What are my son’s chances for being accepted at University of Pittsburgh main campus with the following stats.
9-12 GPA: 4.0 Weighted with a lot of AP/Honors classes, sciences. Probably 3.7 or so unweighted.
ACT: 26 with a 27 in both science and math.
Father is a Pitt graduate.
OOS
It doesn’t look good for the main campus. According to the common data set (2016-2017) the Composite ACT 25th percentile for the ACT was 27 and 81% of the students admitted had a GPA of 3.75 or greater. From what I’ve seen on the class of 2017 thread, the numbers for 2017-2018 will likely be even higher. The School of Nursing appears to be really competitive as well.
So does Pitt only look at the unweighted GPA and not the weighted? What if we apply now and then he hits a 28-29 (or higher) on ACT that he is taking in October? Will they consider those scores?
And if they don’t take unweighted GPA will they at least consider him if he just has average scores but has taken 5 AP classes already?
Regarding the ACT, you probably need to talk to the Admissions office. Pitt uses a rolling admissions process, so you’ll want to understand how future tests will be considered when an applicant submits their app.
I believe that Pitt does their own GPA weighting. The common data set reports on a 4.0 scale (unweighted), so it’s impossible to tell from it what their weighted GPAs would be by Pitt’s calculation. The reality is that Pitt is a well-regarded university, so I would say it’s safe to assume that many (if not most) students have taken a significant number of honors, AP, IB, and/or DE courses.
I did see a freshman class profile for 2017 that indicated 95% of the enrolled students took at least 1 AP class, and that the school of nursing had 153 students enrolled (https://oafa.pitt.edu/explore/class-profile/).
Overall, I’d say that the Pittsburgh campus is probably a reach, and that your son will definitely want to consider some safety schools.
How about Pitt-Greensburg? They have a pretty good reputation overall. This is the first year for their direct admit RN program. Re-calculation of weighted GPA is 4.14. His ACT test was taken in April so hopefully when he re-takes in October will get it up in the 28-29 range.
I’d call the Greensberg campus to see if they can give you the acceptance stats for Nursing (check the Johnstown campus too). Overall, Pitt’s satellite campuses looks like good safety schools based on their CDS information. However, nursing may be much more competitive than the other programs even at the satellites.
When we visited the School of Nursing in 2015, they told us the average stats for the incoming nursing class. It is higher than the average published for the whole school. There are only about 120-130 spots in each incoming class. I’m sure you can call to ask for the latest stats.
I sat down with my son and we Took a look at all of the programs in Pennsylvania and how well they did on the national exam. And also compare that with the cost of attending school there. For such a elite program, The University of Pittsburgh did not do so great. Even programs like Carlow had higher pass rates. Pitt’s program is quite expensive too. More expensive than the private schools because they don’t give out much merit aid from what I heard. So right now Waynesburg University said he has an excellent chance of getting in and we are supposed to hear back from them regarding A decision within the next couple weeks. If he gets in there, he’s taking it. They have the highest success rate on the national exam of all the Pennsylvania programs. It is pretty crazy to see how much the public schools cost now in Pennsylvania. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in physical therapy and nobody ever mentioned my school when I was applying for jobs. Just wanted to know if I was licensed and ready to work. I
@sanluisdavid Make sure you ask schools your son is interested in whether they require students to meet a benchmark score on the HESI in order to graduate and sit for the NCLEX. Some schools use this as a requirement to protect their NCLEX pass rate. I think I first heard of this on the Nursing Major thread here.
Yeah. I saw that too! I guess it makes sense if they want to look good to folks “comparison shopping” because bottom line is getting the license. Definitely will be asking Waynesburg about that to see if that is why their scores are so high.
There’s a critical nursing shortage now, with no indication that it will end soon. Completing any accredited nursing program and passing the NCLEX-RN will probably satisfy most employers.
I haven’t lived in PA in years, but through this board I’ve come to realize that there’s a big difference between the PASSHE colleges and Pitt, Penn State, and Temple when it comes to tuition and state funding. It looks like many of the PASSHE schools offer nursing (specifically 4-year BSN programs which I assume is what your son is looking for), so they could be public options to consider if you haven’t looked at them already. It looks like tuition and fees at these schools would be under $9K per year without considering any merit of need-based aid.
I looked up Bloomsburg University and from their own website it has a price of $19,310/year for In-state. But since my son will be OOS, costs will exceed $31,400/year.
I just found a website registerednursing.org that had rankings of 76 PA RN programs. Some notables: #2 Waynesburg, #3 Bloomsburg, #26 Carlow, #29 Gannon, #36 University of Pittsburgh, #41 Robert Morris, #54 Robert Morris
I’m sorry, #41 on the list was Duquesne. That might explain why they instituted the use of the HESI to boost up their ratings.
From what I saw, Bloomsburg’s tuition was ~$3,700 per semester in-state. Did you get $19k per year after including room and board? Any reason you’re focusing on PA schools and not in-state options? I forgot in your original post that you’re OOS.
Yes the $19K in state was for room and board included. I am focusing on PA schools for a few reasons. We live in San Diego. SDSU was where we figured he would go. Admissions says only 5.4% were admitted into their program last year. My sons grades and scores are frankly not high enough when compared to other candidates. SDSU does not allow an applicant to pick a second or third major either so if you don’t get into your intended major, you are out of luck for that school. Next reason is that there are only a couple Direct Admit RN programs in the whole State. UC Irvine is another one but has a super low acceptance rate as well. Other than those two schools there are only a couple Private schools which are way out of our price range. Another reason is that I am originally from Western PA and my son has several cousins going to University there and lots of family living in area. Another reason is that there is some kind of anomaly in PA with a huge number of direct admit programs available. Entrance requirements are much lower than CA schools. PA private schools offer great merit aid. Waynesburg for example has an online calculator and with my son’s grades and ACT scores indicates he would get $18K (1/2 COA). That’s without even exploring other types of work study or aid. Another reason is that I am a Physical Therapist with over 26 years experience, most of which is working in AZ and CA and I am stunned at how bad most of the nurses (and therapists for that matter) I have met are out West, especially in CA. Finally, and probably most importantly, the National Board pass rates for the PA schools is as good or better than the CA schools, even though the entrance standards are much higher in CA. Waynesburg is usually 100%
@sanluisdavid Have you looked into the other Pitt campuses with nursing? Johnstown and Bradford, I believe also have a nursing major and should have the same curriculum. The admissions may be less competitive, but the tuition is probably going to be higher than the other schools you are researching. You should also ask all schools about their 4 year graduation rate. Also ask how far the students would have to travel to get to clinicals - do they need a car?
The other two Pitt campuses I saw listed were ranked #46 and #70 respectively. Pitt Greensburg has a new program. All of those options would cost us significantly more, have much lower overall quality ratings, and have lower National board test pass rates. So right now Waynesburg is the #1 choice. They told us they would let us know before mid Sept if he gets accepted or not, so rather than waste a lot of time and energy we are just waiting on that result first. If he doesn’t get in, I’m sure my son will be throwing out a very wide net (including the schools you mentioned) to get into whatever programs he can, then make a final decision. He is not interested in other majors so all CA schools effectively out of the picture. There are probably 10 or more programs that he could get into, in PA. Since he is really set on Waynesburg I am not going to ask too many more questions from them. But if he doesn’t get in there, we will need to research everything more closely, including the overall graduation rate.
My son will have a car with about 80k miles on it. So hopefully that will last him. There are a tremendous number of hospitals and other clinical sites in Western PA and we have family living as along the Western part of the state if he needed to stay there while doing clinicals