I know there are a few of us lurking here with current high school juniors who are interested in direct admit BSN programs. So, I am creating this thread for us to share info and commiserate as we help our kids create a (realistic) college list.
Personally, I am having a hard time figuring out what constitutes a “safety” direct admit BSN program! Is there such a thing? To make things more complicated, my D26 would like a traditional campus experience and leans towards flagship state schools (which across the board seem extremely difficult to get into for nursing).
Her high reach/dream school right now is Michigan. We have also toured Marquette, Loyola Chicago, U of Minnesota, and Elon. I think Marquette (which she really liked), Loyola, and Elon are potential “match” schools. UMinn, like other flagships, is a reach. Her grades this year are gonna be super important!
Where are my other 2026 parents? Where is everyone else with creating a list and visiting schools? What about nursing specific activities?
We are in CT. Visited
New Hampshire x
St Anselm **
Northeastern x
Providence ***
Endicott ***
Sacred Heart ***
Fairfield ***
Boston College ***hard reach
St Joseph West Hartford X
***loved X off the list
To be visited: Belmont U, Mount St Mary, Salve, URI
She is coming from a medium sized Catholic highs chool and def is gravitating toward that.
I dragged her kicking and screaming to SHU bc it is 10 minutes down the road and her dad and granparents went there and it is “too close” and it skyrocketed to a top choice.
She did the summer precollege nursing program at Fairfield and loved it
We did nursing specific tours at Ffld and SHU
Activities:
2024-25 school year she is a candystriper volunteering 2hrs a week at a local hospital
She is registered for the EMT course this summer
Nursing Immersion program summer 24 at Fairfield U. Highly recc
Our state school UCONN is nearly impossible with them taking about 1/3 of applicants from surrounding districts. Nursing is even harder. Our smaller State Univ, SCSU, has an amazing nursing program with NCLEX pass rates about the same at Fairfield U but she doesn’t love it at all. They take a very small cohort of direct admit but the majority are pre nursing. Yale is 10 minutes away so some really great clinical options too. Im sure she would be successful there with either admit but not an interest.
Thanks for this list and info! UCONN is on my D’s list, but falls into the reach category with most of the other flagships. Plus we are out of state. Unfortunately, our state flagship does not have a BSN program.
In terms of my D’s stats: Current unweighted GPA is a 3.79 (weighted 4.79) with 6 AP classes so far, 9-10 AP classes by graduation, and pretty much all honors or high honors for the others. She attends a competitive test-in public urban high school. Current SAT score is 1390, retaking in March. In-school ACT in April. She volunteers at a local hospital 2 hours/week (with a 100 hour commitment), is BLS/CPR/AED certified, and attended a nurse camp last summer. Also a 4-year varsity athlete, with a smattering of other activities/sports.
As far as public universities, our list consists of
Pitt (visited - really liked)
Michigan (visited - loved)
Minnesota (visited - okay, will apply)
Iowa
Miami Ohio
Tennessee
UCONN
Maybe Purdue and/or Indiana? Ohio State? Clemson?
These are all very tough admits (except maybe Miami Ohio, which should be a match). D will also apply to UW Madison pre-nursing, and our state flagship UIUC.
In the private school category, our list is
Marquette (visited - liked)
Loyola Chicago (visited - okay, will apply)
Elon (visited - okay, but may not apply)
Creighton
Maybe U of San Fran
And probably a couple of real big reaches liked Boston College, Northeastern, Villanova, or Case Western
We are considering an east coast trip over spring break to visit a few more colleges on D’s list. And searching high and low for a few more safety or match schools to add – particularly those that also offer a traditional campus/college life experience. (My D is a big sports kid, and would love a college that has school spirit and sports.)
UNH was far too rural for her and she didn’t like the dorms at all. St Anselm, while up that way, is super close to Manchester…made it feel closer to civilization. She hated everything about Northeastern…I laugh bc her cousin goes there and loves it. I think she just doesnt like urban life tbh…my son plans to do grad school in NYC and she is appalled! haha. I think from all of our tours she realizes she is most comfortable in small private or Catholic, similar to where she is now.
As far as stats: She has taken all Honors or AP but her school runs on a 0-100 scale so colleges will def redo her GPA to fit. She has a 97.2. Her PSAT was 1300. Has yours taken the actual SAT yet?
That makes sense. Mine seems to like urban or large college town (which makes sense, I guess, because she lives in a big city and attends a huge urban public high school).
She took both the PSAT (at school) and SAT (on her own) this fall. PSAT was 1350 and SAT was 1390. She doing a little targeted SAT prep right now (one particularly low section) and will retake in March. Hoping for a 1400. She is also required to take the ACT at her high school in April. She has not done any ACT prep, but I am hoping she will at least look at a sample exam beforehand!
Our neighbor is in her first year at Merrimack and loves it. She seems to be having a better time than her friends at other schools (Salve, UNH) and will begin clinicals 2nd semester. She finds the program to be personal and hands on. Her mom, who is a nurse, was very happy that she chose Merrimack as she thought it was a great program.
Loyola of Maryland started a program for 2025 high school grads. Regis in Denver is another one that’s on my radar. We live in Maryland (DMV area). There are programs who will pay for your school if you give back to underserved areas (which is practically all of the DMV) i have to do my research. My sis in law is regional director of nursing for KP and told me about it but I haven’t done any research.
Nursing first (rugby second) my son plays rugby and although most schools have clubs as opposed to actual teams, it’s very competitive.
Also, for those in the midwest who like a city campus, UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) just started a direct admit BSN. Fall 2025 will be the first incoming class.
WVU can be direct admit for qualified candidates. Teaching/Level 1 hospital on-campus. WVU Health is basically the healthcare system for WV. Big-time sports.
Thanks for starting this thread! My DD is a junior at a Catholic school in MD. Has some learning differences but is doing well with a 3.85 UW and a 4.024 W (three APs, but in humanities). She volunteered at our local hospital last summer (three shifts a week), has volunteered for a few summers at a one-week camp for kids with Down Syndrome, does two sports, and this summer we planned to have her do a nursing summer camp, probably at Clemson. Her ACT was so-so and will retake.
I have found it hard to identify what nursing programs are realistic b/c so many schools won’t give the info re stats for admitted students! Here is a list of what we are thinking/visited for nursing:
Siena (in Albany, NY) – didn’t like
Villanova - loved but crazy reach probably won’t even bother to apply
UDel - loved it!
Providence College - visited and loved it, hope to return for nursing tour/new building
Elon - will visit in Feb, think it seems realistic
Fairfield – hope to visit, seems possible
Pitt – think it is possible (especially with 250/class) and would love to apply as soon as it opens
Loyola Maryland – brand new program, seems like a target school but maybe too close to home!
Clemson (reach!), Auburn ? Not sure!
When I asked specifically, Villanova refused to give me stats on their admitted nursing students. I asked Delaware and they said “one of our most competitive majors at UD, with around 2,500 applications received and only 160 seats available. That’s just under a 30% acceptance rate. The average GPA surpassed a 4.0 and the typical SAT score ranged in the mid-1300s.”
I might push my kiddo to try to do (in addition to summer nurse camp + Down syndrome camp) a nursing shadow or a two-week volunteer program at our local Children’s hospital.
Hope this helps others and I welcome any ideas for other schools to add to her list! Our counselor mentioned Catholic (too close!) and TCU (like what I have read, but it but seems very competitive).
If you are looking to see Fairfield they have a great summer Nursing program you can tie into a visit!My daughter did it this past summer and enjoyed it