Nursing School Collusion on Admissions

[johngalt]

To call it collusion makes it sound way too underhanded. Nevertheless I would swear that the nursing schools in the Portland area get together and divide up who they are going to admit. We have 4 BSN programs and 4 ADN programs in the immediate Portland area. I know many people who have applied. Many have applied to all (or most) of the programs. But very, very few were admitted to more than one. If they divide up the applicant admissions, the schools can reduce to some degree the number of declines they receive. They won't all admit the same small group of top applicants. So they won't have to scramble for quality applicants at the last minute. A gross estimate is that the Portland area had 1500 to 1800 applicants for a total of about 500 school spots this year. So even with this "smoothing" of the applicant pool, about two out of every three applicants have failed to find a home.

Have you guys seen this kind of application cooperation in other cities?

[LydiaNN]

I don't think there'd be anything wrong with this system, if the applicants were told about it ahead of time. After all, residency programs use a matching system and the Ivy League schools offer the same financial aid package to applicants. I realize these aren't the same thing, but they do involve a level of cooperation that takes some control out of the hands of applicants. I have never actually heard of the system you're describing, but I've been out of school for so long that if it were going on under my nose, I wouldn't know about it.

[johngalt]

I don't really have an issue with it myself. And I have no proof that the schools are actually doing it. Just anectodal evidence that the great majority of those of us accepted into a program got into one only. If I knew it worked this way, perhaps I would have limited my applications to only first choice schools??? It did work out for me - I got into my first choice. But I could have easily been selected for another school and missed the opportunity I really wanted.