Esther Pervis sat alongside the road, waiting for the police to arrive. It wasn’t her accident, but she was here—offering kind words, keeping the dazed driver calm and checking scrapes for warning signs of a more dangerous injury. This was the third accident in the last year that she’d pulled over to help. After all, Pervis is one of the lucky ones who have some medical training to offer—she’s a junior in Union College’s nursing program.
An excellent high school student, Pervis was among the first batch of students Union accepted as freshmen with a guaranteed spot in the nursing program in what was then known as the Early Admission Track. That was 2015. Now Union has reintroduced the program as Guaranteed Nursing Admission, which opens the door for even more incoming freshmen to be eligible.
“Most nursing schools won’t consider an application until a student has completed the required prerequisite college courses—usually three semesters,” said Dr. Nicole Orian, chair of Union College’s Division of Nursing. “If, for some reason, a student doesn’t get into nursing school, they have to wait and apply again the next semester. At Union, a high-performing freshman can guarantee a spot and know they’ll go straight into our program—a top nursing program.”
While some nursing programs have two-year wait lists, Union specializes in getting students prepared and working in their field quickly. And the results show.
For the past two years, Union College nursing graduates have posted the highest NCLEX-RN first-time pass rate in Nebraska—96.07 percent in 2016. That’s 10 percent higher than the average on the national licensure examination that all graduates must take to become a registered nurse.
“I always wanted to come to Union,” said Pervis, who liked the friendly atmosphere and close proximity to home. “But knowing I had a spot in the nursing program took away the guesswork. I didn’t have to worry about whether I had made the right decision.”
If you know a high school student who is inspired to make a difference in the world through nursing, has a GPA of 3.5 or above and a 24 ACT or higher (or 1650 on the SAT), encourage them to check out Union College’s Guaranteed Nursing Admission program at www.ucollege.edu/nursing/guaranteedadmission