Presidential Scholarship

Hey everyone I just woke up (yes 12:30) to a nice surprise. I received the Presidential Scholarship from UD $8,000 a year . Up to this point in time I hadn’t seriously considered Delaware it was more of a safety school but this sort of turns the tables. I was accepted for nursing. Anyone else receive the scholarship? And what should I know about Delaware?

I would recommend that you take a look at the Nursing website and visit the school if you have not done so already. UD has one of the best Nursing Programs on the East Coast. The facilities are state-of-the-art. Their SIMS lab is one of the best in the country with new Nursing Training devices being utilized that have been formulated in conjunction with the outstanding Engineering Department at UD. (one recent device formulated for tracheostomy care/training just won first place at an international Nursing device training competition-besting a device from Harvard). Many of these devices are worn by Threatre Arts majors who take a course and serve as mock patients in simulations. Other new devices are being formulated for training in urinary catheterization (I don’t know if I would want to be the “mock” patient involved with this training) and for venipuncture. UD also has a Nurse Managed Healthcare Center on Campus for additional training experiences. UD’s Nursing Program has an excellent reputation in the academic Nursing Field and graduates have little problem (assuming they do well) with being accepted to the best Nursing Grad Programs in the country. Just FYI 2/3rds+ of the freshman Nursing class is made up of OOS students (as is UD as a whole). Best of luck and congrats on your scholarship.

My son also received the Presidential Scholarship as a Mechanical Engineering applicant and that has made this school very affordable. Just be cognizant that the scholarship requires you to retain a 3.0 gpa, which may be a little challenging in programs like nursing and engineering. I know someone who lost their scholarship after the first year for this reason.

@Mwallenmd, my daughter has been accepted into the UD Nursing Program. She has also been accepted to UMASSAmherst, UMASS Lowell, Scranton, and Quinnipiac. She is waiting on UKY, UNCW, Sacred Heart and Villanova. UD is one of her top choices! You seem to have a lot of information regarding the program and I was wondering how you compare it to the other acceptances she has received so far? All schools seem to have high NCFLEX pass rates. She is an OOS and I thought she would get a bigger scholarship from UD. She only received $5,000 a year so the school is still quite expensive. Do you feel it is worth it and can you give me any more information on the program and clinicals? Also, do you know if it is possible to fight for more scholarship money? She is in the top 10% of her class and she has a great resume with lots of extracurricular activities plus she is always involved in community service. Thank you!

@gators19 I was also accepted to Scranton for nursing and am waiting to hear back from Villanova. I just visited Scranton last weekend, didn’t like it too much think I’d prefer Delaware. It’s just very small. However, they probably gave your daughter more money than Delaware. I’m sure if you give them reasons Delaware would help you; most times a school wants to know why you denied your spot and if you explain the financial part they may be more willing to cooperate. Probably best to wait until after FAFSA comes back, but best of luck!

gators19:

Congrats on your D’s Nursing acceptances. All of the Programs she has been accepted to have excellent Nursing Programs. Villanova also has an excellent Nursing Program but IMHO the cost of attending is about 15-20K more per year overall than UD and Villanova has a reputation of not providing a lot of merit aid.

UD’s Nursing Program is a state-of-the-art Nursing Program with a research-based design specially formulated to address the changing face of the Nursing Discipline. Many clinicals are held at hospitals within the Christiana Healthcare system, which is affiliated with the Thomas Jefferson University System in Philadelphia, one of the best Medical Schools in Philadelphia. So training is excellent.

Is the cost worth it? Our D graduated from UD with her BSN in 2010 (we are from NJ). Based on the education she received at UD IMHO it is worth it, especially with the accomplishments she has made in her Nursing career following her UD graduation. UD’s reputation in the Academic Nursing Field is equal to any Nursing Program in the country, which is especially important if a student plans on pursuing Nursing Graduate Education in the future. Following her graduation from UD she landed a highly competitive entry level Nursing position at Cornell Presbyterian Medical Center in NYC on an ICU unit and was involved there with the teaching of RN to BSN students from Columbia University. She also passed the CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse) certification exam while there (which makes the NCLEX look like a grammar school exam in comparison). She was set to begin her MSN Grad studies at Penn (one of the most competitive Nursing Grad Programs for acceptance into) until she visited the University of Miami and fell in love with the school and area. She is a warm weather/beach person so the weather and other activities there year-round were perfect for her. She obtained her MSN there as a Family Nurse Practitioner and is now on the Nursing Faculty at the University of Miami teaching BSN students. She feels that the basic excellent Nursing education she received at UD was a major factor in her ability to accomplish all these things.

I would recommend that you follow the advice of the previous poster (classof 2020ny) and inquire about if any adjustment can be made in the merit aid she was awarded. Unfortunately in the past students who have done this have not been very successful in getting any increase in merit aid. Just FYI the FAFSA is tied into need-based aid, not merit aid. So it would depend on your financial circumstance. UD does not provide a whole lot of need-based aid to OOS students. I wish your D the best of luck at wherever Nursing Program she decides to attend. I will say that should she decide to attend UD she will not regret the decision. If you have any further questions regarding the Nursing Program at UD please feel free to PM me.

@classof2020ny and @Mwallenmd thank you for your help and yes she received an excellent scholarship from both QU and Scranton. which makes it much cheaper than UD. She likes UD better than both of those schools. She also recieved more money from UMASS Amherst and Lowell making those schools cheaper as well. I was hoping for more from UD but that did not happen. @classof2020ny, what is your top choice?