Louisville if you want larger D1-type school. There are several smaller schools in the middle of the country I can suggest too. My daughter only wanted warmer locations and larger schools so many great options were eliminated for us.
When looking at direct admit nursing programs, be sure to check the weed-out criteria (grades or GPA). Often, this is buried in the nursing student handbook. But weed-out GPAs at various schools range from the low 2.x range to the high 3.x range.
Note that a non-direct admit nursing program with automatic admission with a X.Y college GPA is the same as a direct admit nursing program that weeds out students below an X.Y college GPA. However, most non-direct admit nursing programs are competitive admission, rather than having a pre-set college GPA to get automatic admission.
She will need to leave Penn State and live near Hershey, Pa, for her last year of college. We are in western Pennsylvania and very few students have Penn Stare UP as a first option for DA nursing because they don’t want to lose a typical college experience by only being on campus for 3 years.
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In terms of switching campus, mine didn’t have to but did move off campus. Many nursing students, herself included, moved further away from campus as juniors. It might not be as big a deal as you think since the students will be consumed with studying and clinicals. I would speak to some students before crossing an otherwise acceptable/desireable program off the list for that reason.
I agree. Once nursing students hit junior year between classes, clinicals and studying for boards the typical college experience isn’t typical anymore. They’ll be spending plenty of time with their cohorts. Still nicer to be on-campus but probably not as big an issue as perceived.
Hershey is a great place to learn. Lots of ways to get involved with different specialties. My wife’s first nursing job was the there many years ago. She’s now the chief CRNA at a large hospital. Her experience there was invaluable. Plus it’s a nice area to live. Good luck
I was specifically addressing a poster who said that her daughter wanted a typical college experience. Hershey may be a great place for clinicals, but missing senior year on a fun, big 10 campus isn’t typical. My daughter is at the University of Michigan. While nursing students there have different schedules than most students, they are still on campus and enjoying their friends (nursing cohort and otherwise) and activities.
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I think your D will get into a few DA programs. Then the question becomes tradeoffs. In our area, Pitt is the trifecta. Direct admit, great local clinicals, and large college experience.
As for PSU, it’s direct admit and Happy Valley is a fun place but you’re at Hershey for one year. It’s a trade-off. Lose one year on-campus but do clinicals at a large teaching/trauma hospital in a nice area. From my wife’s experience and some of her BF’s (including a PSU nursing professor) it’s worth it. That said I’m guessing the nursing acceptance rate at PSU is less than 10%.
Do your own due diligence with Temple. We liked the campus itself but the surrounding area is rough. Especially the past 2 years. S20 turned down a great offer and S21 didn’t even apply. We know several students who have transferred out of Philly schools recently. Good luck.
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Has anyone’s student been accepted to Florida Southern’s direct entry BSN program for fall 2023? My kid got in earlier this week, but no mention of merit scholarship. We had heard that in previous years it was in the acceptance letter. The net price calculator led us to expect a merit scholarship, but now we don’t know what to think.
Daughter was accepted to DA Nursing at Duquesne. Received merit but COA still expensive.
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Nevermind- the scholarship letter came in the mail!
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How quickly did she hear back after her completed application? My daughter has applied to Auburn as well and we were not sure how long she would be waiting to hear. Do you mind me asking your daughter’s stats? We have not visited yet, but plan to if accepted. She has admits from 3 schools so far.
She applied on 8/1 and heard back on Oct 14th which was the first notification date. The next notification date is supposed to be mid-Nov. If your daughter had everything completed by 10/15, she should hear back then.
GPA 3.8 UW 4.27 W
SAT 1380 Math 660 English 720
Thanks so much. Yes, she submitted by 10/15 so we will be expecting mid-Nov then. I’m encouraged with the stats. My daughter is similar.
GPA 3.70 UW
ACT 31 (one test)
Sounds like she is in good shape. 
My daughter has similar stats and UTenn and URI are her top as well! She also is an EMT - lucky for her that her high schools has a state run EMS program and the students actually go to all EMS calls that the town the HS is in responds to. We are hoping this gives her that boost that she needs to get in as it is so competitive even with a 3.9 and lots of leadership (Captain of sports team etc). Good luck.
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Hi-- Totally agree that a non-DA program is just not worth it.
My D22 loved UTenn & URI Nursing as well!
She got into to URI Nursing, and almost enrolled, but ended up choosing UMaine.
There had been some discussion of this and other threads, but worth mentioning again: the reason my daughter did not go to URI is that URI essentially has secondary admission guidelines, somewhat buried and confusing, but you’ll find it clearly in the fine print of their Nursing curriculum page.
Basically EVEN IF YOU HAVE/EXCEED THE NECESSARY GPA and successfully complete all prerequisites, progression through the program remains what they call “competitive.” They only have so many spots in the upper level Nursing classes and they will pick and choose who progresses any particular semester. Completely arbitrary. There is no way to control it, or know who will be chosen. This is not a true direct admit program.
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Wow, OceanAir, that’s really sneaky. We ran into those programs as well, that billed themselves as direct admit and then had fine print about what that meant. We had to make sure their idea of DA was ours.
Hi good to know - we are going to a “like a ram” session at URI in a few weeks for Nursing and will be sure to pin them down about that! UMaine is a good school - I am from Maine and my daughter goes there a lot so she is looking for somewhere a little more unknown to explore. UTenn is another top one for her but after that it is pretty much a toss up.
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I would love to know what you learn from URI about the “direct admit” or lack thereof. My daughter’s first choice is UTK too…
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