Schools

I've heard from people who went to Maryville that you need to do your first two years there to get into the BSN program, they favor people who did their pre-reqs there.

I am taking pre-reqs at STLCC right now, and plan to apply to Barnes and UMSL. I believe UMSL is slightly more competitive. I met with an advisor at both schools, and I got a much better impression from UMSL. Barnes seems really disorganized, they kept transferring me to the wrong people to get an appt. and when I finally had my meeting, the adviser couldn't answer a lot of my questions. Also, I have a B.A. already and UMSL is willing to accept a lot more of my classes as pre-reqs than Barnes.

My advice is to schedule meetings at all of the schools to get more info and see what will be the best fit for you.

I went to UMSL & loved it. You will get just as good of a nursing education at UMSL as you will at Barnes, & at a smaller cost. In my experience talking to those who hire, too, they seemed more impressed by UMSL grads than anyone else, aside from SLU. They love SLU grads, but you have that incredible cost with that, too.

So, UMSL gives you the most bang for your buck, in my opinion.

Maryville rubbed me the wrong way. Seemed really stuck-up with that whole "you need to already be taking your classes at Maryville" crap. That's just ridiculous & greedy.

You would be fine with Barnes, but it's a lot of money.

I also found the support system at UMSL to be top-notch. The advisors know their stuff & will help you get through the tough parts of the program.