You might want to review some of the other threads on this Nursing Board as many of your questions are addressed in them. It would take multiple pages to answer all of your concerns. In general admission to 4 year BSN Programs is selective to varying degrees depending on the particular college and a large number of other factors. If a student has good grades in HS (especially in advanced type courses like honors, AP courses etc.) and does reasonably well in standardized tests (i.e. SAT, ACT) they probably will have little problem in getting into some Nursing Program to obtain a BSN degree (there are also multiple pathways to do this). You want to make sure the Program has full accreditation and has reasonably good NCLEX exam (the exam all nursing grads need to pass in order to obtain their first RN license after they graduate) pass rates. NP Programs are also becoming increasingly competitive for admission as many more BSN grads are interested in pursuing advanced degrees to expand their Nursing careers. Again, if you perform very well academically (this is probably the most important factor) you probably will be able to gain acceptance into a NP Program. Ratings of course vary from Program to Program and some of the “top” NP Programs are harder to get into than many BSN Programs. I’m sorry but I really don’t know much about Nursing Programs in Minnesota. Perhaps someone else can help you out in this area. Best wishes to you.