<p>Hi everyone! I'm currently stressing over college admissions because nursing programs are extremely competitive and I'm afraid my GPA is going to be a problem. I've taken only honors/AP courses and pushed myself a little too hard in high school, resulting in a low gpa. I am a PA resident but I'm more than open to colleges that are out of state.</p>
<p>My stats:
3.2uw GPA (only ap/honors courses)
2020 sat, not superscored
29 act
Extra curriculars:
I've play in five orchestras, four of which require auditions, for all of high school
District orchestra 1 years
Violin lessons 4+ years
Played with the professional Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, twice
Model Congress 4 years, attended rutgers and harvard conference
Secretary of model congress 1 year
President of builders club 1 year
Class secretary 1 year
Student government
FBLA 3 years, attended state leadership conference and 3 regional conference
Hospital volunteer
Volunteer at yearly local asthma camp
Habitat for humanity volunteer
Science olympiad 1 year, 3rd place at mvc's
TSA 1 year, two top tens at regional conference, attended state conference
Student ambassador 1 year
Volunteered at presidential campaign center sophomore year
Key club 3 years
Best buddies (school program that pairs abled students with disabled)
Have held a job 2 years through highschool
Scholastic scrimmage 1 year
Writing club Treasurer
Medical Explorers (group at local hospital that meets monthly to meet with doctors and nurses)
Amnesty International, 1 year</p>
<p>Reccomendation Letters:
One from a doctor at the hospital I volunteer at
One from my school districts School Board President
One from a teacher at school
One from violin instructor</p>
<p>(Is four enough, should I gather more? Is it better to have recommendations from teachers?)</p>
<p>Nursing programs I plan on applying to:
Drexel
Temple
U Mass
Pittsburgh
Pennstate
Bloomsburg
U of Indiana
Rutgers
U of Ohio
Rutgers
U of CT
IUP
U of Delaware
Boston College</p>
<p>In no way is that last a group of schools that I think are matches- I have tried to include match, reach, and safety schools. Please, if you have any suggestions on additional nursing programs I should apply to, do let me know. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions on regarding anything above. Thanks!</p>
<p>If you are not eligible for substantial need aid, I wouldn’t pay full list price for a nursing degree from a school like Boston College. I’d save your money and your debt capacity for grad school etc. If you do receive substantial aid, then the expensive schools can often cost as much or less than Penn State. U. Del is now over 30K a year list price for tuition. There are cheaper good alternatives. </p>
<p>I assume you mean Ohio State, not of U. of Ohio? There also is an Ohio U. that is a public university. I assume you mean Indiana U. of Indiana? There is no U. of Indiana. </p>
<p>With so many good nursing programs in PA, I’m not sure why you would want to travel to Indiana or Massachusetts. You should also consider travel costs and time and wear and tear on cars. Your parents may not be thrilled about using up much of their vacation time to drive you back and forth.</p>
<p>Most public universities provide little or no need-based aid to out of state students. Some may be willing to offer some merit aid. </p>
<p>Check to see if you will be eligible for a PA. PHEAA college grant. They have a table on their website showing typical grants. Particularly if you would be eligible for a 4K a year grant for 4 years, that may be a strong incentive to stay inside PA. for college. Otherwise, the PHEAA grants are very small or non-existent if you leave PA.</p>
<p>I suggest looking at York College of PA. With your test scores, you would probably be eligible for their top merit aid, and only have to pay $9 a year for tuition. </p>
<p>Several of the state universities you have listed are very competitive for nursing admission for out of state students, including the main campuses of U Del, U Mass, Rutgers and U Conn. It is OK to have reach schools, as long as you apply by Oct. to some of the relative safeties on your list. Even the less competitive nursing programs often fill up by Dec.</p>
<p>My two kids applied to many colleges, and those colleges all set a maximum of two recommendations. Some didn’t want any. </p>
<p>I suggest you apply to Northeastern and Simmons in Boston. Attending school in the city puts you within walking distance of all the top hospitals and will be helpful for networking…Simmons should offer you significant merit scholarships with your SAT scores…your GPA is a little low, but because your SAT’s are so strong they will help tremendously. If it were the other way around, schools might be concerned about possible “grade inflation” but SATs are a great way to level the playing field. UNH has a nursing school, but the location is rural…not sure that interests you but we know several students who have attended the school and loved it. Your Extra Curriculars are great! </p>
<p>I would not apply to the big schools, UMass or UConn – they will have very high GPA and SAT students from their own states…try applying to schools that want to move up in the rankings…try Fairfield, Endicott, Regis and Salve Regina…my daughter went through the process last year and surprisingly the smaller schools offered lots of merit for high SAT scores…pay attention to the NCLEX pass rates…try to stay in the 90% percentile range and look back 3 or 4 years…all of this is posted on each state’s nursing certifications</p>