Indiana University Fort Wayne sophomore Victoria Toro Blohm decided to pursue nursing because of her mother. Her mother wanted to become a doctor and was accepted into medical school when the family lived in Venezuela, but she was unable to attend because of the cost.
Toro Blohm witnessed her mom’s passion for healthcare during her childhood and decided to take up the mantle and pursue nursing.
“She’s always saying healthcare is the most rewarding field ever, and she’s so right,” Toro Blohm said. “It is so rewarding.”
After she was born, Toro Blohm spent time in the NICU, where she later saw photos of nurses caring for her and her mother and heard stories about the compassion they showed.
“I wanted to be there for patients every step of the way, through their hard times and their good times, to celebrate every high and to be with them for every low,” she said.
The IU School of Nursing’s direct admission program was Toro Blohm’s first step toward achieving this goal. Graduating as the valedictorian from East Allen University High School in Fort Wayne, Toro Blohm decided to apply as a direct admit student to alleviate some of the stress she was so used to.
While students traditionally apply to the nursing program in the spring of their freshman year, students who apply to the university by November 1 and have a high school GPA of 3.8 or higher are invited to apply for direct admission to the School of Nursing. Direct admit students have guaranteed placement in the program beginning their third semester if they maintain eligibility, which includes finishing prerequisites with a grade of C or higher and maintaining a prerequisite GPA of 3.5 or higher.
“Hearing about direct admission literally changed my life,” Toro Blohm said. “The most stressful part I always thought about … was actually getting into the program.”
Toro Blohm decided to apply to the Fort Wayne campus to stay close to home, and her favorite part about the campus is how supported she feels by both her professors and advisors.
“I feel really supported as a direct admit student,” she said. “I feel like for the first year they’re doing a really great job at making sure that we feel integrated into the nursing school.”
The smaller class sizes at IU Fort Wayne also allow students to have more personalized experiences.
“Everybody makes engagement really easy in the classes,” she said. “The teachers are very one-on-one because the classes are so small.”
Toro Blohm has become involved on campus outside of the classroom. She is a member of the Student Nurses’ Association and worked at Parkview Regional Medical Center as a patient care technician during her freshman year. She works closely with the NICU and after graduating, plans to continue her education to become a nurse practitioner.
