Thank you, this is an incredible overview. We really have a lot to think about in terms of what she wants, but honestly, I am learning that staying in a broader biology/kinesiology major might be a better option. I will look into schools with those other types of programs as well, there are so many options for these kids now, it’s really wonderful. Thank you for the work that you do in terms of taking care of patients and teaching younger nursing students the profession. Grateful to have people like you in our world!
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I do recommend UDel for an east coast school, I think she’d get in with her stats. My daughter’s roommate (and 7 years later one of her closest friends) was a nursing major and she had a great experience, she now works at John’s Hopkins hospital which is highly ranked. It wasn’t even on my radar when my daughter applied.
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U Del was my first choice for my older daughter, but she chose a different school. Our babysitter went to U Del and loved it. Hoping it might be a fit this time around 
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Reading about your daughter’s profile and EC pursuits, I wondered whether this program might be of interest: Recreational Therapy: Pre-Occupational Therapy | Slippery Rock University Slippery Rock stands out in adaptive sports (and also offers a minor in Adapted Physical Activity, if the RT major doesn’t appeal), so students can get great experience in that area. (SRU also partners with the Wounded Warrior Project: SRU partners with the Wounded Warrior Project to provide adaptive sports opportunities for injured veterans | Slippery Rock University* ) And since the program here is structured to cover the prereqs for the OT grad program, it should also cover many or most of the bases for pre-PT or pre-PA… but RT+OT could be a great combo for her interests. And if she decided against going straight to grad school, she’d have an employable credential with the RT degree (more so than a bio or kinesiology major that doesn’t confer a professional credential). Athletics at SRU are D2, and there are many club and intramural opportunities as well.
Misericordia could be a good place to browse programs. They have a great array of health-related undergrad majors, including nursing, and they also have PT, OT, and PA grad programs.
There are lots of options. An undergrad RN program certainly does set one up to be very employable, but nursing isn’t for everyone, and working in health care is unfortunately not going to get any easier in the foreseeable future.
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Thank you, these programs sound like they could be a good fit, we will look into them. 
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The post by aquapt is excellent and very helpful, but I do have one comment. If she is not sure about going into healthcare, I actually think a biology degree is more advantageous than an RT degree.
A biology degree is a more direct path to something like a research coordinator, working on a clinical trials team (not sure about these given current policies) and then if she wanted to pivot back to healthcare grad school she can.
That being said, an RT degree might be a good fit!
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One needn’t even major in bio to do this. My older daughter did exactly that job for three years, between college and grad school, and she wasn’t a bio major; her degree was in Cognitive Science, with a Sociology minor, and there wasn’t that much bio content in her CogSci curriculum - she knew she wasn’t interested in med school, and did not take the prereqisite classes. What would actually have helped, for the research coordinator job, was a stronger statistics background. The job itself would also have fallen into the OP’s “a desk job would be torture” category.
As a completely different angle to look at… if the student actually loves environmental science (recalling the “studying sea turtles in the Galapagos” remark), a way to tweak that for employability is to acquire a strong skill-set in GIS. Grads with a GIS specialty can get active jobs doing data collection - working outdoors, piloting drones, etc. Some schools, like UConn, even offer full majors in GIS: Geographic Information Science (BA or BS) | University of Connecticut Academic Catalog and one could certainly fulfill pre-health requirements to keep that option open. Not sure if this student would enjoy a major like this, but there are quite a few good programs at varying levels of competitiveness. (Delaware, Hofstra, Clark…) and many more offer it as a minor or certificate that can be combined with a degree in bio, enviro science, etc. I guess one question to ask is, does the student want a career that’s both active and very people-y (i.e. direct patient care) or would she actually prefer active-but-with-fewer-people, as with field work in enviro/marine science, GIS, etc?
Another angle that a lot of suburban kids don’t think of is the whole array of majors that fall within schools of agriculture. Food science, soil science, aquatic/fisheries science, and so on. This also overlaps with what’s offered at enviro-focused schools like SUNY ESF - their list of majors could be worth browsing: Undergraduate Programs
This student sounds like she enjoys working with people, and I’m not in any way trying to dissuade her from pursuing something in the health care sphere; just poking at the other interests that have been alluded to.
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I wonder if your daughter might be interested in prosthetics and orthotics? I have a physical disability (cerebral palsy) and wear an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) that is professionally made and fitted by an orthotist. Over the years, we’ve made adjustments to my AFO because I am also a professional actor and need my bracing solution to respond to the needs of my career. I’ve always thought that what my orthotist does for me seems like a really cool, hands-on job. With your D’s interest in working with disabled children, I wonder if this might be of interest. To become a full prosthetist/orthotist, a master’s degree is required, but most of them don’t require a specific undergraduate degree as long as you meet the prerequisites (a good distribution of sciences and math including stats, mostly).
There’s a great website where your D can explore what careers in this field are like: https://whatispop.org/
And if she does get interested in pursuing this field, there is one BS in Exercise Science at Oakland University in Michigan that leads directly to accreditation as an Orthotist and Prosthetist Assistant: Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science - Orthotist and Prosthetist Assistant (BS) - Careers - Oakland University
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Cognitive Science is also great! Forgot about that!!
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Another idea to keep in mind (if your daughter decides against direct admit nursing), is that most colleges and universities make it clear that you can major in almost anything you’d like to study while also completing the pre-requisites for admissions to medical school, DPT, OT, etc.
D23 is majoring in Psychology (minoring in Chemistry because she learned how much she loves it during college) while also planning on getting her DPT after undergrad. She has friends with are Creative Writing majors, History majors, etc who are also in all her science courses because they are planning on applying to grad school in a health field (med school, dentistry, etc). There are also the Neuroscience majors, Biology majors, etc.
One of my closest friends in undergrad was a Studio Art major while also being admitted early to med school (our university had an early admission program of getting your BA/MD combined). She is a plastic surgeon who credits her art background in her final choice of practice.
There is often more flexibility in the system in the US than many of us are aware of when looking at going into Health fields. Just another piece to keep in mind.
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