What are my chances?

[MssNurse2b]

Hello everyone,

I am finishing my prereqs for nursing BSN program and am really confused what will be a better choice for me. I have 2 options - Cardinal Stritch (they are offering BSN starting this Fall) or UW-Milwaukee. I was working on required classes for UWM and just recently found out about Stritch's program and applied.

The biggest difference between UWM and Stritch is cost, around 4,000$ per year more at Stritch (I got their scholarship), which will make it 12,000$ for 3 years more since I already took 1st year classes. The other difference is the length of the program - if I get into UWM I will graduate 6 months earlier since I took a lot of their requirement classes. On the other hand, I like Stritch more because their program doesn't have a waitlist and I will be guaranteed admission right away and the class sizes are smaller, which is always a plus.

Now, since I still am not sure if Stritch is worth extra time and money, I would like to hear from people who attended UWM or Stritch and your overall experience. I will also greatly appreciate your opinion on if I have a chance to get into UWM from the first try:

I am a white female, foreign; BSN will be my first degree. I took all of my prereqs at MATC and have 4.0 GPA. Even though my GPA is high, I don't have a lot of other activities that might put me on the top of the list. I am volunteering at the shelter and at the hospital, but only started a few months ago, so I don't have a lot of hours yet. I also worked as a caregiver for about 5 months, but I am not a CNA. Do you think this is enough for me to get in? I think I can write a good essay, but am not sure if they consider it as a strong point on the application. Any thoughts?

[melizerd, ASN, RN]

Well you can take my info for what it's worth but after being accepted to both MATC's ADN program and Cardinal Stritch's ADN program (which I think they have phased out) I skipped the high price tag of Stritch and went to MATC. I graduated on Dec and already have had interviews.

So if your choices are UWM or Stritch I'd probably choose UWM for the price tag alone.