<p>We are Kansas City, Missouri residents who are trying to pick the best nursing program opportunity for our daughter. Feeling swamped with college decisions right now as I have twins- one looking out of state at architecture programs and one in state for nursing. My wanna be nursing daughter has been accepted at Mizzou, Missouri State and a Truman, and really thought she'd pick Truman State until on a tour they told her that her stats (3.97 GPA with all advanced classes, lots of leadership, great EC's, etc. but a 23 ACT) were too low! for their direct admit program. So discouraging as she's worked so hard in high school and has some challenges with tests like ACT as she's been diagnosed with a post concussion syndrome from a horrible sports injury--one of the reasons she wants to be a nurse. Mizzou and Missouri State are still options but we know they are both extremely competitive with low acceptance rates. Yesterday went on a tour of William Jewell College 40 minutes from our home and we were extremely impressed with this direct entry, small program and it's proximity to clinically in KC. It's our most expensive option by far however and so small not sure about the "college experience" there for her. Anyone have any insight into picking a good program in Missouri? Should I not be so scared of acceptance rates at Mizzou or MSU? </p>
<p>How far are you willing to travel? Is St. Louis too far on the other side of the state? The master list of direct admit nursing schools thread has Saint Louis Univ. & Maryville Univ. In St.L. & Avila Univ. in MO. What about neighboring states to MO? There is listed Luther & Mt. Mercy in IA, Creighton in NE. You live in the midwest so there is a huge difference in the driving distances city to city than there is on the east coast which is more populous. You may need to consider increasing the distance from home to find more options. Good luck!</p>
<p>Less than four hours away would be ideal. Avila is too close to our home, probably-15 minutes away. I mentioned it to her and she rolled her eyes, lol. It’s hard because she wants an “away” college experience. Familiar with SLU but haven’t ever seen the campus but did see Maryville while visiting Washington University with her sister a couple weeks ago. She was not very interested in the “feel” of the campus there. However, if sister is lucky enough to get in Wash U (with enough need based aid) St. Louis may be more of an option. Creighton is a good suggestion, but it (and SLU) are $$$. Net calculators show 30k a year for us. Biggest problem is changing her preconceived idea of where she will go- she always thought a State U, but finding out nursing majors need to look at different options! People keep telling her we have great options here in KC but she doesn’t want to hear it. Thanks for the suggestions @blueskyforever </p>
<p>Hi @adtm1082 I don’t live in Missouri so I don’t know anything about the colleges there. But I live in a state that has lots of pre-nursing programs & very few direct entry programs so my D & I faced the same challenge last year when she applied to colleges. It was confusing & can be a bit stressful. </p>
<p>Does Mizzou or MSU offer any " Guaranteed Admission " ?
Some pre-nursing programs offer this & it has a separate application process.
It works similar to a direct admit even though the college is a pre-nursing. </p>
<p>If they do not, then they should be able to tell you previous year’s student profile / data on admitted students ( how many applied, how many got in & the college GPA needed to get in etc etc ). This will help you decide how competitive it is. </p>
<p>Ask them how difficult it is for their pre-nusring students to reach those GPA in freshmen/sophomore year. Some of the pre-req. sciencecs classes have hard grading scale & are hard to get As & Bs. </p>
<p>Has she been accepted or turn down by Truman State? I wasn’t sure when you said Truman State told her about her stats. Is your D willing to try the ACT one more time ? Maybe try the SAT ?
Hope this helps you.
