Accelerated BN advice?

[NEH08]

*BSN!

Hi! New here, have gotten lots of recommendations for this site. I have one year left at my university (Bio major) and this time next year will have hopefully completed a good amount of apps for accelerated nursing programs. I was wondering about some pretty general aspects of primarily VA universities with the accelerated program, mostly VCU and GMU - how selective and how many spots overall? VCU is my top choice but I am having a lot of difficulty figuring out where I fall on the spectrum of typical admitted/rejected students. I have around a 3.2 right now but quite a bit higher for my nursing pre-req courses, probably will finish those up around a 3.7 or 3.8 and still have potential to finish them with a 4.0. I know a 3.2 is probably not so competitive, but I will be trying to bring it up a bit in my final year and hope to maybe aim for a 3.3.

I got a 2190 (700R/740M/750W) on my SAT and will be taking the GRE in December, so not sure what to expect on that yet. I do not have experience in hospitals and will be trying to get some in before applications start, but I am enrolled in 20 hours next semester and work part time so I just honestly don't know if I can manage that, my job, and staying on top of all my final upper level biology and chem courses I need to graduate with lengthy labs every day.

Any overall advice would be appreciated, including other schools to look into. VCU and GMU are at the top for me because of the cost, no surprise there - I am not ruling out private schools (or publics in other states) but I would like them to be backups. I know ODU has an accelerated program as well, but I haven't really gotten any info about it yet.

[vwde]

There are a lot of opinions of this one the site and you'll hear good and bad about both programs. I went through GMU's 2nd degree program and the good is that you are done in 12 months. I am finding that I was well prepared regardless of anything positive/negative within the program. They really have some excellent, dedicated professors and, what I'd describe as an intense but thorough program. Hospital experience may not affect your chances of getting into the program but will absolutely help you through. I would strongly recommend you consider doing something (paid tech, volunteer, etc.) in a hospital but plenty of people went through having never set foot in one. You have plenty of time to decide so, good luck!