visited the school yet, I see no reason why she cannot apply, and see if we can find time to visit the campus in the mean time. I wonder how many applicants end up doing that! Probably lots. My daughter will check it out! Thanks for that tip.</p>
<p>We visited villanova last weekend my D was very impressed!</p>
<p>There are many great things about Villanova. However, don’t be surprised if they offer less financial aid than comparable private universities.</p>