Well, it is a great deal and it is not.
My D. was in what you would call a “direct entry” program to the Med. school, they are called combined bs/md programs. However, she was in UG part of it on full tuition Merit scholarship. Actually, she did not get into such program at Case (which also offerred her Merit that was close to full tuition), she was rejected.
Going forward. Yes, being in a program removed a lot of stress, D. could pursue many interests at college and recieved very well rounded college education. However, her GPA and the MCAT score were enough to apply to Med. Schools “regular route” and she did (the only one who bothered to apply out of her bs/md, all others went straight to the Med. School in a program). D. was successful, she got accepted to 3 more Med. Schools and guess which one she choose - yep, CWRU.
So, at the end, the hard working student will get in either way. It depends strictly on the STUDENT, the place will not achieve it for her. And as for the rest of the kids in D’s initial bs/md program that had only 10 spots…at the end it had only 5 kids still pursuing Medical School. So, apparently, even the “direct entry” is NOT a guarantee, some kids discovered that medicine was simply not for them, others could not meed requirements that were pretty low in comparison to a “regulat route” requirments of GPA/MCAT score and they just fell out.
Again, all is in the STUDENT hands, “direct entry” or not, there is NO quarantee.
Hard-working students with great grades do not necessarily get into nursing school in a timely manner, MiamiDAP. I know of one student with a 3.9 lower division gpa, 3.93 gpa for the pre-requisites for nursing – and she is still waiting for a nursing spot to open up two years later.
The non-direct-entry nursing programs are a huge crapshoot, imo, and much different than medical school admissions. If you know a student’s gpa, gpa in science, and MCAT score you can rather easily compute the chances for medical school admission. Not so for getting into a BSN with non-direct-entry, at least in our state for the public colleges that offer nursing.
I’d have to agree with @arabrab, @miamidap. The process is very, very different. A medical school applicant applies to multiple schools while a nursing major applicant applies to the institution where she has matriculated. she does not apply to several and pick. One thing is similar, however. Even in direct entry, the student has to meet established standards to progress, and not all of them will.
I had no idea it could be so difficult to get into a nursing program. My daughter opted to attend the nursing program at our local community college. After 2 semesters of anatomy & physiology, she began nursing classes and clinical rotations. After earning her assoc degree in nursing (ASN), she took and passed the NCLEX and then easily transfered to a local uni that offered a ASN to BSN program. This was a terrific option as it was much cheaper and there was no stress wondering if she’d actually get into the nursing program after 2 years of college.
I will add that before she had finished up her BSN, she was offered a plum position as an emergency dept nurse (her first choice). So, the hospital certainly didn’t frown on her resume.
I attended an info session at the U of a Minnesota where the nursing Prof went on and on about how hard it was to get into the program and how you had to have a plan B. my daughter was visibly shaken. Then we went on the tour with another nursing instructor who told us “Um I need to tell you all that the professor has been on sabatical and didn’t realize we’ve moved to almost all gaur anted admission!”
@bookreader – What you describe is how (theoretically) our community college nursing programs are supposed to work. However, none of them actually do work that way. Our local CC did not take any ASN applications for two years because they had such a big backlog. Attempting to transfer and do an ASN or BSN at another public college is also very, very hard: they set different prerequisite requirements, and in the case of the CC’s, usually give a preference to in-district students.
@maya54 – U. of Minnesota admits the vast majority of nursing students using a guaranteed admission basis, which is effectively direct admissions. Look at how few slots are available for any student who has already completed any college classes: http://www.nursing.umn.edu/BSN/transfer-student-how-is-the-bsn-program-admission-process-changing/index.htm
If a student can’t get into a direct admit (or guaranteed admission program, like Minnesota’s) the chances of actually getting into a nursing program at a public college just aren not that great.
@arabrab. Yes. They do. ButUMinn moved to a mostly guaranteed admission only in recent years. The professor who originally spoke to us had been away and wasn’t aware that most slots would now be guaranteed. My point was that without that guarantee it would have very risky. Which is what the professors statement drove home. I think it’s why several schools have moved recently to a guaranteed/ direct admission including Minnesota and a Emory.
The cc programs at the cc’s here are essentially 3 years, one of prereqs and then the students who make the cut scores get in or get on the wait list for the RN classes. The BSN bridge programs are pretty easy to get into as the hospitals seeking magnet status need to get a certain percentage of their nurses at the higher credential. There are 3 local schools offering the bridge and a number of online options.
The non-direct entry at the state school is 4.5 years, so 5 for the ADN then BSN isn’t that far out of line. It’s a decent route to the degree.
What I described is exactly what my daughter did. And I mention it because I doubt that our local comm college is the only one in the US where a person could do what my daughter did. In this particular case, our comm college has a number of articulation agreements with other colleges. My daughter knew in advance about these programs, picked out the ASN to BSN program that she was interested in and had it all well planned out in advance. Because there is an articulation agreement between the two schools for this particular program, transferring was very simple.
So, I mentioned it here because so many don’t ever think to consider what their local comm college has to offer. They might be pleasantly surprised.
"Even in direct entry, the student has to meet established standards to progress, and not all of them will. "
-This was the only point that I was trying to make in post #40.
Just going to point out that the OP has not logged on since s/he posted this thread in January 