Freshman male student unable to enroll in nursing program

[collegestudentnurse]

I am a freshman student at a fairfield university and am undeclared. Majoring in nursing has been in the back of my mind for about the last year or so, however I did not want to commit before I came to school.

After careful consideration, I decided nursing was right for me and emailed the dean of the school. However i was informed that the school was highly over-enrolled. The only other option is either to transfer or take a 5th year accelerated program.

Now, I cannot thought of the costs for another year of schooling, and after emailing several other local nursing schools, I was informed that they are also highly over-enrolled.

Am I getting screwed simply because I did not make my mind up 6 months ago? I do not know what else i can do. If anyone can shed any advice that would be great.

[Thujone]

Do another year.

[justmeinlv]

I agree with Brian. Do another year it will be worth it!

[Bob_N_VA]

My stepdaughter wanted to get into her schools program and was told they only admit them after the first year to year and a half and the gpa requirement was in the middle to upper 3's on a 4.0 scale. Her GPA wasnt high enough so she decided on social work instead. If they are saying you can get in with just another year, I'd probably hang tough and do it. Going somewhere else might take more time in the long run. At your age, a bsn is what you want to start out with.

[Marine2Nurse]

There were 350 applicants for 40 seats in the program I am in. We only launch once a year so yeah--it's pretty competitive and may take some time to get it. Really good things are worth the wait. Get as much done as now so when you get in, you are ahead of the game.

[ZekeMass]

I would check some other schools websites. From my experience, acceptance into the nursing program in your freshman year is not the rule. Most schools that I've researched require you to complete a set of prerequisites before applying to the nursing program. I see that Fairfield is the exception, in that they evaluate you directly into their nursing school as an incoming freshman.

Some of the other schools that you emailed may have different entrance / evaluation methods. Across the nation, nursing schools are all experiencing more applications than they can accommodate. So it is competitive. That does not mean you can't get in, if you are competitive.

Search for your states board of nursing. From there, you should be able to find a list of accredited nursing programs. Often you can find statistics on graduation rate, pass rate for the NCLEX, number of students admitted, and additional number of students they could have accommodated.

[edit] here you go:

http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/phho/nursing_board/registered_nurse_educational_programs_statistics.pdf

It doesn't list pass rate for the NCLEX, but does have other information that may interest you.

[ImKosher]

Look for your pre-reqs and knock them out. You'll probably be better off then the other students. DOn't worry about money, pull a loan, you can pay it back when your an RN.