We went to Marquette for a visit this past weekend, and we were really impressed! Everything was so walkable, campus managable, and everything well maintained. Without a car, we were able to walk from the Amtrak Station, to the hotel, to campus, to the Fiserv Forum for a Bucks game, and to Lake Michigan. Also, easy access to the airport which is an Amtrak stop, 10 minutes away, or a short Uber.
During the Nursing session, they remarked how they wanted their nursing students to collaborate with each other, and not have to compete for spots, which is why they are direct admit. I liked how students volunteer at Marquette, and learn to serve their community. We also really value the diversity on campus. And did I mention the brand new nursing building looks amazing from the outside!?!
We ate a meal in the Commons dining hall. We were both really impressed with the food choices, and the cleanliness of the dining facility. Easily, the best campus tour we have had so far!
My student is waiting on Umich decisions, which likely come out Friday. Should Umich not be in her favor, she will likely chose Marquette and be VERY happy!
Thank you for the review of Marquette! We will be going in 2.5 weeks.
Daughter and I visited Xavier two weeks ago (with a brief stop again to look at Miami University of Ohio) and South Carolina this past weekend.
Xavier got a hard āNoā from my daughter. She said several of the other kids who were in her group of future nursing students were not prepared to be nurses and left saying they were changing majors after hearing you had 8am classes and what clinicals entailed. But what really irked her was both hearing about and seeing for herself the lack of integration between minority students and white students. She wants a diverse student body and not just one on paper that self-segregates in reality to the extent she saw at Xavier. Plus, their NCLEX rates are lower than other schools she is looking at.
After about an hour at South Carolina she said, āI forgot how much I like it hereā. They will be opening a new building for nursing this fall off campus where all of the classes for the upper divisions will be. I am unsure if they will have a bus to ferry the students to class or not. Food at South Carolina is good. Weāve now eaten at two separate dining facilities and had good food both times. The dorm rooms for the Honors College are very nice with tall ceilings and fairly large. She really likes the fact there are honors college classes for both her major and for general core requirements and that the gen ed versions are interesting. We looked up who would be teaching some of her required classes for first semester and the professors all had ratings ranging from 4.8-5.0 on rate my professors. Itās still in the running.
Weāre still waiting on repliesā¦so Iāll update stats this weekend (FINALLY!!!). But, I thought Iād share for future parentsā¦We are SoCal residents and just got off the plane returning from Admitted Student Weekend at Loyola Chicago and Admitted Day at Depaul. Both direct entriesā¦both VERY different. Loyola is a Nursing machine! Almost 100 year old program, admitted 237 BSN students!! They are very buttoned up and know what theyāre doing. Beautiful, smallish campus, big dorm rooms. The one drawback for us is the lack of diversity. Depaul has re-started their BSN program a few years ago. It felt small, although it has over 10,000 studentsā¦maybe because most students commute? The vibe was much more casual and diverse. Itās closer to downtown and the neighborhood was super cute. D24 applied to both as safetiesā¦and the way this app season is lookingā¦Iād recommend others look at both too!
Hiā¦this website has been so amazingly helpful! Really appreciate everyoneās wisdom. Looking for some possible advice/guidanceā¦My daughter is struggling making her final decision. She is trying to decide between TCU and Villanova. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience about the 2 programs? Both very expensive but getting some supportā¦TCU seems very nurturing and maybe less intense but Villanova has such an amazing reputationā¦
Thanks!
Congratulations to your daughter! Villanova Nursing is a super tough admit! I donāt have any familiarity with TCUs program, but I am sure itās strong also.
Geographically the schools are very different so not sure where you are located, and how your daughter feels about that. We live in PA and Nova is very well respected. It is stereotypically rich white preppy Catholic kids. I am sure it has more diversity than that, but just mentioning. My daughter applied and was deferred/rejected so she strongly considered and we toured. Presume if sheās considering TCU she is comfortable, or even seeking faith based programs.
Have you visited both/either? Looked into clinical locations and ease of travel to them?
My daughter is a Californian who is a sophomore at DePaul. Not nursing but health sciences. She loves DePaul! I happen to be an RN. I think DePaul has had a nursing program for awhile, but the BSN is newish? Happy to answer any questions about DePaul (though obviously I donāt know much about the nursing program specifically).
We had to miss the admitted student day at Loyola Chicago this past weekend as my daughter had just returned from a spring break class trip. She is pretty set on Loyola and said she could really see herself there when she visited this fall. Today found out she got a $2,000 Directors Award to add to her Trustee Scholarship ($23,000) at Loyola! For some reason she ruled out Dapaul (where she was admited as well) without a visit based on her opinion of Loyola being the better nursing program.
