I've been on this forum for sometime now and read a lot of threads about how competitive nursing programs are and people are staying on a waitlists and are willing to travel miles and miles from home to any college they get in. I have a question, why is that? Are you only considering public schools that have huge wait lists? Why not go into private school? They have so many scholarships available that you might end up paying about 4-5 thousand difference per year. Yes, in 3 years of nursing school (if you take pre-reqs in CC), it will be 12-15 thousand difference. But don't you think it is worth it? You will have to pay around 100$ more per month for student loan, but you can be directly admitted into the program without a waitlist and possibly get a better education. Now, I am not saying that all private schools are better than public, but they do have smaller class sizes and usually better clinical placement. Student who are applying to public or private schools, what were the most influential factors that helped you make your decision?