Nursing Class of 2026 (Direct Admit BSN)

College Majors Nursing Major
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This is my first post so bare with me. :slight_smile:

Thought I had it all figured out. DS who graduates HS 2022 as a senior has chosen business school, finished his AA-T in Business at a local comm college and plays ice hockey. He plans on San Diego State or U of Oregon. Both great business schools and club ice hockey.

DD who also is graduating HS in 2022 as a Junior has her AA in Deaf Studies and had planned on going to CSUN to get a BA in Interpreting as they have one of the best program in the country. After binge watching Grey’s Anatomy and some deep thought, she now wants to go to nursing school. I have been a nurse for over 25 years (ICU for 15 years- with years as a travel nurse and Home care for 10years) and she has seen me be a full-time mom with a great paying/flexible job helping people. Honestly Im thrilled she wants to go into nursing but I have spent about 80 hours the past few weeks sending emails, researching schools etc. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

I have always said, a nurse is a nurse is a nurse. Although I have my BSN, the ASN nurses that I work with make the exact same money. As an RN, nobody asks what your GPA is or where you went to school for that matter. All that being said, I want my daughter to get her BSN because she has the potential of an advanced degree. (NP, Nurse Anesthetist, etc)

At this point we are fully committed to a direct admit program. We live in Ventura County, CA and anyone in CA knows that our state is a disaster for admission to nursing school.

My daughter has a HS 4.5 weighted GPA, a 4.0 NW, and a 4.0 at the community college. She is #2 out of 322 students in her class. She will graduate with 90 community college credits. (which will include most of her nursing prerequisites this coming junior year) She is presently in a CNA class and will finish that in the next 6 weeks. She has also had a job working 18 hrs week as a caregiver to a special needs adult. No sports and really no clubs.

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I have read through every post on this site regarding direct admit programs.

I suppose its possible that she could get into San Diego State with her grades but Im not counting on it. That would be the most affordable option. I have looked out of state for the most part.

Im curious about schools like North Dakota Sate, which is Direct admit, and is not impacted.

Even though my daughter has stellar grades, I don’t want her to be in a crazy competitive environment. I want her to have a life in college and enjoy the process. She wants that “college experience”.

Even with merit scholarships, many of the schools I have looked at are just not affordable. I can’t stomach spending $40K or more per year for 4 years. Im looking for like $25 K per year including board. Out of state prices are ridiculous! U of Porland, Temple, Pacific Lutheran, Creighton, U of SF are just not affordable.

For those who have poured over direct admit schools, which ones did you find that were actually affordable. Im open to schools like North Dakota State. (although my Santa Monica born seen snow 4 times daughter might freeze to death)

One last note, I have contacted about 25 direct admit schools and the majority say even though she has all of the comm college credits, she would still need to be there for 4 years.

Pacific Lutheran U looked promising as their program is 3 years. My DD would have to wait a year as she wouldn’t be 18 by the time clinicals started.

I vacillate between her doing 2 years at a UC or Cal State and then doing an accelerated program. Those are also competitive. I would prefer her doing a direct admit program at a good school.

DD isn’t picky, loves the city, is a liberal so no Christian Colleges, and wants a diverse campus.

It just need it to be affordable…

Any input is much appreciated.

PS: She has been homeschooled since Kinder and belongs to a public charter hence all the time to take advantage of dual enrollment at the Comm College

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For direct admit programs, check carefully the requirements to stay in the nursing major. For example, Arizona State University’s direct admit program requires a 3.5 college GPA each of the first four semesters to stay in, but UC Irvine only requires C or higher grades and a 2.75 college GPA in upper division nursing courses.

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Another possibility is a community college RN/ADN program, followed by an RN->BSN program, which may have less competitive admissions than BSN programs.

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I spoke with ASU last week. The Admission counselor disclosed the 3.5 GPA. That would not be an issue for my daughter because she will have those classes completed already. He confirmed that after she started the actual program post prerequisites that she no longer needed to keep the 3.5

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I have also looked at the local RN program with the CC. It is also HIGHLY competitive with lots of hoops to jump through. My daughter has been there for a few years now doing dual enrollment and does not want to live at home. She wants to spread her wings and I can’t blame her. :wink: I went to college 1300 miles from home and it was the best choice for me.

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Take another look at University of San Francisco. They state, “In fall 2019, 90% of incoming first-year students received some form of financial aid, with an average aid package of $26,651 and an average merit award of $15,252.” That would substantially lower the COA. They are a very diverse, social justice focused university.

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Her stats are good so I bet she’ll get one of the CSU’s or UC’s. Asuza Pacific gives good merit scholarships if you need to start looking for private schools

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She will probably have instate options, but you could also look at out of state with good merit - U of Utah, ASU, UNM are all nearby with good merit and have direct admit programs (Utah and UNM you apply separately after admission) Michigan State is further, but also has a direct admit program and the merit is good (I think dd has been offered $28k merit/yr between oos merit and honors college merit) We also found many of the Jesuit schools to give good merit. CA ones not as much, but Creighton, Regis, and Marquette all came out to $30-35k/yr after merit.

