<p>Hi...DD was accepted at each of these schools/colleges of nursing, no real money from any of them. She is thrilled to have options but now she has to make a decision. Looking at expenses is one way to figure out which one to attend, the order of most to least expensive would be BC, Villanova, UVA. Each program has it's strengths and it's weaknesses. Any thoughts, suggestions of ways to look at this? Would really appreciate hearing from people with specific experience with each of these programs. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>You have three excellent choices. </p>
<p>My son (who was not a nursing student) had narrowed down his choices to Villanova and UVa, and has been attending UVa for the last 2 years. I’ve spent a great deal of time at both colleges, and could answer some questions about pros and cons of each. I don’t have any first hand knowledge of the nursing programs, other than that they all have excellent reputations. </p>
<p>Villanova has an on-campus housing shortage (leading to lots of year-long triples for freshmen) and expensive off-campus housing.</p>
<p>Villanova and UVa both have new nursing buildings, but UVa’s looks much larger from the outside. One of the advantages of UVa is that you can walk across the street to most of your clinicals. Because UVa is the home to a great deal of health care research, I imagine there would be more on-campus opportunities to be involved in research jobs or internships if that is an interest. UVa’s med school also may offer some opportunities for some related learning experiences.</p>
<p>UVa would be much more fun, with fewer rules. That can be a pro or a con, depending upon your perspective.</p>
<p>I’ve heard some people were disappointed with BC’s campus, but I’ve never seen it.</p>
<p>I don’t know if UVa nursing students attend their own classes, or take science classes with the general student population. If they take science classes with the general population, the size of those classes is a negative. Intro chemistry and biology classes are very very large at UVa (with smaller labs). They also are full of pre-meds, so you have highly competitive students in an uncomfortable environment. For chemistry (and probably other sciences), there is an accelerated track of courses that provides smaller classes and better professors, but a higher workload.</p>
<p>Thank you for your feedback, it is very helpful. DD is definitely leaning towards UVa but want to make sure we have considered all aspects of these options. Any additional thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Add Penn, UCLA, TCU, and Portland to the list. So hard to decide.</p>
<p>A great set of choices. Of those, U Penn is certainly the most prestigious overall, and for nursing and health care. Center City Philadelphia and University City are really great areas in which to go to college. However, you need to attend the accepted student days to get a better feel. Many years ago, I went to UVa undergrad and Penn grad (not for nursing), and I liked the social and academic atmosphere of UVa much better. However, I really enjoyed living in Philadelphia. Some profs and other people at Penn were a little too pretentious for my tastes. </p>
<p>What state are you from?</p>
<p>I took my son for admissions events on Homecomings weekend at U. Penn. (he is not a nursing student). He really did not feel comfortable at all in the place, and refused to apply. Of the 10 colleges he visited, it was the only college that he did not like. The point is that prestige is irrelevant to finding the right fit for a particular student.</p>
<p>Also, there are nursing programs that have a higher pass rate than U. Penn.</p>
<p>Magemeja, if the cost is about the same at each school, the other issues are probably where one should focus. If you are in state for UVA, I would not hesitate an instant in selecting that school. There is no advantage in terms of pay in going to a more expensive school, for those who are in nursing. With money out of the picture, look long and hard at the programs, integration with the rest of the school and the success rates. At my school, nursing students were not even on the same campus and one did not even see them as they went to the med school campus some 5 or so miles away. So looking at the UG university and campus was not a good view as to what a nursing student’s life at that school would be.</p>
<p>I can tell you that U Portland is a small, quiet school with a nice Nursing program, wonderful faculty; the school is across the river and off a bit from downtown. The Nursing program is fairly large–300 students i think, and the school has about 3,500 undergrads; they like to provide study abroad opps prior to Nursing clinicals, which don’t start until Jr year. The Honors Program is a plus at UPortland.<br>
Penn is the top ranked program in the country Grad schoolwise, the only 1 in the top 3 with an undergrad BSN program and they are growing the program vertically all of the time. Not to say that it is a good fit for everyone (hope it is for D), but wow, tough to pass on Penn. There is no comparison between these two UPs.<br>
Anytime I mention Penn, i like to put a plug in for Pitt and Case Western, our two other favorite Nursing programs–both are incredibly amazing to put it bluntly.</p>
<p>knightingdale - attending the Penn Preview weekend was what convinced my d to go to Penn. If you can do it next weekend it’s really worthwhile.</p>
<p>Will be attending Penn Preview this weekend and UCLA’s the following. Have crossed UVA and Boston College off the list for financial reasons.</p>
<p>Yes, that is unfortunate that UVa is not able to offer some merit aid to match competing universities. All of UVa’s aid is need based except for the privately funded Jefferson Scholarships (which are almost impossible to get).</p>
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<p>Penn is not really the place to go if you want to have a career as a floor nurse - it’s a bit of an overkill for that job - you can get an adequate education for much less and there is no difference in pay for a Penn nurse. However it will prepare you to be excellent as a floor nurse - just underpaid for your top notch skills - and it can give you some good job opportunities in Philly and NYC. The goal at Penn is for their BSN students to continue their education and become NPs or Clinical instructors.<br>
As far as the NCLEX goes - Penn does not cover this at all in their program - they assume that their students are smart and can figure out how to study on their own for the test. Many students just assume that the test covers things they have learned in nursing school and think they are well prepared - but it is a very strange test - questions on aroma therapy and other odd topics - you definitely need to spend time with a prep book or class in order to pass.</p>
<p>BC has an over-the-top Nursing program…friends D has landed an excellent job in Boston at top hospital after earning her degree…she was also guaranteed 4 years on-campus housing.it is a rigorous education & only accepts the ones who can handle that! Good luck!</p>
<p>ps BC is Jesuits, 'nova is Augustinians, there is a distinction that I had to ask my parents to decipher!</p>
<p>Do you mind if i ask what your daughters credentials were? I am looking at those nursing schools as well and I could use some scores to base mine off of.
SATs or ACTS? GPA (unweighted)? Extra curricula’s?
Thanks!</p>