Hi everyone!
I’m a current junior in high school and am looking into nursing schools! I live in Ohio so I’m mainly looking at schools in the state but I am interested in a few that are not. I just need some help on whether or not you guys think I could get into these schools and if you have any more recommendations for me! Also ideally I’m looking for a big school atmosphere (preferably with undergrad enrollment above 10,000)
Stats:
GPA: unweighted: 4.0 weighted: 4.4
ACT: 30 (E-33, R-36, M-26, S-25) I’m studying really hard and retaking it in February and I’m sure I can get it up to a 32/33
APs: 2 so far, 3 by graduation
Numerous honors and dual credit
Extra curricular: class officer fr. year, 6th grade camp counselor jr and sr year, freshman mentor jr -maybe sr year-, student council sr year, NHS, volunteering with historical society (however no medical volunteering)
Schools:
Safeties: Kent st, mt. Union
Target: Miami u, Xavier, Ohio U, u of Alabama (however Alabama is a bit far)
Reach: UMich, NYU
Any insight would really help!! Thanks!
I moved this discussion from search and selection to nursing major
I am in Ohio also and very familiar with nursing schools here for my work. You are a strong candidate anywhere, especially if you move that ACT up a bit. Nursing qualifies for the Ohio First scholarships (mostly state, but some private colleges too). You should be shooting for that.
The only hole I see is exposure to the medical world. At a minimum, you need to do a solid job shadow with a nurse. Important that you are sure you won’t faint at the sight of blood (not kidding, this happens). Also nursing slots are precious, so they want to be sure that applicants really want to be a nurse. So anything you can do to show you are making a very informed decision is wise. Volunteering of course is good.
Also, nursing school is tough, but you are clearly a strong student. That being said, ensure you have some rigorous science courses your senior year. The math often derails nursing students; aim high and do well in your math course. Same for bio, chemistry and physics. If you’ve had all three, including labs, by your senior year you will be a stand out candidate. Where you go to college is less important that where you train for your clinicals, so let’s get you into the most cost effective, hospital-linked nursing school!
I think you have a nice list started. Your GPA and ACT currently are very good even now for a lot of the schools you have applied to (except your reaches which are wild cards for any student). The number of AP courses are slightly low for a lot of the upper end schools but they will likely be fine for your target and safeties. (4-6 APs is a number I have heard quoted) But again, don’t stress yourself if this will make it too much for you. UM is very, very competitive from a Nursing standpoint.
The biggest thing you need to decide is if you want to target Direct Admit Nursing programs. Some on your list are Direct Admit (meaning they admit you directly into the school as a Freshman vs having to reapply your sophomore year in college). My D is a Senior in HS and we started out prioritizing geography over Direct Admit Nursing and have had to scramble the beginning of her Sr year to make a new list. Some of your schools are Direct Admit and others are not.
Big school adds that are Direct Admit (but also Midwest) are Univ of Cincy, Purdue, Univ of KY. Not sure where else you want to go geography wise but Clemson would also be a good choice but slightly smaller maybe than you are looking for. But definitely a good atmosphere.
Check out the Direct Admit list on CC and also the 2024 Nursing forums. You’ll get a really good feel of what is out there and where others are applying / accepted.
I was accepted Early Action to UMich.
Stats:
ACT - 30
SAT - 1340
Weighted GPA: 4.145
6 AP classes
Activities: Cross Country, Track, Youth Group, SADD, Leadership Concurrence, Model United Nations, Spanish Honor Society, United Way, Special Olympics, Team Captain, etc I have not volunteered in any medical location
I am taking a class that is Health Science specific and have done two job shadowing experiences in Labor and Delivery and Orthopedic Surgery Unit.
I also have a discipline record for “drinking” at a school function, and was required to write an additional essay (but I was accepted everywhere I applied)
You should have no trouble getting in to a direct admit school! I
Were you admitted to the nursing program EA? When my son was admitted to UM he was first admitted EA to Michigan, Ross business school was announced a month or two later - not sure if it’s the same for nursing?
My D20 has very similar stats if you can get your ACT up to a 32/33. She was accepted to UofMinn, UDel, Case Western, Loyola-Chicago, Marquette, Quinnipiac, and Michigan State (Nurse Scholar is a direct admit program). All of these programs are direct admit. She did not want to apply to any program that was not direct admit. She also wanted a ‘big school’ experience, so many of her schools are large. She received large merit at all schools. She volunteered last summer at a hospital, but that was the only nursing-related EC she had. You are in good shape, just finish strong. You could also look at Purdue, but my D20 did not like that school so did not apply.
