FYI, Michigan, Creighton and Northeastern all have virtual nursing Info sessions coming up in May!
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We are registered for the one at U Michigan (and doing a general tour of the campus this summer because we will be nearby for other reasons). Unfortunately, given our time zone, my D will have to login to the Michigan virtual session from her phone while taking public transportation home from school!
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Notes from Creighton Nursing info session:
- Direct entry program - no separate application later
- Make sure you are comparing direct entry - 2+2 programs are not the same and don’t have a guarantee for entry, you must enter Creightonnursing as a freshman
- You will exceed 1000 hours in clinical experience, 20-30% more than some other programs
- 15-20% of that time is in simulation labs, their simulation labs are state of the art with a complete OB unit, a NICU, etc.
- 4 week rotations in 6 specialties obstetrics, peds, psych, critical care, med-surg, and community health
- Clinical rotations start junior year, all within 20 mins
- You do not need a car, they will arrange carpools
- You can study abroad in the first semester of sophomore year - there are summer course commitments the summer before (microbiology) - Ireland, Spain, Italy are top choices. You’ll have to take statistics abroad if you haven’t already completed
- Summer trips of 3-6 weeks are also available (don’t interrupt progression), as well as short trips during fall/spring breaks for juniors/seniors in the Dominican Republic, includes some clinical hours
- You must have C or higher in high school chemistry
- BSN to DNP pathway - allow direct entry with 3.0 and NClex pass within year after graduation, allow 8 credits from undergrad and you can do from anywhere in the US, you have to work full time while you do the DNP program with some visits back to campus - 3.5 years length
- Work on communication skills - it’s a big part of being a nurse, being a good listener. They recommend working in long term care!
- Be yourself in your essay - talk about your passions, they like to see you come through in your essays
- You have a leg up if you have CNA because you can work and make sure nursing is for you
- Nursing is an intense course of study - they provide help and build in academic success
- Your first two years at school there is some gen ed that you will take with other students in college of arts and sciences
- You can pick your own roommates, roommate doesn’t have to also be in nursing
- Look for emails about receptions around the country
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We’ve also added Rutgers and Iowa to our list! Both have virtual visit options in June.
Thank you for this great summary of the Creighton nursing info session. We are planning to visit next winter (during basketball season – my D is a big basketball fan!).
We also have Iowa on our list and plan to visit in the fall. Both seem like great nursing options. I think Iowa is pretty hard to get into (only 80 spots) and popular here in the midwest, so it’s a long shot for us.
Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you for this. Believe it or not, we have an in-person, general tour of Michigan scheduled for Thursday June 13 – We are going to miss the in-person nursing tour by a day!! Aargh!
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My daughter just finished listening to the U Michigan virtual nursing info session. For those interested, there are 250 seats and about 3,000 applicants per year. Acceptance rate varies by year, but is typically around 20% or less. Still test optional, even for nursing. (And the average test scores they shared were quite a bit lower than I expected – For the fall 2022 entry group, apparently the average SAT was 1339 and average ACT was 30.)
My daughter will start at Iowa as a direct admit nursing student this Fall. We had it down to Creighton and Iowa. Both are great choices. Iowa is ranked #4 for BSN in the nation and you can tell. The hospital and children’s hospital is right on campus and Iowa City is a cute college town across the street. Creighton’s nursing building is brand new and state of the art. Creighton has a really strong sense of community. It came down to which one she could see herself at when we were on campus. Good luck to everyone!
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Would you mind sharing your daughter’s stats – gpa, test scores, class rigor and nursing or healthcare experience? Mine is very interested in Iowa but it seems super competitive. Iowa City is such a great college town with loads of school spirit. People seem to love it! Congrats to your daughter
3.8UW/4.2W
Did not submit test scores
5 science classes in high school,including AP Bio
Over 250 volunteer/community service hours junior year; 300 senior year - mostly at a homeless shelter and as an athletic trainer intern;
Volunteers at local hospital
To me, one of the biggest factors is that we are out of state. Ran into very few people from outside the Midwest. Not many from California, which is where we are from.
