You said she was set on the interpreting path and then after watching a TV show now wants to change her major? This to me is why I would even more strongly push for her to wait until she’s 18 for clinicals.
The fact that she’s now changed her mind means that yes, you will have to pay for another year of college if the bsn programs won’t let her start clinicals until she’s 18.
I was the youngest in my graduating class at 21. Taking a gap year won’t hurt her. If she’s truly motivated and secure in her choice she can use that year to work and make money to pay for the extra year of college.
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@2plustrio Greys Anatomy was sarcasm. Anywho, food for thought…
Maybe a gap year isn’t a bad idea.
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I happen to do this for a living and I would highly caution against a newly 17 year old going directly into clinicals. Especially one who has been homeschooled her whole life.
As a nurse yourself, you may remember nursing school. These students are typically entered in as a cohort together. Nursing school is also very different now than what it was years ago.
You know your child. How will she adjust to living away from home? How would she deal with fellow classmates possibly being competitive or “rude”? People who work in healthcare can be blunt and quite frankly not nice. This past year with the pandemic has most even more on edge and less polite than usual.
I know you want your child to be successful and supported but in nursing school clinicals she will be treated like everyone else and not be treated as special. How do you think patients will respond to her? Shes working through her cna now. Has she seen people die? Seen people naked? Has she had a mean patient yet? Of course this will be new and difficult for most students.
You say she wants the “college experience” yet basically you are looking to push her through in 2 years.
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@2plustrio Thanks for the blunt feedback. Not a Pollyanna mom here but you do bring up some good points.
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My youngest student this semester is 23. Students are getting more competitive with each other every year it seems. Staff are stressed and I will admit, not always nice. Some are straight up rude to students.
Being totally candid, if your daughter looks her age, some would use her as a target. Students and staff could think she hasn’t “earned her way in” as she’s a non traditional student. If she doesn’t have a thick skin, I could see this being a huge stressor for her. If she makes a med error at 17 and hurts a patient, this is a liability too.
Of course admissions is going to tell you it’s all good and fine. They want the applications and the money. Let’s be honest. They are selling their services as a business. As the person who is actually with these kids face to face 8-16 hours a week, I know the reality.
Maybe your daughter has lots of work experience or has spent a lot of time socializing or working with groups of adults. But nursing school is way more than just being able to study patho and being book smart.
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York was my daughter’s first choice and one of least expensive until she visited U of Akron. Both schools offer 4 year BSN program. Some do not wish traditional college experience for nursing. Akron is further away but but she wanted bigger with more to do with the time she probably wont have since nursing is a very demanding major.
@TerryTw
What do you mean by “Some do not wish traditional college experience for nursing?”
So Ive narrowed down our list. I know that some do not meet my original request of non religious. We are open to some religion classes as long as there is not mandatory daily chapel.
Any schools I should omit or add? Goal is schools with great merit. I hope the formatting comes out ok. Just in case it doesn’t, school is on the left, cost of application and then whether they take common app.
Creighton, Pacific Lutheran, and Bloomsburg are prob top 3 at this point.
UGPA 4.0 WGPA 4.5
|
Cost applicantion |
Common App |
| Carrol College |
Free |
Yes |
| Seatte U |
$55.00 |
Yes |
| U of Portland |
$50.00 |
Yes |
| U of Utah |
$55.00 |
Yes |
| Carroll University |
Free |
Yes |
| Hood |
Free |
Yes |
| Pacific Lutheran University |
Free |
Yes |
| U of Wyoming |
$40.00 |
Yes |
| Duquesne |
Free |
Yes |
| York College PA |
Free |
Yes |
| Creighton |
Free |
Yes |
| Westminster Utah |
Free |
Yes |
| Monmouth |
$50.00 |
Yes |
| The College of NJ |
$75.00 |
Yes |
| Xavier |
Free |
Yes |
| U of Akron |
Free |
Yes |
| U of Tenn Knoxville |
$50.00 |
Yes |
| Kent State |
Free |
Yes |
| Cleveland State |
Free |
Yes |
| Purdue |
$60.00 |
Yes |
| Loyola Chicago |
Free |
Yes |
| U texas austin |
$75.00 |
No |
| Bloomsburg |
$35.00 |
No |
| Winona State University |
$20.00 |
No |
| North Dakota State |
$35.00 |
No |
| Indiana Univ of PA |
$25.00 |
No |
| Clarion university PA |
$35.00 |
No |
| Youngstown State |
$45.00 |
No |
| San Diego State University |
$70.00 |
CSU |
| Cal State Fullerton |
$70.00 |
CSU |
| Cal State San Marcos |
$70.00 |
CSU |
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To explain the top 3
Creighton- (pro) Seems highly respected within the CC boards, great merit, option to do a study abroad and they do accept dual enrollment credits so she can replace those classes with classes that interest her. (con) Location since we are from So Cal.