Thank you all so much! Umich is my dream school, unfortunately since I am out of state I doubt I’ll be able to get enough scholarships to make it an option.
Miami of Ohio is very competitive. From nursing admissions:
We received over 1200 applications to the nursing program for Fall 2020. I do not know how many students were admitted, but the average GPA of admitted students was 4.08 and the average ACT score was 30.2
@Aurora23 yes, directly from Miami. Your stats are def in the range though. I also think Xavier is a safety school for you. You would also get into UK as a pre-admit to nursing (they don’t do direct admit but have provisional admit based on high school). Their set up is wonderful with the hospital right on campus.
@Aurora23 I woudn’t give up hope for Miami! Their stats do appear to be high but as Finalthree said, you are in the range. I’m not sure how many spots Miami has in Nursing but schools always accept way more than their class size. Xavier as an example receives about 1000 applications and I think accepts around 800 for a class of 150. Miami may be much more competitive in terms of their Nursing class size vs number of applications but just know that they will always have a larger number of students that get admission offers vs the number of seats they actually have in the nursing program. The school will know from past year’s what they typical “yield” is and give admission offers based on that yield %.
@Aurora23 Not to bang the drum (yet again!) for my daughter’s school, but you appear very competitive for the University of Cincinnati. It is a direct admit school. I would consider it a match based on what you presented. It was the first school to offer a BSN, and it’s still pretty dang good
Since you are in Ohio (as am I) you are likely aware that Kent State is not direct admit. While it’s not particularly hard to get into Kent, it is competitive to get into the nursing program. I think I remember reading that Miami O’s program is split between two campuses, but that might be old information.
Make sure you understand their terminology. Some schools she considered we took off the list after realizing their definition of direct admit was not ours. One school, which shall remain nameless, seemed to play fast and loose with that definition and made me very uncomfortable to the point that we never even toured.
What we did is look at schools in Ohio that were true direct admit, and come up with a list from there based on the program. Some were nixed immediately for one reason or another. Her final list was Cincinnati, Wright State, Otterbein, Xavier, Ohio Northern (a hidden gem in Ohio), Walsh University (her second choice) and Capital.
With those stats, I would encourage you to also look at Case Western near Cleveland.
Miami of Ohio is new to nursing - which is why my DD passed over offer and generous merit. Liked the school, but nervous there was no nursing alumni for internships, jobs etc. She has friend in nursing program there though who is loving it!
Hi!! Graduating University of Alabama nursing senior here. I graduated high school in Ohio. Feel free to dm me with any more questions that you have about the program!
University of Alabama has a great scholarship program for students. In high school, my ACT was a 35 and GPA was a 4.9 weighted. I received a full tuition scholarship from bama.
For alabama, you take 2 years of pre reqs and then apply for upper division.
There are three promotions per year - spring, summer, and fall. The summer and fall each admit around 100-120 students each. The spring admits around 30-40 students. About double the amount of students apply for spots (the acceptance into upper division is about 50%). Summer promotion is more competitive than fall. Promotion is based upon an interview (this year they asked about hardships you have overcome), a standardized test called the ATI TEAS, overall GPA, and science GPA. Summer promotion overall GPA is typically around a 4.0 with a science GPA of 3.7. Fall promotion overall GPA sits around a 3.7 with a science GPA of a 3.4. Not entirely sure about spring averages. I was admitted to fall with a 4.1 overall and 4.0 science GPA (did not apply for summer).
They also give preference to in-state students (this has been stated in writing). Although this is not stated anywhere, there is a preference for males, etc. to get into the program.
It is very nerve-wracking to take a few years of pre-reqs and wonder if you will get into the program. Many lower division pre-reqs are “weed-out” classes, such as chemistry and organic chemistry. Especially if you struggle with anxiety and nerves as I did it can be a very rough two years. I had many friends have to switch to schools such as UAB, UGA, etc. or change their major.
Personally, if I could do it all over again, I would choose a different, direct-admit program. I had to retake one of my upper division courses due to failing it. There are many MANY holes in the nursing program at Alabama (both in pre reqs and upper division itself) and would not put myself through that again.
@melp99
Thank you so much for sharing your experience going though the pre nursing route . My daughter is into two pre nursing schools which are a three hour drive from our house and considerably cheaper than the direct admit schools which she got into which are OOS and require her to fly. We do know kids who have successfully gone the pre nursing route but I think as you say it can be very stressful having to compete against classmates and transfer students for a spot . Not all schools are very forthcoming about detailing your chances to move from pre into nursing and how many attempts you get. Your comments convinced me with our d ( who would hate that pressure) it’s worth going the direct admit OOS route. Best of luck stating your nursing career.
