Hi. My daughter is seeking a transfer to the BSN program.Any suggestions on a good college say reasonably ranked in PA, VA or OH with good hospitals for hands-on training close-by as she does not have a car and not too expensive. She is an international student and is currently doing her undergraduate studies at Temple University. Thanks.
Look at the Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH: https://nursing.case.edu/.
What is “not too expensive”???
Is she ready for Clinicals? Does she have all the pre-nursing done?
Without a car, she may have to find a place that is near her clinicals.
It’s harder to transfer into a BSN program. Where is she now? can’t she complete there?
these aren’t in your desired states, but she may not be able to be so picky about location.
She can try UAH in Huntsville Alabama…excellent BSN program…high passing rates, but I don’t think the hospital is that close by. Clinicals would be done at Huntsville hospital I believe. @sosconcern can you answer this?
She can try UAB in Birmingham Alabama…one of the best nursing in the country, high passing rates, but maybe hard to get into. Lots of hospitals surround UAB since a top med school is there.
She can try USA in Mobile Alabama…very good BSN…hospital there because a very good med school is there.
Since we don’t know what is “'too expensive,” are privates ok? I would try Valparaiso in Indiana. I don’t think it’s too hard to get into.
There are a few small Catholic univs that have nursing that may not be hard to transfer into.
I suggest posting in the nursing major forum. There are many nursing programs in the states you mentioned (especially Pennsylvania), but many do not accept transfers. Is your daughter currently a nursing student or has she recently decided to change her major? I wouldn’t worry about the college’s overall ranking, as long as the nursing program is a good one, with high pass rates on the NCLEX.
Thank you gandalf79, mom2collegekids and kidsncatz for your replies. She is doing her Biology at Temple University. She has developed a liking for Nursing as she wants to help patients. She has finished most of the GECs, Bio, Chem and Math. Few prerequisites like stats and microbiology will be completed probably in summer. I guess she can take these subjects in a community college as well. If she does from smaller universities, would that be a disadvantage for getting a job after she graduates. I am asking this as she is an international student and even getting internships are quite difficult for international students.
Is Temple too expensive, or was she rejected from or ineligible for internal transfer to the nursing major there?
http://cph.temple.edu/nursing/academic-programs/bs-nursing-program/admissions
Temple offers a BSN and accepts transfers from within. This would be one option for her. Out of school transfers to nursing programs are nearly impossible due to demand, prerequisites,(in addition to those you have listed, ex. nutrition, anatomy and physiology, etc. ), additional testing for some institutions, some also require prerequisites in certain subjects to be taken at their institutions which will require additional years of schooling. Some schools require you to attend their institution for 1 semester and then apply for the nursing program, without any guarantee of being admitted. Any financial aid that she has may also be lost. Many deadlines for transfers fall between 2/1 and 3/1, some deadlines were in December. The University of Alabama will take transfers but the deadline is March 1st. and they state that you need about 2 months prior to the deadline to have equivalent courses evaluated prior to application. She needs to contact the College of Health Professionals at Temple asap. Even at Temple, there are several nursing courses during Freshman and Sophomore year so that she would have to start as a Freshman Nursing student.
Other options would be: 1.find schools that don’t begin their nursing programs until Junior year and accept transfers,
- (This is what I think may be her best option) complete her BS at Temple and apply to accelerated programs for nursing (this may be the best option), she can get a job at a hospital to see if she really wants to be a nurse, her financial aid pkg will remain the same, she will have more time to investigate options and colleges and pre requisites. She will need to keep her GPA high. She may stand a better chance of admission to a program that is designed for students with BS degrees who would like to become a nurse rather than a transfer student into an already full nursing program. http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/accelerated-programs
Posting in the nursing forum for other ideas asap!
Best of luck to her.
She will be applying to Temple too, but i am a little concerned about the safety there.
You can look at the nursing school information for each state via the state board of nursing for PA, VA, OH, etc. They list the various schools - at all nursing levels. NCLEX % pass rate for school.
Some schools, it may be with transfer, there may be ‘conditional admission’ with completion of pre-requisite courses. It depends on competition for the clinical classes on which session one can transfer in. UAB has a very large nursing program, so they begin students in the clinical sessions FA, SP, and SU terms - look at the web site for the various clinical course lay-out. In AL, there are 5 clinical terms - many students do a full time schedule between junior and senior year of college and have the 5 terms that way; some tack on an additional semester.
A strong student from Temple may have a better chance at gaining a transfer nursing clinicals seat (JR/SR years of nursing) where one would be a very strong student compared to the students who began at that BSN program.
As an international student, what are the plans after completing a degree?
Public schools may be close to similar price as private for int’l students. I would look closely at who will take all the Temple coursework, who has a strong reputable program. Glean what info you can off the web, phone calls, visits.