Good luck.</p>
<p>@FlowerMom she did just take the Oct. 25 ACT, so we’re waiting new scores this week. She took a class before this test so hopefully her scores will improve, but her practice tests didn’t show a big leap. Reading is her downfall with her concussion injury, her scores are low. She is highest in Math and Science. Hate that the ACT matters so much. This is a girl who does well in AP Calculus and Physics, so she is a smart girl. Truman accepted her, but nursing app is separate acceptance, due in December. Truman told her at her visit that they do an “ability” score for admissions tied to only GPA and ACT–and hers would put her on wait list. We will submit that app with hopefully higher ACT scores. Mizzou does have guaranteed admit for their honors college students only --she would need 28 ACT. Not sure about MSU. Academically, I would think she’d be competitive at MSU, as it’s admission rates are less rigorous than Mizzou or Truman. It’s a good idea to ask more about their program stats, GPA, etc. From what we have found out through all our college visits, it sounds as if it would be easier to get into medical or PA school than nursing! </p>
<p>Hi @adtm1082 I wonder if the high school’s guidance counselor can write about her concussion injury, therefore her scores are low on time limited standardized test. The admission people need to know about the “story” behind the person applying. Eventhough the admission is based on " GPA & ACT ", hopefully, the admission staff will give more attention to the rigor of her HS courses and less on a 3-4 hr test. </p>
<p>My daughter & I visited SLU last July and we both were very pleasantly surprised by the university and the medical campus [nursing school & hospital among other buildings] which is about a mile away across a bridge from the main campus. We met the SON nurse recruiter and he gave us a tour of the nursing building and we spent another 45 minutes with him where he gave us all the info we needed and answered our questions. Our university tour guide was the most enthusiastic guide we have ever had and her school spirit was so refreshing to see someone genuinely loving her school and college experience. Her twin sister attends SLU also. Our tour guide told us that SLU was very generous with FA thus allowing them both to attend.The campus is full of old red brick buildings with lots of green areas [reminded me of east coast schools] and it is a bus ride to downtown & walking distance to Busch Stadium. My daughter definitely wants to appy to SLU. If SLU sounds like the type of school your daughter may like, you may want to get an application in ASAP because it is a rolling admissions school so once the nursing class is full they won’t continue accepting students. You can visit SLU later if accepted. </p>
<p>I am not sure if the school counselor should write anything about your daughter’s concussion syndrome since the admissions committee may consider it a disability. You may not want to put any doubt in your daughter’s ability to succeed since nursing is considered a rigorous program. Your daughter certainly is able to do well in the STEM classes. Hopefully, her ACT will improve but it is a known fact that not all students do well with standardized testing even with test prep. Hopefully, admissions will note her strong STEM class grades indicating her ability to handle challenging college classes.</p>
<p>@blueskyforever @flowermom – thanks for your advice. I’ll look into what I takes for her to apply to SLU, you are right, it doesn’t hurt to see what happens, just to give her more options. SLU sounds great, wish we made time to see it when we were in St. Louis last month. We were right by it! While we were at Truman we did mention to the Admissions Counselor her challenges on the ACT and her serious injury that she is recovering from. He said nursing school averages 350+ applicants for 50 spots, so what mostly drives their decision is numbers. He made it clear they only accept “the top” of their application pool. It was very discouraging actually. He said a good essay “may” help but combined ability scores have most weight. I doubt a high school counselor’s rec would help, especially since our counselor has had minimal interaction with my D, we are at a large public high school, not much individualized college advice, that’s for sure. </p>
@adtm1082 - Last November, you commented that you and your daughter visited Maryville Univ. & your daughter did not like the ‘feel’ of the school. I was wondering if you could elaborate on that along with the nursing program and any other information you could give me [ ie. area safety, diversity, dorms, religious atmosphere etc.] I am not familiar with the school but when I was looking at the Missouri NYCLEX results, I saw that Maryville has some very impressive passing stats since 2010 [consistently above 92%]. We visited SLU last summer but we do not plan another visit to the St. Loius area prior to applications going in. I now wish we had taken a look at Maryville when we were there. Thanks.
@blueskyforever I just say your post. I wish I could be more help, we did not do an official tour of Maryville, we saw the sign from the highway and so exited and looked around a bit. It was right after our tour of the impressive Washington University so it’s probably not fair to compare. It’s located in a suburban area and just looked like more of a commuter campus than the other colleges we visited.
Maryville is primarily a commuter campus located in a nice suburban area. They do have some dorms and apartments, including an old Marriott Courtyard that was converted to a dorm. There is nothing within walking distance of campus except homes and a hospital. If she has a car, there are plenty of stores and restaurants within a short drive.