Which college would be best for nursing?

Gompers, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2006

Definitely go where you have already been accepted into the school of nursing. You don't want to get all the way out there and then be put on some waiting list. Go for the sure thing.

I went to Loyola (loved it), and a friend of mine is currently going to Seattle. How's that for a small world? Both are great schools. Honestly, you just need to decide what city you want to live in.

Seattle's a few hours closer to you if you want to be going home on vacations. I went to Hawaii in November - and it's an 8-9 hour flight from Chicago. Seattle isn't going to have the sun and fair weather that you're used to. Chicago, duirng the months you'll be in school, is often clear but very cold in the winter. Both cities are great places to live as a young person with lots to do. I think cost of living might be pretty similar.

Can you maybe visit both cities at least once before you choose schools?

ETA: If you ask my biased opinion - Chicago ROCKS and is the best city in the USA. Go Cubbies!!!

:)

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allthingsbright · Feb 25, 2006

Yeah, I hear great things about Chicago too and I second the thought that you need to go where you have a GUARANTEED (that means IN WRITING) acceptance into the NURSING program. Not just the institution itself. Hope that makes sense! GL!

Sunshine0425 · Feb 25, 2006

I grew up in the Seattle area and LOVED it!!! I second the advice of going into a program where you are already in the nursing program. Seattle is much closer to home as far as flights go. Seattle is extremely trendy, pretty mild weather and the schools there are terrific!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to move back to the area once I am finished with my schooling.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2006

don't blow off iowa. it's not as rural as you might think and is one of the top ranked nursing schools. when i went to kansas city i thought that i was going to the boondocks. wrong! and, iowa is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from kansas city. university of iowa is a very prestigious school. it is in an urban area and comes complete with all the problems of any large city. it's just that you can take a 40 minute drive and end up in a corn field is all! some of the best medicine in the country is being done by those farm boys! when i'm surfing the web looking for information for you nursing students the website of the medical college of the university of iowa is one of the sites i visit--a lot. if they have offered you a scholarship why would you want to go somewhere where you have to pay tuition? scholarships are not that easy to get, girl. in case you haven't already done so, visit the website and learn about the nursing faculty of this university at this site. they have a number who are fellows which is a pretty impressive achievement for any professor.

http://www.nursing.uiowa.edu/facstaff/index.html

what you will find is that people in the middle of the country take a little longer to think about the new fads that come along before jumping on the wagon with everyone else to accept them. missouri is called the "show me" state for a reason. they are people who tend to be more practical and grounded in their home and family. these people come from a heritage of pioneers who settled this country and farmed the land. this country became great from the hard work of farmers. they know what life is all about. they lived the american dream. they are america. here is a chance for you to see what america really is at her grass roots best.

kukukajoo, LPN · Feb 26, 2006

Iowa City ROCKS too!! I had a roommate from there and the music scene and singles life is way hip and better than here in the East!! Same with styles and nitelife!! The cost of living may be much cheaper there than the other options and it is an awesome city from what I have been told.

If you are IN in honors program think of how that will look on your resume!!

smile123 · Feb 26, 2006

Hi everyone,
I'm a high school senior from Hawaii and I'm planning to major in nursing in college. I've applied to six schools and was fortunately accepted by all of them. I have been thinking about my choices for a while and was finally able to narrow them down to three.
Here are the three:
Loyola University Chicago-School of Nursing
Seattle University-School of Nursing
University of Washington-Liberal Arts
I'm having trouble deciding where to go because all of the schools have great Nursing Programs. I'm leaning more towards Loyola or Seattle because I'm not guaranteed admission into UW's nursing school.
I was also accepted by University of Portland and University of Iowa's nursing program. I was offered a scholarship and admission to the Honors program at Iowa but I thought Iowa might be too rural for me.
Please tell me which school will be the best to go for nursing!

Go for the school where you are already accepted for the nursing program; it's extremely competitve for the U. of Washington to get into the nursing program, so go to a place where you are already in. I would choose Seattle U. Seattle is a great place to live. It's very green, the people are friendly, and it's a close plane ride to Hawaii. Seattle U is a small campus and the instructors know their students. They are very open to meeting with students and answer their questions. Seattle also has a lot of hospitals for clinicals. Seattle U is right across the street from one of them! So I would go there. Good luck!

Smile123

dorachan · Mar 30, 2006

i'm very sorry for the late response, but i would like to thank you all very much for the thoughtful replies. all of your support has really helped!

after some serious thinking, i have decided to attend seattle university. all of the schools i have been accepted by are wonderful, but unfortunately i can only attend one and i've chosen su. seattle's environment as well as su's small campus seem best for me. su has also kindly offered me the largest sum of money of all the schools that offered a scholarship, which really helps. i am really looking forward to going to su. thank you all again for helping me make this decision!

smile123 · Mar 30, 2006

i'm very sorry for the late response, but i would like to thank you all very much for the thoughtful replies. all of your support has really helped!
after some serious thinking, i have decided to attend seattle university. all of the schools i have been accepted by are wonderful, but unfortunately i can only attend one and i've chosen su. seattle's environment as well as su's small campus seem best for me. su has also kindly offered me the largest sum of money of all the schools that offered a scholarship, which really helps. i am really looking forward to going to su. thank you all again for helping me make this decision!

congratulations on making your decision! :balloons: and thanks for letting us know. it's nice to hear about the outcome of such an important decision. :nurse:

smile123

panzyo3 · Mar 31, 2006

How is it possible that you are already admitted to Nursing School when you have not even attended any college?

ms. vanessa · Mar 31, 2006

most universities now have a guaranteed admission for high schools seniors who have good GPA and high SAT score.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2006

How is it possible that you are already admitted to Nursing School when you have not even attended any college?

Many 4-year universities will admit you as a freshman into their nursing program. There are no pre-reqs - your 4-year full-time schedule is pretty much laid out already, taking all the liberal arts classes necessary for a Bachelor's degree during the first two years of school, plus A&P and chemistry during that time, with maybe a nursing class or two. Then the last two years of school are almost all devoted to nursing classes.

If you get admitted as a freshman into this program, you are guaranteed a spot once clinicals start junior year, as long as you pass all your classes in the meantime. If you don't get admitted as a freshman, you have to apply to the nursing programs as a trasfer student, even within the same university, and then you have to wait and see - it's not guaranteed they'll have room for you.

When I applied to colleges, there was none of this pre-req stuff. You just applied to youru 4-year school of choice, and there was always a spot on the application to check that you wanted to be in the school of nursing, rather than the school of liberal arts. I applied to a bunch of schools, in three different states, and they all did it this way. They all offered to admit freshman directly into their programs. The only difference was that the high school GPA and SAT/ACT scores had to be higher than needed for acceptance into the school of liberal arts. Most programs also wanted high school math beyond geometry and they often want B's or better in math.

It wasn't until I joined this message board that I realized there was a nursing school shortage and that people were taking pre-reqs prior to admission, and that there were waiting lists. The people I went to high school with who went on to be nurses did the same thing I did and were admitted to college as nursing students freshman year.