I’ll speak first from direct experience because my daughter is a nurse and will in the process reiterate some points already made.
-
The quality of a nursing program is heavily dependent on the quality of the clinical experiences it has access to. This means that the best nursing schools are typically found in big cities because that’s where the best hospitals are.
-
Part of your training is going to occur off campus at those clinical, so it’s important to find out where those are in relation to the campus and what assistance the college provides in getting to and from the clinical. For this reason, I would not recommend the University of Connecticut where I live because the campus is just too far from the hospitals. It’s a good program and it is direct admit, but a car is a must and the hassles just don’t seem to be worth it to me. Can it be done at a school like this? Sure. Nursing students do it every year. So, you decide, but be informed when you make that decision.
My daughter went to Boston College, which checks all the boxes. She has never had a problem getting a job even when jobs were scarce and she was easily admitted to a nurse practitioner program. She currently works at an Ivy League research hospital in pediatric intensive care. Like you, she was a top student (#3 in her class) at a suburban high school but with so-so SATs. The SARS didn’t prevent her from getting into BC. Grades matter.
BC checks all the boxes - top school, 4 years of on campus housing guaranteed, help with transportation to/from clinical, clinical sat the world class hospitals which open doors to good jobs upon graduation & often at those same hospitals. I’d look for a school like that.
Here are some direct admit programs in or near cities in the East:
Boston College
Drexel
Duquesne
Georgetown
MCPHS (Boston) - not sure if direct admit
Marymount (VA)
UMass Boston - not sure if direct admit
College of New Jersey
NYU
Northeastern
Quinnipiac
Penn
Pitt
Rutgers (Newark)
Seton Hall
Simmons
Temple
Vermont
Villanova
Virginia Commonwealth