What do nursing schools look for?

[Ernestine]

Do nursing schools look at the entire package, or do they look only at prerequisites for nursing and determine the strongest for their program in that regards?I plan to focus on English at my new school before I apply for Nursing, and I also had a strong relationship with my professor from my previous school who said he would write me a recommendation if needed. So I was wondering if they even cared about that does only nursing curriculum matters.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Every school is different in what they require. Some have waiting lists, some do not. Some have a strict GPA requirement; some do not. I just read about a school yesterday that admits nursing students directly as they apply to the nursing program out of high school. Doesn't matter how long it takes them to get to the nursing classes or that they have a C average. But, that is that school. You have to contact the individual nursing schools you are interested in attending to find out exactly what their requirements are.

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

I think most schools focus on GPA.

But really the only way to know is to go ask someone at *your* school (go talk to someone in the nursing office). At my school for instance they look at your science GPA, overall GPA, 3 references from science faculty. There is no waiting list, if your rejected you just apply again the next year with the rest of them. The best thing to do is to talk to someone at your school, that is the only thing that matter right?

Good luck!

[romie]

Not only do individual schools vary in what they value in students, but within schools, their individual programs may value different things in different students. For example, UIC has a regular BSN, an accelerated BSN for people with outside degrees, a regular MSN, and a graduate entry MSN for people with outside degrees. The graduate entry program values students with a very rich life experience, experience in healthcare and a firm plan for their intended specialty, as you have to choose your advance practice specialty when you apply. The accelerated BSN program focuses more on pre-reqs and GPA. So you really cannot generalize about what schools look for in students.

The reality of the situation is that there are too many people trying to get into nursing school, too few instructors and limited resources. You pretty much have to be competitive with other students. A better question, rather than "What do nursing schools look for?" is "what is the average nursing school applicant?" Meaning GPA, previous degree experience, pre-recs, financial resources, healthcare experience and then plan accordingly.