My junior year of nursing I did not have a car, but I did for senior year, which allowed me more options in my training (I was in Milwaukee at a private U, and in senior year I did work with Visiting Nurses for example, and I needed my own transportation). Milwaukee has a good public transportation (bus) system but time/schedule is very important to a student. Junior year three of us rode together with a gal that had a small car.
My DD is at UAB, has a car, and is doing a preceptor term (very popular with nursing programs on last semester of senior year) - this often is in the area the student wants to work after graduating, and often the hospital will consider them more strongly for employment due to the experience in that dept/in that facility. Her schedule for the preceptor hours is based on the nursing schedule of her mentor - she schedules when she doesn’t have other classes and as agreed with the mentor (who is a hospital employee RN). That hospital will be accepting nursing school job applicants, and UAB actually has various agencies with job openings to give presentations to the entire nursing class who will be graduating - a win/win for getting info to the students and for students to decide where to apply for work.
In my nursing school, as a senior, we had to do a teaching project, and also shadowed a physician. I shadowed a Cardiologist, and did a nurse teaching project in a cardiology subject. I was offered a job at that hospital on a cardiac step down unit (step down from ICU). Prior to that I had worked as a nursing assistant FT summer before senior year at that hospital (because my home town hospital didn’t have work for me), and I paused during most of senior year due to college first.
In AL, in addition to the schools mentioned, UNA (Florence) has a nursing program - and I have seen some good nurses out of that program. UAHuntsville is gaining a new nursing building, and is growing.
Any specific questions, can PM me.
Thank you ECmotherx2 and SOSConcern for your replies. I shall check out the suggestions given by all of you. SHe would ideally not want to graduate in Biology as it would mean studying subjects which are not to her interest and most of them are not required for Nursing program. Do let me know if you come across any additional info. Thanks again
How is Waynesburg University, PA, La Salle University and West Chester University at PA?
West Chester is quite competitive for nursing, and I don’t know if they take transfers. I would imagine Waynesburg and La Salle are more likely prospects for a transfer student but I think your daughter should call or email the nursing department at any school she’s interested in and ask for specifics regarding transfer possibilities. Some of the PASSHE schools that offer nursing (other than West Chester) would probably be the best choices financially. Look into IUP, Edinboro, Clarion, Mansfield, and East Stroudsburg. Bloomsburg has a good nursing program but is, like West Chester, competitive for the nursing program and may not accept transfers. Other possibilities are several of the branch campuses of Penn State, five of which now offer BSN programs. The smaller private schools may be more open to transfers but are also likely to be more expensive.
@klgn17 has your daughter taken anatomy and physiology, human growth and development or a nutrition class? Many of the nursing programs require these for transfer students. Something else to think about; as long as she takes nursing prerequisites she can graduate with a BS from Temple, (it does not have to be in biology), and enter a 15 or 18 month accelerated program in nursing at another university.
La Salle will take transfers with A&P I and II as prerequisites, they also want HS transcripts, ACT or SAT scores, 2 letters of recommendations, application and personal statement and the due date is Feb.1st. I don’t see an option for transfers for Waynesburg except as a BS student to accelerate to a nursing degree, you would have to call the admissions dept. and speak with someone in nursing.
My concerns are that it appears to be a little late in the process to get the applications in, and that many schools have prerequisites that your daughter may not have taken. I am not quite as concerned about clinical rotations as many of the students will either carpool or travel together.
ECmotherx2 and kidzncatz - yes, she has taken A&P I, intro to nutrition and most of the prerequisite classes. Penn State branch campuses have no vacant seats for nursing. Will look into the other colleges that you have suggested. Thanks a lot!
If none of the public universities in PA are taking transfers, try any/all of the 21 private schools in PA that have BSN programs. Check the PA state Board of Nursing website for names of schools. Another possibility is D’Youville in Buffalo, NY. I know Capital in Columbus, Ohio has a nursing program, but I’m not familiar with other nursing programs in Ohio or Virginia.
Yes, surely! Will check them out, kidzncatz. Someone suggested continuing with BS in Biology for now and then getting a secondary BSN degree. What is your take on that?
I’m not as familiar with the ABSN programs but there seem to be a lot of them these days and they may be a good option. I don’t know how competitive admission is, but there are at least 16 such programs in PA alone and it seems that more and more schools are starting to offer this type of program.
Ok…Thanks a ton! Right now keeping all options open. Meanwhile will research different universities.
On second thoughts, I think pursuing a second degree BSN doesnt make much sense as she will in any case spend almost three years to complete her current BS in Biology as well as BSN. Even for an accelerate program in Nursing she will need a minimum of 1.5-2 years plus the 1.5 years to complete BS in Biology. So getting into BSN right-away may be the best bet in terms of saving time (years). What do you say?