Direct Entry Nursing for Fall 2024 Admittance

This thread has been very helpful for DD24 who is pursing Direct Entry for a BSN so I thought I would post some of her details in the hopes of helping to give future applicants some insight into this process which seems less transparent than many other majors.

Massachusetts resident; public high school
GPA: 4.4W/3.8UW
SAT: 1480
APs: 7 classes (including Chemistry, Biology & Envi Sci)
ECs: Varsity Captain - 1 sport; Peer Mentoring; Student Council; NHS; Church Ministry; Multiple Leadership Roles; Full time summer job
Recommendations: Strong - from a math teacher, a science teacher, and a coach

Schools:

EA: UPitt - Accepted/$10K Merit
EA: UVermont - Accepted/Presidential Scholarship - $20K Merit
EA: Elon - Accepted/Presidential Scholarship - $10K Merit
EA: Fairfield - Accepted/Magis Scholarship - $28.5K Merit
REA: Georgetown - Accepted
RD: Boston College - Waiting
RD: Northeastern University - Waiting
RD: UVirginia - Waiting
RD: Villanova - Waiting
RD: UMassachusetts - Waiting

Nobody in our family is in medicine so nursing education is new to us. One thing I wish I knew much earlier in the process is that for nearly all of these schools, you can tour the Nursing Schools (separate from and in addition to touring the school) which really helped in the process. Good luck to all of you and your children; we certainly need more great nurses.

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Thank you!! My daughter was accepted to pre-nursing so we will wait for mid-feb for that answer but we are not holding our breath since I have read they do not take many students for the early admissions pathway. Although it would be wonderful if she did make the cut for the Early Admissions Pathway!

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Regarding URI’s nursing major


https://web.uri.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1740/Nursing-6.5.12.pdf says that:

“Entry into NUR 203 is competitive and seats are limited. Students are required to have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a grade of “C” or better in all prerequisite courses to be considered. Entrance into the clinical course sequence is not guaranteed once meeting these requirements. Placement is competitively granted based on success in prerequisite criteria. Those who meet the minimum criteria but do not achieve a seat will be considered the following semester, in the same competitive manner. The NUR 203 class is determined at the close of spring and fall semesters. If seats remain, those completing pre-requisites in summer or interim session will be considered.”

NUR 203 in the third semester is the gateway prerequisite to many other courses in the program. Since entry to it is by competitive admission (with minimum of 3.0 GPA and C grades to be considered), it is equivalent to a nursing major that starts with pre-nursing and requires competitive secondary admission, if the level of competition is similar (of course, the level of competition will vary).

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Take a look at the nursing handbooks for each school to see what the progression requirements are. Weed-out college GPAs can range from the low 2.something to the high 3.something.

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My daughter was also admitted pre nursing to OSU and waiting to hear about the early admissions pathway. I couldn’t find info regarding how many students are accepted this way. All of this waiting is nerve-wracking!

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I am pretty sure it was around 15 students last year (forgot where I read that) but with a different admission process—required a timed online “interview” and short answer questions.


Just found what you referenced
the admission stats from 2023. Ugh, that is a small number!

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Yes, very small number. Would most definitely go with a direct entry program elsewhere.

Thanks for posting this. I knew the number was very small, but that is near impossible. I believe they also have to interview for it as well.

Hi! I think they may have removed the interview this year. I had read on OSU website in September that it was a part of the selection process, but then I noticed they had updated the website and it was no longer included/listed. Yes, 15 students is nuts!

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Regarding the OSU numbers, does that mean 1/3 of the pre-nursing students were not able to continue in nursing after sophomore year (without transferring)? Edited to add: If so, does anyone know if that number is typical of all non-direct admit programs?

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Yes. This is the risk of a non-direct admit program.

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I think it varies a lot among schools. Public universities (especially flagships) that don’t have direct entry (or very limited direct entry) often have a very competitive process for pre-nursing majors for entrance into the clinical phase of the program. On the other hand, small private schools often have a much less competitive process. My daughter was admitted to two such pre-nursing programs which guaranteed admission to the clinical phase with a B average overall and in prerequisites.

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Thanks for the quick replies. We are early in this process and still learning. I guess I am surprised pre-nursing numbers aren’t more closely aligned with the eventual number of nursing seats available. Historical data should give schools a pretty good estimate of the number of pre-nursing students who will leave the program or be “unqualified” so admissions could (if they wanted) get relatively close to matching the pre-nursing and nursing seats.

My Daughter is a junior and interested in direct entry nursing programs, she is looking for nursing camps this summer. So far we have found camps at Ohio State University and University of Washington. Any others we should know about? Thank you!

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Adelphi University, long Island, NY
3 week residential program.

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Hi, my DD also got accepted into many direct admit BSN programs and I was wondering how did you find out about the tours of the nursing schools/colleges and who did you reach out to in order to schedule? I’d rather do a guided tour of the nursing college and self tour the rest of the university/campus.

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At U of AZ, only 1/4 or 1/5 of ALL applicants get admitted into nursing (upper division). I don’t know the ratio for the pre-nursing ones at U of A.

Hi, we are from Southern California.
My DD applied to way too many and got accepted with merit in a bunch
too many to visit. We haven’t visited yet any OOS, wanted to wait for California public schools which release their decisions late March


Unweighted GPA - 4.0, Weighted: 4.65
SAT: 1480
4 AP exams so far passed with 5s and 1 4; enrolled in 3 APs. 5-6 Honors classes.
EC: figure skater, assistant coach for ice skating academy, biomed/biotech club VP, YMCA camp counselor

Case Western (CWRU) - 45k
U of AZ - 32k
Simmons - 30k
Creighton - 28k
Marquette - 27.5k
Xavier - 26k
Seton Hall - 32k
Duquesne - 27k
U of AL Birmingham - 21k
Northern AZ U - 6k
Arizona State U - 16.5k
UMass Boston - 18k
UMass Lowell - 20k
Fairfield - 28.5k
Endicott - 20k

Waiting:
UConn (Connecticut)
UDel (Delaware)
Gonzaga
UCI (University of California Irvine)
San Diego State U (SDSU)
Cal State San Marcos (CSUSM)
Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Long Beach (non-direct)

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Hi there

You can usually search for them on the college website or google. At least that is how we did it. Just google UPitt nursing tours, UDel, etc
 Or search on each school’s nursing website. Many colleges do separate nursing tours which is great to get an in depth tour and program review. We did nursing tours for UDel, Pitt, PSU, Sacred Heart, Binghamton, and Univ of Maryland. Others, we did just general campus tours due to scheduling, but did research their programs on our own. Many also have virtual tours of their nursing programs if your can’t visit just for the nursing program.