Thank youā¦we are from PA-around the Pittsburgh areaā¦she really wants to go away for school and originally wanted to go somewhere southā¦she also kind of wanted a bigger school with the football atmosphereā¦she loved Clemson but is waitlistedā¦Auburn was really awesome but unfortunately not direct entryā¦TCU is far away but just seems to have an amazing āvibeā with such kind and supportive faculty and students. I was really surprised she was accepted to Villanova. My biggest concern is that it might be a very intense school and maybe not as much of a fun college environment. I want her to work hard, do well but still enjoy college lifeā¦
Oh my gosh there were so so many Nursing students there! Every dorm tour there was a nursing student in our small group of 6 (including parents). They were like a pack! lol
@CAMama24 ā I am a longtime Chicago resident, currently live very near (right in between ) DePaulās Lincoln Park campus and Loyolaās Lakeshore campus, and attended law school (in the 90ās) at DePaul. I am happy to answer any questions you might have about Chicago generally, the neighborhoods, CTA (public transit), area hospitals, etc.
She has some great options for sure! Ironically my daughter chose Pitt! But I totally understand wanting to go somewhere new. My D got Health Sciences at Clemson, no Nursing ā¦she loved that tour! D has a great friend at Nova, on the swim team and loves it. But I agree it does have a work hard vibe, but need the play hard too!
Georgetown UniversityāDoes anyone have any experience with their direct admit BSN program? My daughter was admitted to the program, and Iām unable to find many reviews or information online. We are from CA and plan to visit in April. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
This site has been a wealth of knowledge for my daughter and I as she was trying to navigate the college admissions process for direct admit nursing programs. We knew nursing was a very competitive landscape so she applied to safetys, targets and reaches. I wanted to share our admissions experience in hopes this can help others in the future as so many of you have helped us with all the feedback and advice. This page has been amazing!
In the end she was really torn between Ohio State University and Sacred Heart University as her top two. We also loved our visit to Pitt and were very impressed with the program, but with zero merit and OOSā¦it was too expensive. OSU and SHU are two very difference schools, but she loved them both. In the end, SHU was a bit closer to home, she knew several people attending, OSU did not give her merit and SHU did and I think she just envisioned herself happiest @ SHU. She is so happy with her choice, but I wanted share our experience with admissions and hope it helps others. Good luck to everyone and thank you!!!
96.7w GPA (TO), 15: IB / AP/ Honors / Dual Enrollment (Including. College Anatomy & Physiology I & II), Nursing Internship @ Hospital, Health Exploration Program, CPR/AED/First Aid certification, JV/V Sports, Volunteering & 2 Community Outreach Clubs.
Accepted:
ā¢ Ohio State (Accepted Pre-Nursing in Dec & received EAP/Early Admission Pathway in January (Direct entry option).
ā¢ Sacred Heart University
ā¢ UPitt
ā¢ University of Maryland: Accepted, but did not apply to Nursing. Loved the campus, but did not want to go to Baltimore for the nursing program junior & senior year)
ā¢ Penn State: Accepted, but to Altoona Campus
ā¢ UDel (Accepted, but not to nursing program, UDel gave her biomedical sciences / Pre-PA Pathway instead)
ā¢ URI
ā¢ Fairfield
Deferred / Waitlist:
ā¢ Binghamton: (Deferred to Reg. Decision in December, Waitlisted in March)
ā¢ UConn: Given waitlist for Storrs Campus for Fall 2024 or start abroad Fall 2024 and start Storrs in Spring 2025 (didnāt give her nursing).
Rejected:
ā¢ UVA
ā¢ Villanova: (Deferred to Reg. Decision in January, Rejected in March)
I have a HS 2022 grad that applied to various schools for nursing (though later changed her mind on nursing). While Villanova and TCU were not on her list, I have some familiarity with them.
Villanova was not on the list because my kids would not apply to schools within walking distance of home. However, having spent 50+ years living near Villanova, I think it is a great choice. Villanova is a good school, and has become much more selective in recent years, though I never thought of it as an intense school. I know plenty of people who went to Villanova, and all of them seemed to enjoy their experience. I donāt know where they do clinicals, but the train would provide decent access to plenty of hospitals.
DH did his MBA at TCU when we lived in Texas. While I donāt know much about TCU for the undergrad experience, I have been on campus and went to a number of football games (well before the more recent years of football success). I think it would be a good undergrad college experience. Certainly if you want the football experience, then TCU has the advantage. Villanova used to have a big time football program, but that ended in the early 1980s. They did bring back football a few years later, though it is not what it once was.
Regarding faith based experiences - I donāt get the vibe that TCU is very religious. While Villanova is religious, and there is a requirement to take a couple of theology courses, from what I have seen, students can be as involved - or not involved - in the religious aspect of the school as they want to be.
Thank you very much for the informationā¦
We did the accepted students day at TCU last week and it was amazingā¦ Beautiful campus, very friendly people with great college atmosphere. The Nursing program seems excellentā¦challenging but supportiveā¦seems that the students have a good work/fun mixā¦excellent NCLEX pass rate. We are going to Villanovaās accepted students day in a couple weeksā¦
ā¦she loved that tour! D has a great friend at Nova, on the swim team and loves it. But I agree it does have a work hard vibe, but need the play hard too!