CUNY/SUNY nursing admissions

Nurse Connie · Aug 21, 2012

I went to Queensborough CC and it is pretty competitive as well. I had a 3.8 for my pre-reqs.

gorgeousnatalia · Aug 21, 2012

Thank you Connie for your response.

I was just notified at my NSAR meeting that the lowest GPA at LaGCC was 3.8! He told me I'm guaranteed acceptance with an A+ gpa. I don't know how I am going to achieve that. So I will be researching other schools. He also told me I may have a shot in a SUNY since all the CUNYs are big city schools.

DoGoodThenGo · Aug 22, 2012

Wrapping a general response in a nutshell, *all* CUNY, SUNY and private nursing programs at the moment are competitive for entry and retention. Some more than others and the first two because of their generally good education and low costs have vastly more qualified applicants than open slots.

Can't speak for all but it does seem most of the aforementioned programs are moving to requiring at least a 3.0 for entry (can be entire pre-nursing average or just certain classes such as sciences and perhaps math), and to stay in as well.

The other usual part of the entry process today includes one's scores on NLN, TEAS, SATs or any other standard pre-nursing or college entrance exams.

My standard recommendation is for persons not to go deeply into debt for a nursing degree. Private programs such as NYU, Wagner, LIU offer many benefits as they are associated with large four year colleges/universities, but that comes at a cost. You can get a BSN from NYU or Hunter, but the former offers that beautiful campus in The Village, chances to study abroad and all the rest that goes with attending a world class top ranked college. However at the end of the day you still will be a RN with a BSN (hopefully) and right now the job market is tight for new grads. Not something you'd want to graduate into with student loan debt at or>20K staring you in the face. *LOL*

As you start looking at schools consider honestly what is possible knowing yourself. I mean if you live in Queens almost in Long Island are you *really* going to commute to say the College of Staten Island for two to three years just to get a nursing degree?

While nothing is written in stone, often BSN programs, especially at private colleges have slightly (just) less competition for entry. Mainly because of the tuition IMHO.

gorgeousnatalia · Aug 23, 2012

Wrapping a general response in a nutshell, *all* CUNY, SUNY and private nursing programs at the moment are competitive for entry and retention. Some more than others and the first two because of their generally good education and low costs have vastly more qualified applicants than open slots.
Can't speak for all but it does seem most of the aforementioned programs are moving to requiring at least a 3.0 for entry (can be entire pre-nursing average or just certain classes such as sciences and perhaps math), and to stay in as well.
The other usual part of the entry process today includes one's scores on NLN, TEAS, SATs or any other standard pre-nursing or college entrance exams.
My standard recommendation is for persons not to go deeply into debt for a nursing degree. Private programs such as NYU, Wagner, LIU offer many benefits as they are associated with large four year colleges/universities, but that comes at a cost. You can get a BSN from NYU or Hunter, but the former offers that beautiful campus in The Village, chances to study abroad and all the rest that goes with attending a world class top ranked college. However at the end of the day you still will be a RN with a BSN (hopefully) and right now the job market is tight for new grads. Not something you'd want to graduate into with student loan debt at or>20K staring you in the face. *LOL*
As you start looking at schools consider honestly what is possible knowing yourself. I mean if you live in Queens almost in Long Island are you *really* going to commute to say the College of Staten Island for two to three years just to get a nursing degree?
While nothing is written in stone, often BSN programs, especially at private colleges have slightly (just) less competition for entry. Mainly because of the tuition IMHO.

Thank you so much for your response.

I have thought about where I will apply. I will definitely apply to public institutions because of the tuition. I do completely agree about the amount of debt I will be in if I go to a private school. According to my advisor you need a 3.8 average to even be considered in CUNY. I am looking to go straight for my BSN. I am right now looking for alternative ways to gain admission into a CUNY or SUNY if at all possible. I guess my best option is try my best to get an A in each prerequisite so they are more likely to accept me. I did however find a way to have a part time schedule with fulltime credits meaning I will be able to study more. I hope that leads to a near 4.0 average in the end.

A&Ox6, MSN, RN · Sep 11, 2012

I'm in Citytech's nursing program. It's very competitive as well. In our school if a student doesn't get in they advise him or her to try private institutions. Some institutions can give you pretty good scholarship packages. Also, the HRSA scholarship and other nursing scholarships might cover full tuition regardless of cost. HRSA covers tuition, expenses, and a monthly stipend. It doesn't depend on gpa. It is based on financial need

gorgeousnatalia · Sep 11, 2012

Hey rakcna

thanks for your helpful post. I will be looking into HRSA because I do believe I will end up transferring to a private school. I am hoping to receive some type of scholarship on top of financial aid to cover my costs for private school. At this point, I haven't had anyone tell me about getting into CUNY exept my advisor. He told me the minimum GPA is 3.7, and a 4.0 will guarantee acceptance but you may be waitlisted. So I will start looking into private schools this semester.

Soon2benurse25 · Sep 11, 2012

This is just a heads up. HRSA actually does take GPA into consideration. I and others (just on allnurses) who received the scholarship had at least a 3.8 or above -- this is information you can see on our 2012-2013 HRSA scholarship page. Yes, financial need is a factor, too, because they don't usually choose recipients outside of what they call the first funding group (having an EFC of 0), but someone found the document they use to evaluate candidates, and it showed a breakdown of what they look at.

An "excellent" gpa is given a certain amount of points; "good" gpas another; "excellent" recommendation letters another, and so on and so forth. There are about 5-10 items or so (don't remember) from the documents you submit with your application that they evaluate on a sliding scale (excellent, good, average, or something like that), with everything totaling 100. Then they rank you, and pick the top recipients from that, taking into consideration your financial need, of course.

Anyway, I hope this information helps. As the other person mentioned, it is a very helpful scholarship if you get it while attending a private or public institution. The only catch is that you have to work for two years (or more, depending on how long you receive the scholarship) at a medically underserved/critical shortage area in exchange for receiving the scholarship.

ready4nu · Sep 28, 2012

I am a current QCC (CUNY) nursing student. Don't give up on getting in based on what people tell you. Apply, it doesn't hurt. I know of some people who made it into the program with way less than perfect GPA's (B's in A&P1, believe it or not, and scores below 110 on the PAX even made it in). You cannot have an A+ average in LaGuardia, we all only go up to an A, I believe that is CUNY-wide. So the best average you can have is an A, or 4.0. LaGuardia does have lower grades in at least some classes to get an A, I bellieve it is a 93. In QCC 96-100 is an A.

It's very easy to make decisions based on rumors and things people tell you. As I said, apply, you have nothing to lose - but maybe lots of $$$ to pay for NYU when you could have gone somewhere else and still have an RN after your name.

Good luck.