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Northeastern has around 100 nursing spots per year according to their webinar - they said acceptance rates are competitive on par with rest of the university.
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My daughter will be applying direct admit for Fall 2025…and she is completely overwhelmed on where to begin…we have visited a few.
Hi! Just remember that OOS UMich is a tougher admit and will most likely require higher test scores for those OOS students. Just finished a successful BSN application year and personally feel that high test scores helped a lot for Nursing applicants. Good luck!
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Thank you for this reminder. Coincidentally, my D and I are actually in Ann Arbor right now (tour tomorrow)!! Of course, she loves it.
Her PSAT10 score is 1350 (no prep) so my fingers are crossed for a decent SAT score after some personalized prep to target her weaknesses (grammar!!) — But even a good test score may not be enough. UMich gets a ton of applications from our area and will have its pick of many successful candidates.
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Pitt Virtual Nursing Info Session Notes:
Cathedral of Learning - tallest academic building in Western Hemisphere, center of campus
Nursing building - Victoria Hall - 7-10 min walk from center, 15 mins across whole campus
UPMC Presbyterian, Level 1 Trauma Center, adjacent to Victoria Hall
Several other hospitals also near Victoria Hall
Most clinicals are walkable from Victoria Hall, UPMC Children’s is a 10 min bus ride
Nursing is direct entry, nursing courses start first semester
125 credits based on evidence based practical curriculum
Clinicals begin in Year 2 - in hospitals and simulation labs
Simulations aren’t graded until senior year
4 hour clinical per week first semester of sophomore year, two 8 hour clinicals second semester
Year 3 has specialized clinicals - OB and Pediatrics, Med Surg and Psych
Year 4 has acute care, community care, and transitions (200 clinical hours working with a nurse) - start to hone in on specialty area of interest
You can front load transitions hours to study for NCLEX end of senior year
You’ll complete over 1000 clinical hours (national average is 600)
Senior nursing students can take a graduate nursing class senior year
Undergrad Research Mentor Program - can start as early as freshman year, paid, max 5 hours per week and very flexible
7th nursing school in the country in research funding from NIH
National conference attendance available
Study abroad - has specific programs to school of nursing, Argentina, UK, Ireland, Switzerland
Study abroad takes place during Maymester (2 weeks), there are also 6 week programs
Student organizations (over 600 at Pitt) - Student Nurse Assn, Student NA of PA, nursing sorority, nursing honor society, men in nursing, etc.
Guaranteed graduate admissions program is available for nursing
Personalized advising with a nursing specific advisor who stays with you for all 4 years
Tutoring is provided through nursing school, study prep, career advising etc.
98.32% NCLEX pass rate - 20% higher than the average national pass rate
10th best BSN (US News) ranking
180 target class size with 192 students in 2022
18% acceptance rate
3 years of lab science (bio and chem) and 4 years of math required (at least pre calc)
Statistics, anatomy and genetics courses are helpful
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Yikes – that 18% admission rate is tough! We are visiting Pitt next month in person – will let you know if I learn anything more.
Hi all,
Mom to a rising senior Creighton Nursing student, Class of 2025. If anyone has specific questions that I can help answer, let me know. Our daughter has been super happy at Creighton, we are a Southern CA family, so it was a big change but she actually loves it. Happy to answer any questions I can.
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I’d love to know why she chose it and what she likes about it. We are also from Southern CA. My kid is a rising high school junior who is pretty sure about nursing, and this thread has been very helpful for making a list of schools to visit this year.
Thank you for your offer.
In your daughter’s Direct-Admit Nursing Program at Creighton, has she found registering for her required classes as very hard? When students study abroad, is it during the school break or is it during the school semester? If the later, will school accommodate students to make up missing classes so they can still graduate in four years? Are the classes taught by TA and Grad students and not professor?