Beckoned by the Office of Admissions and Student Services (OASS)

prospective nursing students packed virtual recruitment spaces in droves in 2020.

Led by Theresa Carroll, Senior Assistant Dean, and Austin Stajduhar, Assistant Dean, the OASS team—including Tara Dakolios, Kim Dieber and Julie Kusnerik, as well as a phalanx of nursing Student Ambassadors—organized 81 mostly virtual info sessions (a whopping 72% increase over 2019’s largely in-person info sessions, sessions that attracted 109% more prospective students than the previous year's), fielded tens of thousands of emails, pored over nearly 2,000 BSN essays, and connected both undergraduate and graduate students with more than $3.1M in scholarships.

Students were in recruitment mode, too, including third-year BSN students Takara Washington (pictured) and Nyasia Harris, leaders of the Diversity in Nursing for a Better Community student group whose "Dare to Dream" event gathered more than 60 high schoolers last January with virtual tours, hands-on skills workshops, and Q&A chats with students and admissions officials.

Of course, there’s something special about every incoming cohort of nursing students, but few have formed during a global pandemic, a fact that seemed to fuel—not extinguish—their determination. Take a look at our application season and incoming cohorts, BY THE NUMBERS.