How Nursing Programs Build Stronger Cohorts With Casper and Video Interviews

February 3, 2026

The nursing profession attracts individuals who want more than a job — they want to change lives, support communities, and bring compassion to those who need it most.

Nursing programs look for learners who bring that same drive and compassion into the classroom and clinical placements. Yet identifying those qualities in an application has become increasingly difficult. GPAs differ widely across schools, essays often appear polished or coached, and more applicants now use AI tools to refine their written answers.

At the same time, the volume of nursing program applicants is growing, reviewer time is shrinking, and programs need efficient ways to identify applicants who will thrive in a demanding profession. Many schools now look for ways to see the whole person behind the application — their empathy, judgment, communication style, and ability to work under pressure.

Casper and Video Interviews help make it possible to see beyond GPA or other academic measures. Together, they offer admission teams a clear, structured, and human view of applicants, giving reviewers the deeper insight they need to build stronger, more mission-aligned cohorts.

Why Traditional Metrics Don’t Tell the Full Story

Academic indicators like GPA and other traditional standardized tests matter in nursing, but they don’t capture the qualities that shape safe, compassionate care. That’s why the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) encourages programs to use the E-A-M model — Experience, Attribute, Metric, which asks reviewers to consider applicants’ lived experiences and personal qualities alongside academic results. This wider view helps programs understand readiness for patient care beyond numbers alone.

GPA shows only part of a student’s potential. It varies across institutions and doesn’t reflect how someone communicates under stress, works with peers, or adapts in real time. Essays add another layer of uncertainty. They take time to review, often reflect access to coaching, and are now influenced by AI tools that make authenticity harder to judge.

Rising application volumes add more pressure. Some Canadian nursing programs report ten to fifteen applicants per seat, which leaves committees balancing depth with speed.

A comprehensive admissions review helps teams move past these limits by focusing on the qualities that define strong nursing practice. The next step is finding reliable ways to see those qualities early in the process—and that’s exactly what Casper and Video Interviews offer.

How Casper Reveals Interpersonal and Professional Skills

Casper is an open-response situational judgment test that reveals how applicants use empathy, communication, and ethical judgment in real-life scenarios. Instead of selecting from multiple choices, applicants explain what they would do in a certain situation, and why.

This mirrors the demands of clinical environments, where students need to think clearly, stay calm, and communicate well without rehearsing a perfect answer. 

Casper also supports fairness and consistency. It uses standardized scenarios and structured scoring to reduce bias and create reliable comparisons across a full applicant pool. Casper consistently delivers stronger reliability than many traditional tools, including personal statements or reference letters. Programs gain a clearer view of the instincts, values, and communication styles that grades and essays don’t capture, which helps them identify future nurses who bring professionalism, empathy, and respect to patient care.

How Video Interviews Bring Applicants to Life

Video Interviews (VI) is another higher education admissions tool designed to support programs, such as nursing, look for qualities often overlooked by GPA and academic tests. Video Interviews shows reviewers how an applicant communicates in real time. Because programs choose how and when to use VI, and what to explore, they can surface the attributes that matter most to them. This includes tone, clarity, confidence, emotional awareness, and motivation—qualities vital in a profession rooted in trust and teamwork.

Compared with live interviews, Video Interviews improves access, consistency, and fairness. All applicants receive the same prompts and timing, and reviewers score responses asynchronously using a structured rubric—reducing content variability as well as interviewer and rater bias. The on-demand format also removes travel and scheduling barriers.

Whether using Acuity’s research-backed questions and rubrics or custom-developed materials, Video Interviews enables programs to probe for the attributes that matter most. Optional support from trained Acuity raters provides richer insight while helping minimize capacity constraints and administrative workload.

At a time when written materials are harder to evaluate because of AI assistance, seeing and hearing an applicant provides authenticity that essays alone can’t match.

Why Programs Gain the Most When They Use Both Tools

Casper and Video Interviews strengthen each other. When used in conjunction with academic review, they provide admission teams with a comprehensive view of applicants while keeping workloads manageable.

Programs use Casper to:

• Spot empathy, communication, and ethical judgment early in the process
• Compare applicants consistently across large pools
• Identify learners who will thrive under pressure and contribute positively in clinical settings

Programs use Video Interviews to:

• Customize the experience and select the specific qualities and skills they want to review, such as motivation, communication style, and alignment with program values.
• See an applicant’s personal presence and real-time thinking
• Reduce scheduling strain while improving reviewer consistency

Casper & Video Interviews, In Action

It helps to imagine a real applicant. Take Maya, for example. On paper, she looks like many others—a decent GPA, a clean and well-written essay, nothing that jumps off the page. In a large pool, she could easily be overlooked.

But her Casper responses tell a different story. When she talks through a scenario with a worried family member, she stays calm, considers everyone’s perspective, and explains how she’d work with the team to keep the patient safe. Her answers show empathy, judgment, and a willingness to listen. In her Video Interview, she speaks with warmth and clarity. She shares why nursing matters to her in a way that feels grounded and sincere.

With only traditional materials, Maya might blend into the background. With Casper and Video Interviews, she stands out as someone who will support patients, collaborate well with others, and bring compassion into her daily work

Stronger Cohorts for Clinical and Academic Success

Nursing programs want students who succeed academically, support their peers, and bring compassion to patient care. Casper and Video Interviews help teams identify those individuals early, fairly, and consistently, even as volumes rise and applicant materials grow harder to interpret.

Programs that use these tools report more confident decisions, more mission-aligned cohorts, and admissions experiences that feel fair to applicants. They also reduce administrative strain, which frees teams to focus on deeper, more thoughtful evaluation.

Holistic insight strengthens the full student journey. Selecting applicants with strong interpersonal skills and clear motivation for nursing supports better engagement, stronger clinical performance, and long-term success.

Connect With Us

If you want to build a more compassionate, engaged, and mission-aligned nursing cohort, we’re here to help. Connect with our team to explore how Casper and Video Interviews can support your admissions goals.

Contact our team today!