Are all nursing schools really competitive to get into?

SnMrsSmiley · Sep 19, 2011

nursing isnt easy no matter where you go to school to learn. All the schools near me are extremely competitive. I waited 3 years to get in with a 4.0 GPA and a 27 ACT. I also had great Teas test scores. Good Luck!!

Lifeofanurse · Sep 20, 2011

very competitive.

I didn't have a 4.0 but it was higher than a 3.0

Most have a rubric of some kind that gives you an over all 'score' then they take the top scorers for the number of slots available. But every school is different. shop around. Some require chemistry as a prereq others don't. some require college algebra some just require that you be "at college level" and don't actually have to take the class. Be as selective as they are. Don't try for a school that is going to make you crazy w/ the prereq requirements.

and don't forget to check your bon to be sure they are accredited and check their pass rate on the nclex. You do not want to get into a school that has a 70% pass rate.

havehope · Sep 20, 2011

All of the colleges I have looked at are very competitive.

The particular college i'm looking at to be in the "first pile"(they call it tier 1) to chose from you have to have taken all courses at that college, got an A or B in Anatomy, and have a 3.5 GPA.

I agree with Lifeofanurse, all schools are different just keep looking around at which you like best and if you can apply to as many as you can.

Good Luck!

soxgirl2008 · Sep 20, 2011

Nursing school is hard no matter where you go...BSN or ADN they're both hard. You have peoples lives in your hand it shouldn't be easy.

There are nursing schools around here that aren't super hard to get into, but they're either very expensive or have long waiting lists. Any of the cheap BSN programs around here you better have at least a 3.7 gpa.

So there ARE less competitive schools out there...but be prepared to wait awhile or pay a lot, and all the less competitive schools I know are still extremely hard once you start clinicals

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2011

By "easy", I hope you meant, easy to get into. Do you have $135,000 ? I saw a pre-nursing "vent" about a for-profit school that was easy to get into.

Let's be realistic here. If you did not do so well in the pre-reqs and don't want to take classes over. I'm going to assume that you live in California because that seems to be the only place that has waitlists. I would suggest that you try the LPN/LVN path. It's a hard core one year program. If you are ready for more learning after that, you can get into a bridge LPN-RN program.

HeiseC · Sep 20, 2011

With my school, I thought I'd never get in. I had a low GPA, and some of my grades were above a C+, but still made me feel unsatisfactory. (I had mainly B's rarely A's in the pre-req's). When I got the letter from the department, I knew that the packet of information were too big to be a rejection letter. Now, my school has sattelite campus's and I was talking to a girl who drove about an hour and half away to buy books for class (that were the next day) and she told me that her friend didn't get into the program. How I got so lucky, I have no idea. So if competition is your fear, I say go for it. You never know.

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 20, 2011

Sure, there are such schools. Most are "for profit" diploma mills that will let almost anybody in if they pay really big bucks. They might not let you graduate (flunk you out before the finish) because they need to maintain a reasonable pass rate on the licensing exam. You'll end up in deep debt with a sub-standard education (if you are lucky enough to graduate.)

One way to avoid such schools is to find out how many people who start the program actually finish on schedule. The ones with the highest drop-out rates are the ones to avoid. They are taking money from students, but not really helping them get the degree they are paying for.

Another thing to ask is, "Where do the students do their clinical rotations?" If they aren't going to the best hospitals in the area, that's another bad sign. You also want to know that new grads from that school are getting jobs at the best hospitals. If the best hospitals aren't hiring a school's graduates (but they are hiring new grads from other schools), that says they don't respect that school.

Unless you already have a clinical background, there are no schools that are totally online for the entry-level degree. There are a few distance-learning programs that will grant a nursing degree to people who are already health care provides (but not nurses) -- but those are controversial and not considered legitmate everywhere.

Nurses are responsible for the health and safety of others. The educational standards are higher than they are for some other fields for good reasons.

SVXPORT · Sep 20, 2011

In Oregon it is very competitive. My program states that the average GPA

for its entering class is 3.93.

CNA experience plus a previous degree are almost requirements due to the large number of students interesting in becoming nurses.

Despareux · Sep 20, 2011

Nurses are responsible for the health and safety of others. The educational standards are higher than they are for some other fields for good reasons.

:up: I love being a part of those higher standards.

Seems many schools who used to have wait-lists are trending toward a more competitive route; including some for-profit school.