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@CopperlineX2 - Asuza is an evangelical Christian U that requires chapel 3 times a week. My DD would be OK with a religion class but I don’t think she would be happy in that type of environment.

@ECmotherx2 - We will def apply at USF. She would LOVE to go to school there. It alls comes down to cost.

@sun246- We have looked at U of Utah. Not a big fan of ASU as the nursing students are downtown and not on campus. UNM kinda scares me with their school stats. I wonder if they have a good program.

We are open to all Midwest schools and East coast schools.

For Cali we will apply to UCI, SDSU, Cal State SM, Cal State Fullerton, and U of San Fran. Maybe she will get lucky. With no test scores, I would imagine loads of 4.0 students will apply. I guess we will see…

Im lucky that A’s come easy to DD. Its a bit ridiculous (although prob to our benefit) that the Cal States only look at GPA. All schools aren’t equal. There are some local private schools that kids have to work their butts off for a 4.0 and being a homeschooler with a public charter and loads of community college work makes her look better on paper with less effort. ??

We will likely apply to at least 12-15 schools, which seems ridiculous but I want her to have choices.

Im seriously thinking about North Dakota State. I have heard they have a great nursing program and they are direct admit. I have heard Fargo is a cool city and there are cheap flights between LAX and Fargo. It also comes out at 23k per year with the 3K presidential scholarship.

Does anyone know anyone with experience with NDSU? My good friends daughter went there for math and enjoyed it. Yes I know it is COLD…

So much work goes into this process. She reached out to West Chester U, in PA this morning and it seemed to be a good fit after talking with admissions. Then the director of nursing said that if she has done more than 30 CC classes, she is not eligible for direct admit. WHAT?

Then you have Penn State telling her that she needs to retake all her nursing prerequisites at Penn and they won’t accept any CC work.

Every college/university is so different, which is why researching is so important.

I was looking at Carroll University in Montana, another affordable direct admit. Its a Catholic college but doesn’t require chapel. Will have to look more into their diversity and inclusivity to see if it might be a fit.

Montclair in NJ is also a good price and from what I’ve read a decent program. It is really a commuter school. Not sure if that really matters.

The search goes on… :slight_smile:

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It is unlikely that Pennsylvania public universities (PASSHE schools like West Chester or CSHE schools like Penn State) will come under the $25k per year for you – even Pennsylvania residents tend to have difficulty affording them and often have relatively high debt loads.

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@ucbalnus- West Chester is actually affordable for oos Tuition - West Chester University

I hadn’t originally looked at it but found it somewhere in a nursing forum on this site as a recommendation for affordable oos.

Looks like a great program and it is direct admit. Unfortunately for us my DD has more than 30 dual enrollment credits.

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Agreed that Penn State is def NOT in our budget…

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oh and West Chester said that they give merit scholarships for GPA over 3.8

per the admissions gal

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Out of state cost is listed as $36,013.14, and that does not include the misc/personal/travel amount commonly listed in other universities’ student budget estimates. That seems considerably higher than the $25,000 per year budget you mentioned above.

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ah right, I did say 25K was my goal.

Winona State seems to be in that neighborhood. https://www.winona.edu/admissions/undergraduate/affordability.asp

Does anybody know if they have a good program?

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Winona State claims to have a high NCLEX pass rate, but they weed out direct admits aggressively with a 3.75 college GPA requirement: 404 - Winona State University

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Geesh…

Its all so discouraging. :frowning:

Anybody know anything about Carroll College? Seems like they give generous merit and that could end up around 25K

I have an email out to them…

I feel bad for these kids trying to get into school. I had a C average in HS in Connecticut and went to a 4 yr in Ohio. (took me 5 years) Being successful in life is not about grades.
Not once has that affected my nursing career. Im a hands on learner and back in the day they did not accommodate for kids who learned differently.

Thank goodness DD takes after my husband and doesn’t have my dyslexic brain. :wink:

I think she would be good at Winona with the 3.75 because she will have taken almost all of those classes at the local community college. Just need to clarify with them that they will accept those classes. Most colleges have said they would. ASU also said that if she had most of the prerequisites done beforehand, they would calculate the gpa off the CC classes. So long story short, I think we will be good keeping direct admit status provided that the school will transfer in those classes.

For the most part, even though she will have many prerequisites done, she will still need 4 years in a direct admit program. Most schools have told me that. She can fill those spots with ceramics classes. :wink:

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I know Carroll is a Catholic College but they don’t require chapel. I asked about their diversity/ inclusivity stance…

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… and calculate any GPA for weed-out purposes including those transfer grades. Be sure to get that clearly stated in writing.

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