<p>My knowledge is limited to Middle Atlantic States. I know nothing about California.</p>
<p>At almost all colleges, it is harder to be admitted as a nursing major than to be admitted to most other majors. That doesn’t mean you need to be a genius, but it does mean you cannot necessarily rely upon average test scores etc for the general population of a college. </p>
<p>At many community colleges, nursing seats are limited and there is competition. However, they still are usually less competitive than other choices. </p>
<p>Branch campuses of public universities and less well known public colleges are often less competitive than state flagship universities. You may find that public colleges are more competitive than private colleges, because of the higher tuition of privates and because many students want the social atmosphere of the flagships. However, many private colleges provide enough need and merit aid to equal the cost of a state flagship university, particularly for the applicants they really want. </p>
<p>My impression is that most direct entry programs (at least in the northeast US) are less competitive than 2-2 programs. One of the reasons is that there are so many direct entry programs in the northeast US, and the other is that many students decide to go into nursing after a year or two of college. </p>