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How Competitive is UNC nursing school? What is your experience like for those who have attended?
Question
Hi all, I am a prospective UNC student who wants to major in nursing. I am dual enrollment and almost have an associates degree so I’m not many classes away from applying. What is your experience with how competitive the program is and do you have any tips or recommendations on how to get it? I am a CNA and my professor for that class who went to UNC said it was the hardest thing she ever did (program-intensity wise)
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I’m a BSN-2 currently and I really love the program! It is competitive to get in, there is about a 25% acceptance rate. That number includes current UNC students as well as transfers. That being said, if you’re already a UNC student, you’re much more likely to get in as far as I’m aware. Most of our cohort is made of current UNC students. Being a CNA is really helpful for getting in, but so is having good grades, extra curricular activities, volunteer hours, and good essays. It will especially look good if your STEM GPA is high, I think they want it to be at least a 3.3. Once you’re in, the program can be challenging. From my experience, pharmacology and fundamentals of nursing are the most challenging, simply because a) the style of test is very different from other tests I’ve taken and 2) the quantity of work and studying required is a lot (especially for pharm). That being said, the difficulty of classes is no more than that of your prerequisite courses. I found that MCRO 251 at unc was much harder. That hardest part is finding a schedule that works for you, forming good study habits, and sticking to them! Also, don’t procrastinate because things are super fast paced and it can be hard to recover from getting behind. The grading scale is also whack, A’s start at a 95, A-‘s at a 92. There is no rounding, and if your test average is below a 76 you fail the course. Getting A’s is challenging but very possible. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me!
My daughter just got in today. She is a current UNC student and this was her 2nd attempt after getting waitlisted on the first try. She is super excited
Congratulations! Yay for a new UNC nurse!
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Thank you so much for sharing!! Their nursing school is my dream lol so it makes me feel better that UNC applicants have an advantage. I am sure you will be a great nurse
Thank you!! I’m sure you will be too, best of luck with applying! I’d be happy to read your essays/help with application when the time comes :) Also, I saw that you are a high school senior, and I’d highly recommend enrolling at UNC for one year to take some courses and get to know the culture/campus. The transition from high school/community college level courses to nursing courses can be a lot. My friend wanted to apply freshman year and the student advisors for nursing encouraged her to wait until sophomore year so that her adjustment would be a bit easier.
I appreciate that so much! I will be sure to let you know hopefully! It might be a year or two haha, and that's a really good point. It will probably be what I end up doing
I’m an ABSN student in my 3rd semester. I don’t know what the experience is like for BSN. the ABSN program is very competitive, I know a lot of people that didn’t get in. Funny enough, my GPA wasn’t great. I was actually shocked I got in. My undergrad gpa was only a 2.9 but my pre-nursing gpa was a 4.0, so my cumulative gpa met the criteria, barely. Really, really pay close attention to the essays. The essays are very important. One of my professors currently was on the admissions board for my cohort and told us that she loved reading the essays and even today there are essays she can remember. I would say essays and volunteer experience are almost more important than grades. During the application process the faculty told me that they want to see volunteer experience that is consistent. It’s better to volunteer at the same place weekly for a year than skip around. As far as my nursing experience, yeah, it’s hard. But the SON and faculty is supportive, you’ll make it! Just know it’ll be a lot and dedicate yourself to it, but you can do it. Someone mentioned ECU, and yeah, I wouldn’t recommend that… the pre reqs for nursing at ECU are a little different. ECU requires pre reqs that none of the other universities do, and ECU only accepts like 30 nursing students. If you bet on ECU you’ll spend more time doing pre reqs and I think you’re actually less likely to get in because 1) they don’t admit as many people and 2) it’s competitive!
Shoot for UNC. It opens a lot of doors. The faculty will always support you personally, academically, and professionally. You can do it!
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The number of days a week you need to be on campus depends on the semester and where you go for clinical. Your weeks will look like 2 or 3 clinical days plus a lecture day and a lab day. You’ll be in Carrington twice a week for lab and class minimum. I did all my clinicals at big UNC so I was in that area like 4 days a week. I moved from Raleigh to Chapel Hill to be closer because 1) I don’t like Raleigh and 2) I didn’t want to be in traffic. But I have a lot of friends that lived in Raleigh/Cary and drove and parked on campus by purchasing a parking pass or they’d park at the Friday center and take the bus. The parking pass is a lottery situation. I never did it bc I parked at Southern Village and took the bus but my friends were able to get parking passes pretty easily. There are a lot of clinical sites available but signing up for them is competitive, you might not get what you want. UNC Rex is a clinical site that’s probably closest to you. I don’t think UNC SON partners with Wake Med hospitals so you can’t go there. You will probably have to drive to UNC main hospital or other UNC hospitals and/or Duke hospitals for clinical, so just anticipate spending some time in the car whether it’s driving to Carrington or to clinical and look into the parking pass lottery situation. I wouldn’t give up on UNC because of the commute - few people actually live in Chapel Hill anyway since this is a second degree situation. People have families and live in other towns. I had classmates that commuted from Fayetteville and Winston-Salem
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It’s not at all doable unless you take a leave of absence. I know people in my cohort who got pregnant and delivered during school but took leaves of absences. Or they planned and got pregnant so that they’d deliver right after graduation. Being pregnant during school is doable, because I have friends that did it, but anyone that delivered during the program took a leave. That would be impossible
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Do you have any other advice to share on how to write a great essay?
Hmm… a few things I can say off the top of my head are:
Be specific. If the essay prompt asks you why you want to be a nurse don’t say “Because I want to help people.” That may be true but say WHY you want to help people and HOW you can help. Explain what you can bring to table that makes you unique and don’t be afraid to share your unique experience and perspective. Just don’t be vague!
Tell a good story. One of the prompts will probably ask you about a time you were challenged at work or a time where you struggled to get along with somebody and how you overcame it etc. Really dive into the story of the experience and grip the reader. I wrote about a coworker that had a very different cultural background than I did and how I struggled to take feedback and direction from him because his delivery was so different (military), but eventually I grew to appreciate his way once I got to know him personally etc. Nursing entails working with patients and coworkers super different from you.
If the prompt asks you why you’d make a good nurse don’t just say because you’re good with people, good at science, etc. Explicitly give examples that show why you’re good at those things that demonstrate why you’d be successful at nursing. Again don’t be vague.
That’s all I can think of rn!
These are great tips—thank you so much!!
One more thing. Have your essays edited and proofread. I had mine proofread by a copy editor at my partner’s work and that really helped.
Thank you so so much for the response! I appreciate you taking the time to write this. And a huge congrats on getting into UNC. That is super helpful info. I am actually a high school senior who is a CNA so I’m hoping that helps me out when I apply. And yeah, ECU is far from home for me and not my first choice. There’s just something about having a degree from UNC haha. Well, I pray that you enjoy the rest of your program and have lots of success in your career! You sound like you will make a great nurse
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Thanks sm. Can I ask if you are a UNC nursing student?
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Well that’s a bummer. You can go undergrad to one place and apply to a different nursing school tho right?
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