School of Nursing Sets Undergraduate Admissions Records
Date released: 16 Apr 2008
CONTACT: Dory Hulse
Director of Communications
434-924-0085 or
doryhulse@virginia.edu
SCHOOL OF NURSING SETS UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS RECORDS
Undergraduate applications for the University of Virginia School of Nursing have set a new record with 404 applications received for 57 slots in the incoming first year class for Fall 2008. This is a nearly 13% increase over the previous record of 358 in 2006. When compared with other UVA first year undergraduate admissions, the School of Nursing has the greatest number of applicants per opening and is the only school within the University to double its applications since 2000.
The School of Nursing also enjoyed the highest “yield” of any other undergraduate school within the University in 2007 – 70% of first year undergraduate students who received an offer of admission accepted. This compares with 53% in Architecture, 53% in Arts & Sciences, and 47% in Engineering.
It is not just a large pool of applicants aspiring to be nurses, but an academically strong one as well. Among the applicants for the 2008 first year class at the School, more than 25% have combined SAT scores of at least 1300 of a possible 1600.
Interest in nursing is good news given the current and growing national shortage of nurses and the School aims to further increase its admissions. With the opening of the new Claude Moore Nursing Education Building and the subsequent renovation of McLeod Hall, the School’s present home, the School expects to achieve an increase in enrollment of up to 25%. Recruiting nursing faculty, currently in short supply throughout the country, is a key strategy to increasing enrollment while maintaining patient safety. Like other nursing schools in the country, admissions are limited by the need to maintain a ratio of students to instructors that assures greater patient safety. At UVA the ratio is eight students per instructor.
The University of Virginia School of Nursing stands among the top 5% in the nation, ranked 19th by US News & World Report; two of its graduate programs are currently listed in the U.S. News Top Ten. With a vigorous research program that includes studies in rural health care and disparities, oncology, gerontology, complementary therapies and nursing history, the School is ranked 22nd in National Institutes of Health nursing research funding and #1 in the country for doctoral-student authored NRSA Fellowships. The School has implemented new programs and strategies to address the national nursing shortage and the concurrent need for more highly educated nurses to deliver increasingly complex health care. Dean and Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor Jeanette Lancaster, PhD, RN, FAAN, is president of the prestigious American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). For more information about the UVA School of Nursing and its programs, visit www.nursing.virginia.edu.