Pacific Lutheran- (pro) Location- she loves Seattle and Tacoma is close. They also will take all dual enrollment. They now have an option that she can do a 3 yr program. (con) Not sure if there will be enough merit
Bloomsburg- (pro) They will also take her dual enrollment credits and she can replace those classes with ASL (American Sign Language) classes which is a passion of hers. (con) Not sure if there will be enough merit.
Duquesne even with their highest merit scholarship is around $40k I think? What about West Chester?
@tumagmom I looked at West Chester. They seem to have a solid program. When I reached out to them in March, they said “you wouldn’t be eligible for the direct entry program for first year students. An alternate route for you would be to earn your associate’s degree in Nursing and then apply for WCU’s RN to BSN program”
For that program if you take over 30units of dual enrollment, you are not eligible for direct admit. My daughter will have about 90units of semester dual enrollment credits…
You may want to add to your chart the weed-out college GPAs that the student needs to keep to stay in the nursing major at each school.
@ucbalumnus right… Thanks
@RNmomof4 My daughter is starting Creighton (College of Nursing, class of 2025) in August. We are also from So Cal. I recommend a visit, as we were pleasantly surprised with the location and Omaha in general. Yes, it’s different, but we actually loved it and we are from Orange County, CA. We are not religious and my daughter is definitely on the liberal side of things - she felt welcomed and saw many other students of all walks of life during our tours of campus. The communication and organization from Creighton, in addition to the excellent merit, made it a winner! Throw in the study abroad that they absolutely encourage, plus the GPA requirement is not a weed out IMO. We met with nursing instructors and toured simulation labs in person during admitted student day and that sealed the deal. They want their nursing students to stay and succeed!
I’ve found the parent boards and college parent panels offered to be excellent and helpful, and my daughter already found a roommate through Instagram. All in all, we are incredibly happy we chose Creighton so far! She was also accepted to the NEAP Early Assurance Program at University of Utah but found the school to be too large, too overwhelming, and downtown SLC was not safe with so many homeless roaming downtown. Utah also did not have enough housing and she was put on a wait list with ZERO guarantee of campus housing, even though she submitted a deposit back in March. Creighton won easily.
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@og162506 Great feedback. Thanks much!
@ RNmomof4 Agree 100% regarding this post about Creighton nursing. My daughter is now completing her junior year and we have been delighted with all aspects of the program and her experience.
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After extensive research Creighton is a great choice. Only 32 K with a 25k scholarship and the gpa requirement to stay in the program and maintain the scholarship is less than 3.0, so your daughter will be able to enjoy her first two years of college. The staff there was impressive and they really care about their students’ success. Their students upon graduation get 1020 hours of clinical hours which dwarfed Seattle’s 600. I believe the average is about 800 or so across the nation. In 2023 they will complete the construction on a new nursing sim lab building to be shared w the Nursing and med students. In addition many of the clincal opportunities are close by and Creighton students have priority.
If I had to chose for my daughter she would be going there but she felt a connection w Portland, a more expensive school. Lol.
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FYI-
Creighton curriculum allows students to sit for nclex all 50 states!
@DentalDad In further communications today with Creighton, they will not take ANY science dual enrollment credits. Upon initial contact, we were led to believe sciences would transfer. They would all need to be repeated. That means that my daughter would need to repeat Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology, and 2 Chemistry classes. It kind of defeats the idea of getting ahead a bit.
Not off the table yet but that is not ideal…
@RNmomof4 - Your DD is really smart and studying Direct Admit BSN should not be a challenge for her. However, studying is just one piece of the college puzzle. For your DD, the success at college will depend on several factors -
-Is she comfortable traveling alone, back and forth from college to home.
-How comfortable would she be in a dorm? Would she be able to manage self-care, studies while handling social relationships with new people (students/teachers)
-Is she able to work with others in a combined studying setting, work on labs, projects etc. along with other students? she would need to build a new support system!
-Is she comfortable handling challenges and difficult situations on her own? Is she able to handle criticism/debate?
-Is she able to manage jobs, internships, clinical rotations etc… on her own in a out of state college. She may need to take public transportation etc…
These factors seem important to consider especially since your DD is homeschooled.