Maryland Nursing Schools: Best Choice?

Student4_life · Jan 10, 2011

Honestly CSU is your best bet. I checked out your other posts and noticed that your GPA is a tad lower than the minimum for UMB and Bowie, that alone is likely to cause your application to not even get looked at. This coupled with the fact that your are getting to the application process pretty late (there are letters of req specific to each school as well as enterance tests, personal statements, resumes and transcripts to send out (the resume and transcript are going to be univeral, but everything else is unique to each nursing school) and the schools do not accept incomplete or late applications), narrows your options for the Fall.

Applications take time, I have been actively working on my UMB application for the last 2 months, and I still havent got my essay or resume just right, and a professor I contacted a long while ago for a letter still hasn't written it (not complaining, I know the Professor is very busy, but I want you to know these things take time).

I also noted that you are a hardworker in your other posts, so you may be able to take the TEAS, write multiple essays and get your professors to write letters in the next 3 weeks, but even then your GPA is going to hold you back as these schools are all swamped with applicants and I just dont see them having time to look at applicants that dont meet the minimum requirements.

Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but I really think it is much wiser for you to start studying for the ACT/SAT if you havent yet taken it and utilize the extra time that CSU gives to turn in fall applications (March 1st) and put together a great application then it is to try to complete three applications in such a short amount of time.

Just my 2 cents, I wish you luck in which ever ave you choose and am here to help with any questions you might have.

Jules A, MSN · Jan 10, 2011

I'd see where you get accepted first and then start weighing the pros and cons.

thenameismac · Jan 10, 2011

Did you get accepted to any of these schools already? I agree with Student 4 Life. My GPA is borderline the requirement but Coppin takes it. As long as you qualify then they will take you and they had a really good pass rate last year as far as the NCLEX. I would consider that.

Jules A, MSN · Jan 11, 2011

I'm confused by your user name. Are you already a nurse? There are other RN to BSN programs in the area if you are.

2bmalenurse23 · Jan 14, 2011

Thanks for the advice student 4 life, jules A, and thenameisMAC. I have decided after a loooong decision making process to apply to coppin, it will be less stress and a easier transition. I wanted to finish sooner but I guess I will be finishing at the age of 26 ugggh. I dnt care tho, so long as I finish. I meet with Mr Best over at Coppin State he was verry verry friendly, informative, and proffestional as so were all of the faculty there. So that signed the deal for me. Thanx for responding friends

reisling · Feb 23, 2011

Coppin does not have a very good program. It might be "easy" for a reason

Student4_life · Feb 23, 2011

coppin does not have a very good program. it might be "easy" for a reason

coppin certainly earned that remark in the past, but usm and the state have dumped piles on money into this school in an effort to improve its performance and it seems to be working. if you base their programs quality on the most recent nclex pass rate, they are the best bsn program in the state. here is the data to back it up directly from the md bon. i think alot of people turn their nose at this gem of a school, be it because the program is 3 years or on its reputation, but i think it is a good option at the moment for students that don't have the near perfect grades required at umb and towson but still want to go to a usm school to save money.

nclex-rn 1st time candidate performance for maryland schools

fy 2010: july 1, 2009-june 30, 2010

bsn degree programs first time testers number passing passing rate

bowie state university 23 19 82.61%

coppin state university 61 57 93.44%

johns hopkins university 245 228 93.06%

salisbury university 64 59 92.19%

stevenson university 81 74 91.36%

towson university* 157 121 77.07%

university of maryland 204 183 89.71%

washington adventist university~* 23 15 65.22%

bsn degree total 858 756 85.58%

now i am a bit concerned with the small cohort at csu, but i am not sure if that is because alot of the students are failing out before finishing the program or that coppin just has a small program.

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Feb 24, 2011

Now I am a bit concerned with the small cohort at CSU, but I am not sure if that is because alot of the students are failing out before finishing the program or that coppin just has a small program.

I remember looking @ Coppin State two years ago, and I remember on the website they said they accept approx. 100-150 students . I started @ Bowie State straight out of high school(left after a semester), and they accept 50 students, only in the spring. So it looks like for both of these schools, retention is an issue.

Student4_life · Feb 24, 2011

i remember looking @ coppin state two years ago, and i remember on the website they said they accept approx. 100-150 students . i started @ bowie state straight out of high school(left after a semester), and they accept 50 students, only in the spring. so it looks like for both of these schools, retention is an issue.

yeah it is 100-150. but to be fair we should look at the schools demographics and the average graduation rate in the state at 4 years. in 2008 (most recent year with data available from mhec) coppin had 3291 undergrads and 87.299% of them were african-american (africans and other non-americans of african decent were not included in that percentage). since african americans are the overwhelming majority, and for ease of argument (and math) i am going to use the comparitive figures as if the entire population of coppin was african american.

now its hard to use the rest of mhec's data as it pertains to a 4 year school, not a 2+2 or in this case a 1+3, but i'll do my best.

in 2008 the 2nd year retention rate for african-americans was 72.8%

the 4 year graduation rate for african-americans was 19.7% (data is from the class that started in 2005, which makes sense as reports take time to compile and they had to wait until the class of 2005 graduated to collect the data). this is 19% less than the entire md student population as a whole in 2005 at 38.7%.

using the second year retention rate as an indicator of the 4 year graduation rate (looking at the data the numbers clearly have a high corolation), the 4 year graduation rate will be around 20% for the classes 2006-2008.

of course i should assume that the entire coppin population is female as women typically make up the majority of a college population and certainly make up the majority of a nursing cohort. this being the case:

in 2008 the 2nd year retention rate for african-american females was 73.9%

the 4 year graduation rate for african-american females was 23.8% (data is from the class that started in 2005, which makes sense as reports take time to compile and they had to wait until the class of 2005 graduated to collect the data).

now coppins over all 4 year graduation rate for 2004 was 4.2% which is very close to their graduation rate for african americans at 4.1%. this being the case i think my decision to consider the entire sutudent population to be african american can be assumed to be valid.

now to make sense of all this data.

if 61 of 150 students (i say 150 as i really doubt their cohorts are ever not full, everyone wants to be a nurse)graduate coppin and sit for the nclex thats a graduation rate of 41.66% or 10 times the expected rate given the institution and about 2 times the expected rate given the population (african-american females). that graduation rate is better than the state average 4 year graduation rate of 38.7.

this (2 times the expected rate given the population) is what matters, coppin is a hbu and given the data, their nursing program does a really good job at producing results.

i can't begin to explain the disparity in graduation rates between schools and race, i just dont have the time to pour thru all that data, plus the social factors that come into play. but given the disparity, coppins nursing progam is a good program (plus it just moved into a state of the art facility in 2008).

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Feb 24, 2011

Yeah, I would recommend looking @ Coppin too. I still have friends @ Bowie and they complain about issues with the instructors & advisors all the time.

tinasky2005 · Feb 25, 2011

Can anybody tell me what gpa they had when the got accepted into Coppin State