I was accepted into a lot of top nursing schools, but the cost is a big factor. I’ve cut out psu - university park and osu due to cost. I also got into rutgers and tcnj, but have cut those off my list.
However, I got into honors and GAP for Pitt. And honors for Udel, and umass. I really want to go to Pitt, but the more affordable options are udel or umass. I got merit from everywhere except pitt. Since I am out of state, the tuition is insanely high (53,000) per year.
Does anyone have any thoughts on any of these schools? Also, if it is possible in the future to switch majors to pre-PA. I’m trying to be open to other schools as I know that large debt is not worth it.
Congratulations on these options, are they all to a direct admit nursing program?
You have to ask each school this question. Generally there is some, but not much overlap between nursing and PA courses, so if the transfer was made relatively late, you might not be able to graduate in four years. Use the course catalog at each school to map out your four years for each and look at the overlap.
You can take out $27K in total loans during undergrad, any loans beyond that are on your parents. Which of your choices do not require parental loans?
Thank you! I think osu I would just have to keep up my rank, but besides that everything else is direct admit. For loans my parents are willing to help me for whichever school I go to. I’m just worried about the cost because I don’t have much/really anything to put down.
My daughter’s freshman roommate at UD honors was a nursing major (6 years later they are still best friends), I know she liked the program. She’s current working at John’s Hopkins. It’s a great school. My daughter was an exercise science major planning on getting her DPT so she chose UD for the cost, knowing she had 3 more years after graduation, and it really was going to come down to GPA and GRE’s (which she nailed).
I understand that. Are you in-state for any of these schools? What is the net cost of your options right now? What can your parents contribute, not counting loans?
Pitt is an amazing place to do medical training. UDel is good for that too (I know they are like the top 2 schools for PT). but Pitt is so good HBO made a show about it. The whole city of Pittsburgh is centered around medical care now.Udel is a different type of campus- more college-like and pretty and more like a college town.
Both will accomplish what you need and get you where you want to go, but Pitt is really exciting to be in the medical arena and prob looks better on your resume later.
Did you say what the cost difference is? If you did I missed that.
I am from nj, so I’m out of state for my top 3. But rutgers is still expensive for instate. Umass is the cheapest since I got a really big scholarship. However, the price range is still from abt 43,000 to 63,000 per year. Pitt being the most. I’m not sure how much we can put down, but I know we can’t afford a full year without loans.
Where you go to school for nursing doesn’t matter. Get good clinical experience and pass your boards. You’re all set. Wife is a CRNA for close to 30 years.
Thank you! The cost difference would be abt a 10,000 dollar difference since UD gave me a lot of merit. Pitt gave me no merit only some financial aid which wasn’t a lot to off set the out of state tuition.
Older you will be thankful you don’t have loans. You’ll be able to launch earlier and do things like travel in your spare time, not hustle for OT or locums to earn extra cash to payoff loans. I watched my wife do it.
Thank you, that definitely impacts my view on UD. I’ m going to their open house so I’m hoping I can make a decision after. Also, is it her friend that works at john hopkins as a nurse?
If UDel is the $43K option and Pitt is $63K, so that’s $80K over 4 years, I would say go to Del. it’s very good and getting better. But an extra $20K per year is ok with me if you visited and fell in love the with Pitt urban environment and city. If UDel is somewhere in the middle, my gut says choose Pitt but you need to see them both if possible- or at least watch campus tour videos.
Rutgers is great but being from NJ myself I see how many kids just want to go somewhere else (mine included). I wont’t argue with that. TCNJ is very different from the others (smaller).
Yes. My son went to TCNJ, along with one of his best friends, who was a nursing major. They graduated in 2020, and his friend is doing very well, nursing is such an employable field. I’m guessing you got $17,000 from UD and either $16,000 or $18,000 from UMASS (some of my kids applied to these schools). Pitt offered $8000 to one of my kids, but it was still too expensive.
I don’t think there is a lot of cross over with nursing and pre-med majors with classes.
ok I might change my vote a little after looking at US News nursing rankings (this is for a BSN, right?). I know these rankings are silly but Pitt is right near the top (tied 4th). The others are far below, with Mass being in the 20’s, Rutgers in the 30’s, and UDel lower down. it might be (ok, it is) a flawed ranking system, but any system you look at will have Pitt near the top for medical fields.
Pitt is just a very exciting place to train medically. and no slouch in anything if you shift careers. lay people might not know how good it is but the Pitt show on HBO might change that, and hiring types might know.
If the cost is an issue, I would likely go to UMass next.
Rank doesn’t matter for nursing. A grad from the number one school makes the same as a grad from the 100th ranked school given the same circumstances.
My wife graduated from a small, barely ranked nursing school. It was close to home. Her first job was Hershey Medical Center. Great experience and plenty of growth opportunities.
You and your parents have to sit down and go thru the numbers. If you have to take loans for most of or the full cost of any of these options, that would change things. Your college education starts with understanding the financial impact of this decision both now and in the future.
IMO it’s fine to take the $27K in student loans during undergrad…$5.5K in first year, $6.5K, $7.5K, $7.5K. As you can see, that doesn’t get you far.
It’s up to your parents how much they want to take in loans beyond that. Loans will impact their credit rating and ability to get other debt (car loan, mortgage, etc.), and may impact their retirement savings. All things to talk to them about, you don’t have to answer these things here.
Although you might prefer an out of state experience, TCNJ could be a great option if nursing is direct admit and it requires less in the way of loans.
Understanding all your options is important to any big decision…another less expensive option could be to get your ADN at community college while living at home (I don’t know if that’s an option for you, again you don’t have to answer that here.). After you complete your 2 year ADN it is often possible to work as a nurse while you finish up your bachelors degree.
You need a plan in place to pay for 4 years of the college you choose to attend and it is best to minimize loans. What level of loans would be needed for your options?
Since the in-state schools are most affordable, I suggest you consider staying in NJ four more years for your degree – you can move elsewhere after graduation.
rank might not matter for your starting salary, I agree. But it might matter for the quality of education and training you get, the things you are exposed to , your confidence in your abilities, and the TYPE of work you get hired for after. it’s not always about the money.
I agree in avoiding debt though. Loan payback is terrible.