Tough decision for my daughter - Any help deciding on these 3 schools for nursing would help? Basically Scranton would be the cheapest but Delaware and PITT are not much more.
I’m assuming she has been accepted to all three?
Yes she was. We narrowed it down to these schools and we are not sure what to do. PITT is the furthest school and she is not sure she wants to go that far but she likes the school and the program. She is thinking either Scranton or Delaware now but still not sure. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Three great choices.
My D is at Scranton for the health sciences and she couldn’t be happier. The learning facilities are top notch, and it is a great group of kids.
All three schools have excellent Nursing Programs. With all other factors being fairly equal I would suggest that she attend the school where she feels she best “fits in”. I realize this is very subjective in nature but hopefully your D can obtain some degree of separation based on this. I will say that UD is in the forefront nationally in the development of Nursing educational teaching devices utilized in SIM Labs in conjunction with the outstanding Engineering School at UD. They also have their own Nurse managed Primary Health Care Center located on campus. Perhaps you saw some of these when you visited the school or went/will go for decision days (yesterday and next weekend). Good luck in your D making her decision.
Congrats Gator those are three great choices. My son is at UD and loves it. My daughter is beginning the search for a nursing program, do you mind if I ask what your daughters stats (GPA, test scores, ECs) were? Those are three schools my daughter would love to attend. Thank you.
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UD also has nice new honors dorms. If a student was accepted into UD’s nursing program, I assume they would be admitted to the honors program.
Actually 3K+ of UD’s 4K Freshman are housed in New dorms (and one completely renovated Dorm complex) completed over the last 3 years. About 1K non-honors freshman are housed in a new dorm and dining complex completed last year. Honors students have been housed in a fairly new dorm completed 3 years ago. The majority of freshman Nursing majors are not in the Honors Program (although many of them probably would be eligible at a lot of other colleges-at UD you have to apply specifically for Honors Program admission-many Nursing majors do not elect to do so).
My daughter did not apply to the UD Honors because she read a few articles stating that nursing is the hardest undergraduate program. She was nervous to apply but after visiting on Saturday she wished she had. The honors dorms are beautiful and have air conditioning. She really liked the program. She is extremely torn between Scranton and UD. She is thinking PITT may be far even though their program is excellent. @NJDad65 My daughter is in the top 10% of her class, 4.0 GPA, 1880 SAT (both times), Pres of student gov, frosh and soph year student gov rep, junior year Secretary, 2 soccer teams (both HS and travel), captain of soccer team, lots of community service, ap, honors, college classes, NHS, and Science NHS. She organized many fundraisers at her school and outside of school. She currently works plus has a little business of her own as a birthday party organizer. She is also involved in other clubs at school. I am not sure what else I am missing but that is basically what I can think of off the top of my head. She was also admitted to all the nursing programs she applied but waitlisted at Villanova. I hope this helps!
Scranton will have smaller classes, and the campus is gorgeous. Great facilities.
Has she visited both for an admitted student day - attended classes (freshman English and a first year nursing class would be good choices), eat in the cafeteria (not just for the food but to see if students are social and friendly), etc. ?
What about the nclex passing rates ?
Honestly Scranton and UDel are both awesome choices and your daughter can’t choose wrong.
Thank you @MYOS1634. Yes, we visited both on admitted student day. She likes different things about both programs and schools. We may have to go back and visit again.Both have good nclex pass rates!
my dd was admitted to both Pitt and UD. Did not apply to Scranton. She decided she didn’t like the city so out with Pitt. We went to UD nursing tour last December and again last Monday and for some reason learned so much more this last week. I think we knew what to ask and also why they do things they do after comparing schools. We also went this last Saturday and picked up more since a staff member/alumni and multiple students were there to share their experiences. It seemed to bring a lot of clarity. I don’t know much about Scranton but my niece went there for education and loved it. My son went to UD for engineering and loved it and his gf (prob future wife) also a UD alumni was Health Sci and loved it.
I think you have 3 good schools and can’t go wrong.
My dd was a bit worried about UD being a party school but after last week visits she feels she will fit in fine since there is so much to do and met some kids that are like her with similar interests . The long winter break will be nice for getting ahead for internships, classes, study abroad or whatever. Most schools don’t have that. Some of the other schools we looked at don’t have a preceptorship or cancelled it and that is one thing my dd really liked as well as the advantages of the theater health.
Another thing we learned last Monday from a tour (was not brought up Saturday) is that the classes for Chem, Bio are large (as any school but not 300 more like 150) and it is topics nursing students need to know. I think this is an advantage. My son goes to UVA and there the math and writing classes he took were for engineers and engineering based on what they need vs being mixed with other disciplines outside his major. So there is value in that.
good luck!
I’m so glad to read your post @cali60 and that it was a successful visit this past weekend. We are gearing up for our visit to UD next weekend. Just returned from U of Miami which my d loved so much. So now onto our last college visit ! I just hope for a final decision very soon! Let me know anything via direct message that would be helpful for our upcoming visit!
Thank you @cali60! We decided we would go visit again. I think she decided PITT is out because it is the furthest. I also did not know that the Chem and Bio classes were that large. That makes me a bit nervous as Scranton’s classes average about 40 students. I have a new list of questions and we will ask on our next visit. If you have any other information to add, please post or inbox me! Thank you again!
@gators19 come to think of it, I think I got that wrong and that was another school. I actually don’t think they gave a number and said those classes are with most nursing students. You can confirm that. Sorry.
@netter11 you should have good weather this weekend at UD. it was unusually cold when we were there. And what’s not to love about Miami and the beaches… (that’s my kind of thing but my dd loves the seasons and refused to apply anywhere in FL or CA).
My S16 will be attending Pitt this fall for nursing. It was his first choice due to the location, the strength of the program and relationship/proximity to the UPMC network of hospitals. He also wanted a mid-size to large school, but likes that the nursing school is small (~115-120 entering each year).
It’s about a 6 hour drive away for us or a 1.5 hour plane ride. I’d prefer a 4 hour drive, but I felt that Pitt was the really the best fit for him.
Congratulations @RyanG1207! My daughter decided against PITT even though it has a great program! The drive is also 6 hours for us so she felt it was a bit to far. I prefer her closer as well but I would have been okay with her going if PITT was her choice. Now we have to decide between UD or Scranton! Good luck to your son!
Those all contain highly respected programs. She’ll be getting great training wherever she chooses to go.
Since all programs are great, her decision now should be based on other factors like money,student body size,class size, local area,housing, etc.
edit- Pittsburgh is a great college city! But I understand that distance matters to some 