Academic Differences in BSN Admission Routes: Implications for Persistence.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Higher Education Admissions

Background:

• Prelicensure nursing programs utilize diverse admission routes to enhance student retention.
• Early matriculation (EM) and traditional competitive (TR) approaches represent two distinct pathways for nursing program entry.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare academic variables and standardized test performance between EM and TR nursing students.
• To investigate the impact of different admission routes on student success in nursing programs.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective matched cohort study design was employed.
• Data were collected from 136 prelicensure undergraduate nursing students within the same program.
• Academic variables and RN Fundamentals ATI examination scores were analyzed.

Main Results:

• EM students exhibited significantly lower science GPAs, pre-program GPAs, and junior-level GPAs compared to TR students.
• No significant differences were observed in RN Fundamentals ATI examination scores between EM and TR students.
• ATI examination scores are a key predictor of future NCLEX-RN success.

Conclusions:

• Early matriculation nursing students demonstrate comparable performance on standardized nursing examinations in their first semester.
• The findings suggest that admission route does not necessarily predict success on critical nursing assessments.
• Further research is warranted to fully understand the long-term program outcomes associated with diverse admission strategies.