It is interesting that people on these forums seem to be much more aware of and concerned about whether a college’s nursing program is direct admission than for other majors that are often capacity-limited like engineering majors and computer science.
I just went to a college fair last night at a local HS, and UAHuntsville Nursing had personnel there. They have what is called “Early Promotion into UAH Nursing Program”. It has current conditions which are HS GPA of 3.5, min composite ACT score of 28; and other things. In addition to UAH web site and general scholarship info, can contact UAH College of Nursing Office of Undergraduate Programs. www.uah.edu/nursing
So UAB and UAH can both perhaps be options, even for OOS if stats are high enough to get enough scholarship (the general UAB or UAH scholarship criteria). However be advised that the AL nursing curriculum has 5 semesters of Upper Division Nursing Curriculum, so if scholarship student, one semester will be w/o if needing the four semesters to complete lower division curriculum. UAH’s total program hours is 126.
To answer what @Angela220 said, my DD graduated from UAB’s program Spring 2016. She was in their Nursing Scholars Program (where you apply in HS senior year and meet the application deadline, have the essay submitted, and are chosen for the program). So for DD’s UAB junior year, fall semester, UAB had a “Lamp of Learning Ceremony” welcoming the nursing students into the clinical portion of nursing. Her class had 115 students. Over 60 students were nursing scholars students; some were transfer students (including some who may have a RN degree and are completing BSN) and some were UAB students that changed their major to nursing and had a strong GPA. Some UAB students may have other requirements to complete and enter in nursing in the spring term, and I don’t know the criteria for the students beginning the clinical rotation on the summer term.
I would advise to really check out the schools/programs that are affordable. Each state has a State Nursing Board, and on their web site they will tell all the nursing programs (at every level). It may be affordable is going CC for ADN (associate degree in nursing) and then finish up BSN program. Some schools have on-line programs.
UAB is the largest nursing program in AL, but there are a number of others.
UAH’s program is growing - they added a wing onto their nursing building. They offer through doctorate in nursing.
I think @ucbalumnus that in nursing, even after the first year, there are many more highly qualified students (have college GPAs well over the cut scores, health care experience, etc) who could be admitted than there are spots. Is that the case in engineering? Or does that first year curriculum leave quite a few with lower GPAs, etc, and then after year one, the major isn’t so impacted? Again, I really am asking. I’ve got a BSN grad of my own and have been working at a school that offers nursing for 25. Engineering/CS? I have far less experience. My youngest is a CS major, but that’s a sample size of 1. So, could that be it?
It depends on the school. At some schools, the number of non-direct-admit prospective engineering and computer science majors who reach the application stage (completion of specified prerequisites) is significantly greater than the number of spaces available to them. Of course, it can also depend on the specific major – some may be more popular relative to capacity than others. At other schools, the entrance to major thresholds are much lower, or the majors are open (i.e. accept all who pass the prerequisites).
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19854939/#Comment_19854939 shows admission thresholds for computer science at various schools, although you should verify on school web sites in case of changes.
Regarding post #13
Here is the 50% range of SAT scores for Georgetown (a selective school) according to the common data set
SAT Critical Reading 660 750
SAT Math 660 750
Here is the 50% range of SAT scores for their nursing school according to their student profile document:
SAT Critical Reading 660 750
SAT Math 680 770
Those scores are the exact same range as their business school. I think only their foreigner service school has significantly higher critical reading score range.
I don’t know how much easier is to get to nursing school of selective colleges than another major but from the data sets it looks like you have to have scores at the level of the school.