How competitive? Wharton competitive or no? Figuring out realistic for next year.
How does one even figure out how likely they are to get accepted. Feels like it is sometimes as competitive as CS programs!
Very Competitive. What are your stats?
Very competitive beyond stats. I know students ranked in the 1% of their high schools with top sat/act that did not get accepted. Those students were accepted to every single other nursing school so no issues. The target class is less than 150 students (around 100?) and admissions are holistic. Geo diversity, personal story, ED, legacy, fit to campus culture, ties to Philly etc etc. There is a long list. Of course there is a chance but I would say a high reach to all.
For other direct admit schools you just have to do some research. Some post acceptance rates others tell you if you call. Some you have to guess from their overall acceptance rate. A school that has overall rate less than 10% and is insanely popular it will be a reach for nursing as well (Northeastern). A school that has ED1 and ED2 will be very hard for RD etc.
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I don’t know how the acceptance rate compares to Wharton, but I know a someone who was rejected from UPenn nursing despite high grades/1560/great evidence for major. She is at Harvard instead, obviously not in nursing.
This strikes me as something in the student’s application suggested they weren’t serious about nursing. One doesn’t pick Harvard as an undergrad degree when your really want to be a nurse.
I am a Penn Nursing alumna—obviously many years ago when the acceptance rates weren’t nearly as insane—because you literally had to fill out a paper application for every school you applied to.
The nursing program is very small—and gets smaller each year prior to graduation. So I started with 100 fellow students and graduated with 60. Some people legitimately changed their minds. Others applied Nursing—knowing they would switch because they thought acceptance to the Nursing school would be easier—less competitive. I am sure that Admissions staff learn to read right through those applicants.
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She was 100% in on nursing and applied everywhere else, from Miami of Ohio to Penn as direct admit nursing. Outside of Harvard, her list was completely direct admit nursing programs that met full financial need. I read her essays and they were very strong, she had a great interview/meeting (I forget which it was) with the head of the nursing school, and her activities reflected all nursing/med outside of sports.
The guess is that though her GPA and scores were excellent, her rigor wasn’t the highest that her school offered. It could have come down to her taking chemistry instead of AP chemistry. As you said, the class is very small so the decisions are likely made on a razor thin margin.
She was wooed away from nursing to Harvard because Harvard was her least expensive option (free) and for a low income student, going to Harvard was impossible to pass up. It took a fair amount of convincing, and maybe you could argue that even Harvard shouldn’t have been enough to sway someone who was totally committed to nursing. But, again, for a low income kid it was an opportunity at a top 10 school vs a nursing program at a much lower ranked school that would cost her family significantly more.
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Probably doesn’t have much chance. She’s a 3.8 UW not 4.0. But does take hard course schedule in a competitive school. Her sibling had interesting mix of EC’s and got into yale with similar grades but a much stronger sat score.
Thanks for all your input. I find nursing to be particular challenging to figure out if you want to direct only because if you change your mind you may not want to be at that school.
Have you checked your own state public universities? One of those might have a direct entry program.
Has she considered Michigan or Case Western? I am guessing that admission is a bit more attainable than Duke/Emory/Penn, but both offer lots of other major options and still have a recognized selective school brand name, if that matters to her.
I am confident you ll find a desirable place. My kid also wasn’t sure she ll stick to nursing and the task looked daunting in the begging. But all ended well and we had many financial constrains (couldn’t ED). If you are in a position to ED that will help a lot. Otherwise you just have to apply strategically. In our case we had a solid in state school (popular for engineering) that was her safety. She was accepted early and that took the pressure off and no need to dig deeper in safeties. She then applied to a variety of more desirable schools and after a roller coaster of admissions one of her favorite schools offered enough financial aid to make it affordable. Happy ending. I wish you good luck.
I think Duke only offers accelerated BSN.
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In nursing schools it’s not the name, it’s the program. There are many many good programs out there that will go toe to toe with some of the big names mentioned here. If those big names are your fit otherwise, great.
But look at smaller schools and state schools that have good clinicals, co-ops and other opportunities. Now that my daughter has been in nursing for a year or two no one cares where she went to school (she went to Cincinnati, which although not a name brand has a very good program).
With higher stats, you will get into honors and probably a lot of merit at some of the smaller schools. Make sure the rest of your resume and essays relate to your desire to go into nursing - my daughter’s main essay was how falling in ballet class taught her more about herself than succeeding.
At the time she applied, the nursing school told her that nursing was even more competitive than engineering.
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I think this student is trying to find a sweet spot in case she decides to change majors. My reading is that she is hoping that find academic rigor/prestige in the school that would equivalent to what she hoped to achieve if not a nursing major.
Yes. I know there are tons of great nursing programs and that ultimately where you attend may not matter — just need that degree and a passing score. But, I’m concerned she may not want to be a nurse and is therefore at a school she otherwise would not have attended. May be one reason to do nursing post grad. Thankfully she has some time to figure all this out.
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