Just using these as examples, do nursing students at Quinnipiac/Fairfield/Sacred Heart get good clinical opportunities in the Hartford and New Haven hospitals, as compared to UConn/Yale? Same question for students at Simmons/Emmanuel/UMass Boston relative to BC/Northeastern? Is there a “pecking order”?
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For a direct admit school, on the ocean, in New England (north of Boston) Nursing (BSN) Degree Program | Endicott College
Fancy new nursing building and endicott, though not widely known, was one of first schools in country with internships/experiential learning is my recollection from a tour a couple years ago -
Nursing admit stats: Understanding Our Admissions Criteria | Endicott College
I would assume some merit…
not sure how your weighted and their published weighted GPA mesh..I’d guess they are using similar to UMass (+1 for AP, .5 for Honors and A-=3.7). The SAT is in middle of 25th/50th which is helpful…
I calculated the unweighted as 26 credits of A (=4) and 3 credits of B (=3). Not saying that’s right, but that’s the math. Never heard of Endicott but I see it’s up near Salem and Marblehead.
Quinnipiac, Fairfield, and Southern Connecticut aes all part of the same partnership crafted by the governor and funded by the state. They all have the same priority at Yale New Haven. Sacred Heart is not part of that program. I’m not aware of UConn using that hospital. The program which may have priority is Yale itself, which has GEPN, MSN, DNP, and PhD Nursing programs.
I don’t know about priorities at the Boston hospitals other than that they are all old, established nursing schools with long established relationships with these hospitals.
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Endicott publishes a weighted one their website , which is why I mentioned it.
UMass does the same… Endicott is NOT a public school, but obviously both in Mass, so who knows). The numbers kind of roughly match what I would think aligns with UMass weighting…
" Admitted Nursing Student Profile: Fall 2026
Applications: 1,200
First Year Students: 155
Average GPA: 4.07
Middle 50% GPA: 4.06-4.29
Average SAT: 1280
Middle 50% SAT: 1250-1350"
Endicott is pretty campus IMO - not a big school, regionally known.
Edit: UMass Amherst... nursing average GPA is 4.43… with SAT of 1350-1490 (not required and only 14 reporting!) Only 79 kids in a class..tiny. The admit rate was 13.6%
Yes, Endicott and Merrimack are both north shore colleges with nursing schools although not the easiest locations from which to GT to the Boston hospitals. I believe that Endicott nonetheless does place students in top Boston hospitals, but I don’t believe that Merrimack, a newer nursing school does. Stonehill, south of Boston, recently announced that is starting a nursing program.
She is going to have to cast a wide net for direct-admit nursing, even with a high GPA… they have very low acceptance rates in comparison to the schools in which they sit (see above for UMass Amherst 14% vs 60ish% or something overall.. I think UConn may be worse.
Other thoughts: Curry College has been training nurses in metro Boston forever, though even more of a commuter school, is my understanding (could be wrong). They partner with BIDMC and BMC
Good merit at Loyola Chicago.
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What did you think of Marshall and WVU as close and cheap.
From other parents posting I hear of nursing programs in single digits for admission whereas a school may be many multiples.
The flights aren’t cheap but you have Belmont in Nashville too. SW flies non stop. Less than 90 mins.
I’ll tell you this - at both my doctor and Vandy, where I had cancer treatments, the nurses run from no name schools to online schools and lesser names. At my dad’s hospital stay in Vegas, his nurses came from the Phillipines.
You could spend $60k a year but I don’t think you need to. Not even close. The only DA school I recognize in Chicago was Loyola but I’m just looking at the College Transitions list. Could be more. But one stop could get you to Creighton Or a flight or long drive to Xavier in Cincy if religious is ok.
Curry is another Boston area direct admit nursing program that partners with all the major medical centers in Boston for clinicals
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My daughter got $8000 from Pitt and $10,000 from Clemson, but I think clemson’s merit awards have decreased with it’s popularity.
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D is cool on WVU. Warmer on Pittsburgh schools as a possibility. Also has mentioned Drexel as a possibility. I think she has ruled out the South Carolina schools and is not interested in Florida or points south. Also, I recently learned that VCU offers guaranteed admission (once you meet the nursing prerequisites) for admittees to the Honors College. After D’s final year in HS, taking into account placement credit, she may only have 1-3 prerequisites to complete for admission to the VCU nursing program. So VCU is looking more attractive to her now.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned UVM yet. It’s direct admit and they offer merit aid to out of state students. Burlington, VT is a great town. Unfortunately, there aren’t direct flights between Richmond and Burlington, but it ticks a lot of other boxes. A family friend’s daughter just graduated from the nursing program there and had a very good experience.
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Apparently University of Illinois at Chicago also now has a direct admit program for incoming freshman.
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Great find if Chicago truly resonates. Not sure if it’s commuter-ish - but others will know.
And at UVM the hospital is literally on campus…which is super convenient.
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Are you assured it for rotationals?
Regarding clinicals, just because a hospital is nearby, does not mean all the clinicals (if any) will be there. “Top” or “highly rated” or “level one” hospital does not mean a great clinical experience.
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Good info. I always wondered. So many highlight s schools location vs a hospital but they cannot possibly take everyone.
Is there a way for a student to discern their chances up front b4 accepting admission ?
“Level one” varies on specialty (I worked ED so level 1 was highest and there’s only one of those in our area. But neonatal ICU level IV is highest and again, only one with that designation. We have one medical school nearby).
One can ask what clinical sites are typically used and if any specialty units are guaranteed before acceptance.
It is not always evident just looking at curriculum. Example, while 100% of our students take a peds course and an OB course, only a few get actual OB and peds clinicals. We have 2 hospitals nearby campus but not every student gets clinicals at those. We tell students having a car is a requirement basically.
It comes down to simple numbers. In the metro area I live in, there are about 15 nursing programs within 40 minutes of each other but only 6 “bigger” hospitals and about 8 smaller ones and a handful of even tinier ones (often with only 1 inpatient unit and no ICU). In hospitals, for every 1 ICU there is typically at least 5 or more “med surg” type units.
Hospitals (even good/top ones) also are limiting what students might be able to actually do. One hospital system near us doesn’t allow nursing students to put in foleys or change central line dressings. Our peds hospital rotations dont let students do IV meds. Ive had students at smaller, lower level hospitals have clinicals on units with amazing staff where the students had an excellent semester of learning, and I’ve had students at high acuity big teaching level one teaching hospitals be on units where it was clear they weren’t wanted and it was not the best learning experience.
I teach clinicals at a nationally ranked hospital. At that hospital alone, there were over 400 students spring semester. The program I teach at often has 3 cohorts running per semester and each cohort has 70-120 students. Our program alone can have 300 students or more students being placed each semester. Clinicals max out at 8 students. Thats over 35 clinical sites our school has to find each semester.
If a student truly wants to work and stay in the area at a certain hospital I recommend getting an externship/internship there which for us is not required and something students apply to and do outside of and in addition to their required clinical hours. We have a pretty high percentage of students in my program that look for jobs out of state when done with school.
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