Hi! I’m a senior in high school and I can’t decide on which university to attend. I’ve been accepted to Baylor and Texas A&M. I applied to UT Austin and I wasn’t accepted. However, I was offered CAP so I could go to UT Arlington ( I live in Arlington so it’s super close) for a year then transfer to UT Austin. Baylor and UT were initially my top 2 but due to the price of Baylor and not being accepted to UT right away I’m not sure & I know that A&M is also a great school. I’m a super indecisive person so I’m having a hard time deciding. I’m considering majoring in nursing, but then again my mind might change.
In your opinion what is the best university to attend?
^this. And I’d avoid transferring if you can, especially if you’re not guaranteed admit into UT-Austin nursing program. A&M is a very good university if Baylor (arguably better for premed) is too expensive.
Did you get any financial aid at any of the schools? Texas A&M is about half the price of Baylor for a Texas resident. It’s an excellent university.
TAMU posts statistics for its nursing major (traditional BSN) on the website. It looks like TAMU recently increased the size of its nursing program - in 2013 and 2014 they only accepted 50 new BSN students (out of 322 and 277 respectively) but in 2015 they accepted 88 out of 324 applicants. That’s an acceptance rate of 27% (vs. the 15-18% rate in past years). The average overall GPA is around a 3.7, with a range of 3.1 to 4.0. Students also averaged a 3.7 in nursing classes. So getting into the nursing program is competitive - you have to keep your grades high in your first two years.
Baylor doesn’t have as detailed information about admission into their BSN program on the website. One thing to note, though, is that the nursing school is on Baylor’s Dallas campus, about an hour and a half away from the main campus in Waco. So you’d have to move after two years at the main campus.
The other question I’d ask yourself is - which university would you rather be at in the case that you don’t get accepted to the nursing program? What would you major in instead?
You could go to UT Arlington, but rather than transfer to UT, you can stay at Arlington for all 4 years. Arlington has a nursing program so it works out
BSN Programs >>>>>>>>>>>>>Location >>>>>Candidates>>>>> Passed>>>Pass Rate
Baylor University>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dallas>>>>>>>>>152>>>>>>>>>140>>>>>>92.11%*
Texas A&M University>>>>>>>>Corpus Christi>>>>>155>>>>>>>>>133>>>>>>85.81% University of Texas at Arlington >Arlington>>>>>>>>382>>>>>>>>>349>>>>>91.36%
University of Texas at Austin >>>Austin >>>>>>>>>>120 >>>>>>>>>112 >>>>>93.33%
University of Texas at El Paso>>El Paso >>>>>>>>>>177 >>>>>>>>>58>>>>>>89.27%
University of Texas Pan
American>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Edinburg 131 106 80.92%
University of Texas at Tyler>>>>>Tyler 275 240 87.27%
University of Texas Health
Science Center in Houston>>>Houston 258 248 96.12%*
University of Texas Health
Science Center in San Antonio>San Antonio 322 269 83.54%
University of Texas Medical
Branch in Galveston>>>>>>>>>>Galveston>>>>>>>>>290>>>>>>>>>248>>>>>>85.52%
BSN State Average is>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>85.96%
Denotes programs with above 90% pass rate and receiving commendations.
University of Texas at Arlington has one of the highest BSN NCLEX pass rates in Texas and with 382 candidates for 2013 (3 times the size of UT Texas at Austin), appears to be one of the bigger BSN programs in the State of Texas.
A Nursing degree from University of Texas at Arlington might be your low cost option and they seem to have very high NCLEX rates. OP, are you planning on pursuing a graduate degree in nursing (NP, CRNA, etc.)?