DayLee DeWitt applied to nursing school five times before she got a yes.
She always knew why she was fighting for it.
“My nursing journey started when I was 16,” DeWitt says. “I was a lifeguard and teaching swim lessons, and that’s when I fell in love with kids and realized I really wanted to be a pediatric nurse.”
But getting there took years of determination – and five rejections.
DeWitt applied to nursing school in her native California after graduating from high school and decided to attend a community college for her prerequisites. When she was supposed to transfer to a nursing program, she didn’t get in. Since that was during the COVID-19 pandemic, DeWitt took a year off from school, applied after the pandemic, and was denied again.
“I decided to go to school and get a degree in kinesiology, but even when I was earning that degree, I still wanted to go to nursing school,” she says.
Nursing School Acceptance Rates
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After graduating, she applied to nursing school and was rejected again. It didn’t stop DeWitt. She took a year off, improved her resume, and got more healthcare experience. She applied to several more schools, both in California and out of state.
And, then, finally, in 2024, she got the words she’d been waiting years to hear: you’ve been accepted.
One of the schools that accepted her was the University of Colorado Anschutz College of Nursing, and she graduated with her BSN in May.
“I feel like I was so resilient, because I really wanted to become a nurse and knew this was what I wanted to do. This is a career I’ve wanted so bad for so long,” she says.
DeWitt acknowledges she learned a lot before she was accepted into nursing school and has owned up to her mistakes.
“I realized it was okay to accept my grades may not have been the best at first, but I learned from that,” she says. “This experience made me a better and more well-rounded person.”
A Supportive Nursing Program
One thing that helped DeWitt succeed at CU Anschutz Nursing was a Zoom call she had with the college’s Academic Success Coach, Claire Forbes, before enrolling. DeWitt asked about the program’s format and NCLEX pass rates. She learned about the college’s peer tutoring program, other resources, and clinical (and potential job) opportunities, as well as local hospitals.
“That’s really what my decision came down to: I saw myself living and thriving in Colorado for school,” she says. “I was also able to talk to faculty, and I knew CU Anschutz Nursing was a place I could thrive and feel comfortable.”
That support carried over once DeWitt arrived on campus and began classes.
“I had so many one-on-one meetings with professors, and they were so open to helping their students,” she says. “I also felt support on campus, whether that was mental health support, the library, or using the food pantry.”
She wants other students to understand that while nursing school can be challenging, they should reach out for support and maintain a positive attitude.
“My advice to students is push through and keep going,” she says. “You’ll have stuff going on, you might be exhausted after clinicals, or you may not want to study. Take in as much as you can and be open to learning. Nursing is a very resilient career, and an important one,” she says. “People’s lives are in your hands, so take it seriously, and you’ll get through it.”
A Career as a Nurse
And now that she’s graduated, DeWitt is fulfilling her childhood dream of working as a pediatric nurse. She accepted a job in the cardiac progressive care unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where she also worked while in the BSN program.
“What I really enjoy is being with patients and seeing them get better on their health journey. I want to make a difference in their lives as well as their families' lives,” she says. “Making that connection is so important because sometimes in the cardiac ICU, patients are there for a while. So I want to be there and watch them grow.”
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