Creating a college list -- BSN [3.7 GPA]

College Majors Nursing Majors
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Hi everyone. I was hoping I could pick your collective brain about creating a BSN college list.

My high school D26 is starting to create a list of colleges with direct entry BSN programs to visit and explore beginning this spring. I thought I would reach out to this group to help create a well-rounded list. In particular, I am most concerned about finding “safety” or “likely” schools.

She is looking for a traditional college experience (school spirit, D1 sports, etc.) w/ a direct admit BSN program. We live in the midwest, but D is open to attending school anywhere and likes the idea of a warmer climate. When visiting colleges with her older brothers, she preferred schools that were in or near a city or college town.

Her stats will be good, but not perfect. For purposes of this exercise, assume a 3.7 unweighted GPA (roughly 4.7 weighted), 9 AP classes (including AP Bio, AP Physics 1, AP Calc AB), and mostly honors or high-honors for the rest. Her high school is ranked in the top 5 in our State and top 75 nationally. I predict her SAT score will be around 1400 (based on PSAT performance) with a much higher math score.

She is working on getting relevant experience. She is waiting to hear back regarding a paid internship at an area hospital this summer (fingers crossed!!) and will participate in nursing camp. She is also a varsity athlete.

Cost is not a factor at this point, and we are full-pay.

Her current list includes: University of Miami, Boston College, Northeastern, TCU, Villanova, Case Western, U of San Fran, Pitt, Iowa, Michigan, UVA, Minnesota, Tennessee, Purdue, Miami Ohio, Marquette, Loyola Chicago, Creighton, Elon

We are visiting Elon, Marquette, and Minnesota next month. (We will be visiting family near those schools for other reasons.)

What schools would you suggest adding to round out her current list, or removing. To me, it feels like she needs more “safety” or “likely” options! Thanks in advance…

Edited to add – I know that a couple of schools on her list don’t meet the criteria I listed, but they were added for other reasons (e.g., Elon is not in a city, but my mom lives nearby so it was added).

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Hi there. There are lots of active folks in the nursing forum, so sure others will also weigh in. Congrats to your daughter on her high school successes. It will be helpful to have an SAT score to add to her profile for sure.
I agree that it is very hard to navigate the world of direct entry programs, they are all so competitive! That said, I do think much of your list is very reach heavy for even general admission.
Maybe consider adding U of Delaware, West Virginia?

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I totally agree that it is reach-heavy (especially given the limited number of seats for nursing students). Thank you for weighing in. I will suggest my D look into U of Delaware and West Virginia, and I will check them out myself. I greatly appreciate the suggestions!

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I would add the University of Cincinnati to your list, especially since you are already looking at Case and Miami O. And not just because my daughter graduated from there with a BSN in 22 lol.

It checks a lot of your boxes, and is direct admit.

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Thanks! Added!

I actually think we might do an Ohio road trip this summer because D was admitted to a nurse camp at Bowling Green – it could be a good opportunity to check out all of the Ohio schools.

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While you are here (I am from Ohio) you could check out Wright State over near Dayton and Xavier in Cincinnati. I believe both are direct admit (at least they were in 2017-18 when my daughter applied) and last I heard Xavier had a relatively new nursing building.

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My daughter’s college roommate spent the weekend here, UDel honors, she was hired by John’s Hopkins right after graduation.

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I think UVM would be a likely.

We weren’t looking at BSN, but the program at UMN looks spectacular. They referenced it a lot on our tour and it was pretty impressive.

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If visiting Marquette, perhaps look at U Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Carthage as well.

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My friend’s daughter is in the nursing program at UVM and having a great experience so far.

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Not direct admit but if she is liking the idea of warm weather, check out the University of Tampa. My daughter is a junior in the BSN program and is having an amazing experience. I just got back from visiting her and didn’t want to leave!

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Clemson is direct admit, in a college town, warm weather, great school spirit.

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John Carroll University now has a direct admit nursing program that you might want to add to your list as a non-reach option. It looks like you have other Jesuit colleges on your list and it’s in the suburbs of Cleveland so it might be a good fit.

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Thanks for the suggestion – one of my good friends went to John Carroll back in the late 80’s early 90’s

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Not sure if your daughter is considering New England (beyond BC and Northeastern) but I would echo UVM and add Fairfield and UConn. I think with her stats all 3 of these are less of a reach than many already on your list.

Best of luck and make sure you look into touring the Nursing Schools when you visit each school, they are separate tours (in addition to the usual school tour) and they can be hard to find and sign up for (search websites, email administrators) but we found them very helpful for my daughter to compare programs.

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Thank you. Yes, we are open to anywhere in the US including New England. I have added UVM and UConn to the list, and will look into Fairfield now.

Re: tours, we have three scheduled this April (Marquette, UMinn, and Elon). I was able to get nursing specific tours at Marquette and Elon, but not Minnesota (even after I spoke with admissions). These will be my daughter’s first tours (excluding those she was dragged to with her older brothers). I will report back!

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You can also add UNH and Merrimack as likely/match schools.

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I second the notion that your list is reach-heavy…unfortunately!!.. because she is an amazing “likely” candidate for so many of these schools…just not a sure thing particularly for the BSN programs. They are off-the-charts competitive, as I’m sure you know.
I actually would not count UConn, UNH, UVM as “likely”- but maybe slightly less of a reach that some of the others.
My D22 had similar stats to your kiddo, and applied to some of the same schools.
She ended up with here three best options as SacredHeart, URI, and UMaine. She chose UMaine, which has been fantastic. But definitely not warm. :snowflake: :cold_face:

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Thank you for replying. Ugh! I was probably slightly underestimating her stats in my original post, but still think my guesses will be pretty close. I’m not looking forward to this application process for her.

I was thinking Miami Ohio, Marquette, Loyola Chicago, Elon, and maybe Creighton would all fall into the match bucket for her. Am I way off on that?

I do understand that flagship state BSN programs are a reach, even if the non-nursing programs are not (I’m looking at you, Iowa). And a lot of the mid-sized privates on her list are a reach for everyone regardless of major. But I’ve been through this with my non-nurse-major boys, and know it’s worth trying bc you never know who might say yes. We are also prepared to play the “applicant interest” game with the schools that look at it; she will visit, interview (if available), attend virtual events, email, etc.

Do you have any suggestions for schools she could add?
And suggestions for bulking up her application?

Thanks!

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I do not know anything about those programs, so will let others interject on that.

Just focus on what she can control. Her junior year grades will impact her overall GPA of course which is really a big piece. And test scores will help if she is 1400+ Hopefully she can find a shadowing opportunity, but if not that is OK.

I feel like outside of some top named schools, with BSN programs, there are so many qualified kiddos. Believe me I was sure D24 was going to get rejected everywhere and truly she had many viable options. 3.97 UW, test optional

So yes it is good to be on top of things, and definitely work toward finding a “safety” she would be OK with, but I am confident she will have good options.

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