Choosing a Nursing School - I have Many Questions

[Yu-Hsuan Liang]

Hi all,

I hold a Bachelor Degree in Biotechnology from UC Davis. My prerequisites GPA is 3.8, overall GPA is 3.2, and last 60 units of college work GPA is 3.5. I work as medical assistant for three years and hold phlebotomist license. I also got BLS and ACLS certificate. I have various volunteering experiences with hospice care, oncology unit in hospital, and travel clinics around the California. 

I've started applying for Entry-Level Master degree. My school options are below:

1. UC Davis (200k)

2. University of Pacific (100k)

3. University of San Francisco (80k)

4. San Francisco State University (80k)

5. Samuel Merritt University (200k) ( final choice)

Samuel Merritt starts in Spring 2025 and all other schools starts in Fall 2025, which means that I would get admission decision from Samuel Merritt first before all other schools. BUT, I really want to pay the same amount of tuition to UC Davis rather than SMU, at the same time, I also don't know if I should wait for the half year to wait for other schools' admission decision or I should start the program as soon as possible regardless the high tuitions. 

My question is... 

1. Should I wait for that half year for other schools' admission?

2. If I accept the offer from SMU and I attended in the Spring, then I receive more offers from other schools. Are there any option that I can withdrawal from SMU without any bad consequences and get admitted to other schools? Did anyone did that before?

I know Nursing school is very competitive now and I hope I am a strong candidate, I really hope that. I really want to know what my options are. Thank you for answering my concerns. 

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I'm sorry but 200k for a Master's degree when you already hold a BS is insane. There's no way that tuition cost offers a good return on investment. It's over double the cost of a couple of options the you already listed as potentials. 

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

Why on earth would you pay 200K for Master's degree to become an RN?  That is insane.  Please do some ROI analysis before spending this amount of money and probably incurring a lot of debt.

How much do you think you will make as an RN?  RN pay varies widely by location and specialty.  While RNs in the Bay Area can make $200K a year, the cost of living there is also incredibly high.  And Bay Area RN pay is NOT the norm.  You are also not going to make $200K a year as a new grad RN.

Do you plan to become an NP?  If so, then save the bulk of your spend for the NP degree.

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/how-to-measure-roi-of-a-college-education2207.html

 

[EmergentAnesthetics]

200K for RN education is crazy! That's more than my CRNA program's tuition.